K-pop (2014)

Anyway think my favorite two tracks of the last month have been Boyfriend's Alarm + f(x)'s Paper Heart

Oh yeah and the whole Sistar EP

:D welcome back 龜!

'sup dayo?

New EXID! For some reason, I thought they had disbanded or something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfXZ6ydgZyo

I don't think this hangs together as well as it should, but they have such gorgeous voices. And as someone pointed out on Omona, all their videos involve them killing a dude. :D

Guessing this is another Digipediproduction (pretty sure they did Orange Caramel's latest MV as well) - they have a really distinctive visual style.

"I Swear" is really lovely btw, I need to remember to check out their EPs.

I think the plot of this is that an incompetent (Shinsadong) Tiger takes them apart and can't figure out how to put them back together again, so they kill him with nail polish and then lounge around on tiger-skin rugs.

As far as apologies for making the group and their fans wait so long go, so far so good, but the lyrics don't really let EXID have much dignity, the song is repetitive and simple. Plus they were probably saving money with all the food and balloon shots but they're kind of childish no?

I like LE's rap part though, she's got a distinctive voice

A good post on Digipedi/Orange Caramel (including the new one): http://blog.mjohnso.com/post/95857861451/the-orange-caramel-digipedi-connection

Thx Iain!

I just realized... http://www.soompi.com/2014/05/26/duble-sidekick-and-shinsadong-tiger-join-forces-under-wellmade-yedang/

Juggernaut

xpost Ah thank you! I'm always fascinated by music video directors and their artist muses (eg Corbijn/Depeche Mode, Gondry/Bjork, Muller/No Doubt etc.) and yeah it seems like OC/Digipedi bring out the best in each other.

Did you guys know Shazam works on K-pop songs too?

Shazam'd this one https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=727680443969972

I didn't know about Shazam! I did know lots of Kpop groups recently got added to Spotify:

http://omonatheydidnt.livejournal.com/13996516.html

Up&Down is growing on me... but they're so nervous live.

Also, JYP are recruiting talent from reddit:

http://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/2eu1jf/jyp_entertainment_is_looking_for_new_songwriters/

If that was AKB's label or something I'd go for it. I have so many jpop idol songs in my head.

Do you produce, abcfsk?

holy crap http://omonatheydidnt.livejournal.com/14100793.html

Seems like there are idols involved in fairly serious car crashes every other day but no one has died... until now. ;__;

And then there's this: http://omonatheydidnt.livejournal.com/14097159.html

On a lighter note, S. Korea's goth queen of darkness (Puer Kim) is back looking (and sounding) a bit like Lana Del Rey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWkzUdndCiU

Check the video description for links to the other songs on the mini, they're solid

Managers are overworked and drive too fast and seatbelt culture in Korea sucks. Hopefully things can change for the better. RIP.

Do you produce, abcfsk?

― hurricane weather (forapper),

Not at all, fool around with melodies on the piano now and then though.

Apparently the back wheel came off, which makes it sound like a maintenance problem too. Really sad. Ladies Code had some moderate chart success before this so hopefully it'll help raise awareness, at least.

Ladies' Code I'm Fine, Thank You at No. 1 in tribute... it probably helps that the song is good.

Man, I was away on holiday for just a few days and came back to this news - so horrifying and sad. RIP, it seems she was well-loved among other idols. :( :( I hope the others will be ok too.

It's tragic from every direction ;_; I keep expecting to see some acknowledgement on the music shows (or something), but so far there's nothing. The show goes on.

Speaking of... A.KOR leaving a strong impression with their debut, like the BAP of female rookie groups:

But Go - http://youtu.be/fcrSwNKEuJA
Payday - http://youtu.be/0e7cSoPPA5I

I take it back, actually there was a memorial message on M!Countdown.

BAP of female rookie groups otm description

New Neon Bunny track! Now on a drama soundtrack - making moves! http://youtu.be/_HKPqm9pivA

Comparison also including my reservations about the group's music...

That Neon Bunny OST song is nice!

Fuck.... RiSe has now passed away as well.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/09/07/ladies-code-singer-rise-dies-after-car-accident-which-killed-bandmate-eunb-4859473/

It's terrible but I had a feeling that this was going to happen esp after the reports about the extent of her brain injuries. I kept hoping I was wrong though. :(

This whole thing has just been unspeakably sad - I haven't been able to bring myself to read the comments from fans on all the news articles. It feels like it's been a very sad year for K-pop in general.

:(

Sistar have been very sweet in paying tribute to Ladies Code during all their music show wins.

T-ARA!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_eo5j5sib8

Song is great. Here's the lyrics.

Even Jiyeon's not-very-good spoken rap over the (awesome) instrumental bridge 3min in is growing on me.

This version is a bit better actually.

whoops... http://www.soompi.com/2014/09/11/t-aras-latest-single-sugar-free-accused-of-plagiarism/

My first reaction on hearing it was that it was an attempt to incorporate the "Animals"/"Tsunami" sound! It doesn't sound that specifically alike to me though.

In the wake of Hoody's latest I've reassessed KittiB's "Wake Me Up" and concluded it's surely one of the year's very finest http://youtu.be/w2MvLbt4F-s

That KittiB is pretty effective...

New Girls Generation-TTS is very classic RnB and I like it http://youtu.be/Ouf9kGfpb0Y
New 2PM is a'ight but feels five minutes long and doesn't do anything interesting with the bridge: http://youtu.be/uwD51VS0Uko

More like an attempt to shoehorn that sound into the song, since it seems like they already had a dance Kpop track and just replaced certain sections with the Bigroom sound, lol. Now I wonder if someone from T-ara's camp wrote that plagiarism article to generate controversy and press for the album...

tearjerker Ladies Code song got a video http://youtu.be/C7JYOzTl-ec

also there's a crazier version of that 2PM song http://youtu.be/_Jgln2RmY-k

or bet yet, there's the live version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzGbgzQ_ZuM

Truth In Song Titling x10

though the backstory behind this is apparently that they've been spending mornings doing variety in Japan (where this song just hit #1 on Oricon), afternoons doing chart shows in Korea, and evenings with interviews and appearances sometimes running straight through the night until 8am the next day

which is the really crazy thing ofc

BTS - Danger Taekwondo ver.

Also here's T-ara in English. American takeover coming shortly?

It's track 1 on their 14-track remix album and it's not half bad.

(track 8 is the original, the best, in English)