K-pop

yeah i'm reviewing it for the voice. it was amazing.

kept making jokes all night about how the backing band was the new power generation and then in between set/costume changes they just launched into this stellar funk jam

The promised review. Short version: Despite some technical problems and delays, it was awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEV5_Uc1a6Y

I know everything's about PSY these days, but alongside Only One promotions BoA has been doing this hit medley that basically shows k-pop pretenders HOW It'S DONE.

http://youtu.be/UHxMPIpYSpM

Perfect.

Also this sit-down performance of Only One http://youtu.be/lw3WK1qWXxI

Love this song so much.

(This thread's pretty heavy on the system so maybe no embeds for a while)

And another performance of Only One w/ dance. Even scaled back because of live vocals she's so... damn cool pulling off those moves. http://youtu.be/4L0T-mh4lms

really really love 'only one'

http://youtu.be/t3ULhmadHkg

^^ fresh off the press, in before 1,000+ viewcount

YES!!

still regretting not getting a ticket to BigBang's show next month (sold out in eight hours. :/)

Am I the only one who finds G-Dragon weirdly Aaron Carter-ish?

Damn, Ga-In http://youtu.be/K64mb5KUhhs

Pretty sure it's the first time masturbation has featured in a k-pop video and also that we don't really see sex as something this nice and sweet in pop videos in general.

Reminds me a bit of this old hit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV0LD-QAzg0

This thread blows my system up when I expand it, so I have to ask the knowledgeable crew: what's the name of the track where a woman in a hospital bed is tormented by inconsiderate visitors?

revenge fantasy?

Sounds like Miryo's "Dirty", maybe.

that's it, thanks. stayed with me for some reason.

Miss A "don't need a man" http://youtu.be/EkSOOiMDGiY

hi

Tablo "Don't Hate Me" is so disturbing, dude has fallen HARD for the GD/YG Family cult (compare video for Don't Hate Me with the videos for GDragon CraYon and One of a Kind to see what I mean). Good on the other guys in Epik High for standing by him and supporting him in this bizarre new artistic direction and time in his life, though.

Did see lots of Epik High fans crying over the change in direction.

Hyuna - ICE CREAM http://youtu.be/QlWZluzBNxM

It's distuuuuuuuurbing. And I say this as a GDragon and Britpop fan. The brighter the music, the more tortured it seems underneath (and vid is about destruction of the capitalist system of commerce by child terrorist-popstars, and, like, skateboarding. Skateboarding!)

like the new hyuna but don't LOVE it

G-Dragon has an excellent, lengthy interview with XXL: http://www.xxlmag.com/features/2012/12/korean-rapper-g-dragon-talks-k-pop-hype-new-ep-and-past-scandals/

Just wanna say thank you to the posters in this thread. I trawled through all the recs and you tubes posted here this year and found loads of great stuff. Particularly loving f(x), g dragon, sistah, and (gawdhelpme) block-b!!

anybody doing best of 2012 lists?

allkpop have started theirs
http://www.allkpop.com/2012/12/allkpops-top-50-k-pop-songs-of-2012-41-50

Thanks for that! Fallen big time for their #50 Exo-K 'Mama'

I'll do a top 50 or 100 probably some time this week or next.

Best 2012 albums is easy, there haven't been that many notable (idol) albums this year. Singles might be fun, maybe I'll do a list too. For the first time ever.

Keen to see some end of year lists; I put some SISTAR/BlockB/f(x)/Infinite in a local EOY thing, but I'm woefully out of my depth. TBH, apart from "Gangnam Style", it was mainly 2011 hits like "Bubble Pop" & "I Am The Best" that I'd hear out this year; v.slow-rolling infiltration.

Kpop is a lotta fun yall

Nothing definitive about this.

ALBUM TRACKS 2012:

1. After School "Eyeline"
2. Miss $ "Physical Or Emotional"
3. T-ara "T-aratic Magic Music"
4. E.via "Night Blooming Roses"
5. HyunA "Don't Fall Apart" also called "Straight Up"
6. Jewelry "Rhythm HA!!!"
7. TaeTiSeo "Baby Steps"
8. Ga-In "Tinkerbell"
9. Miss A "Lips"
10. Neon Bunny "First Love"

I'd not heard of Miss $ until a month ago; their back catalog is pedestrian rap and r&b; now suddenly they're in the deep bleeding mascara sound that came pouring out of the barrios and crossover dance clubs of New York City, 1989.

SINGLES 2012

1. T-ara "Lovey-Dovey"
2. Orange Caramel "Lipstick"
3. Trouble Maker "Trouble Maker"
4. ChoColat "I Like It"
5. Wonder Girls "Like This"
6. T-ara "Day By Day"
7. Sistar "Alone"
8. Davichi & T-ara "We Were In Love"
9. 2NE1 "Scream"
10. 4minute "Volume Up"
11. Flashe "Drop It"
12. After School "Rambling Girls"
13. ChoColat ft. Sung Hyo Ram "One More Day" (also called "Same Thing To Her")
14. Miss A "Touch"
15. Orange Caramel "My Sweet Devil"
16. Yoon Jong Shin ft. Kim Wan Sun "I Love You All Days"
17. Chi Chi "Sexy Doll"
18. Girl's Day "Oh! My God"
19. Jewelry "Look At Me" (Inst.)
20. E.via ft. Lee Su Jung "I Know How To Play A Little"

Could have gone twice as long, but I wanted to give other people a chance. The next several included two more T-aras, some other fairly high-profile stuff, a second song called "Sexy Doll," and an insect. Three that I listed ("Scream," "Rambling Girls," and "My Sweet Devil") are in Japanese, as is "T-aratic Magic Music" on my tracks list. As for sounds that recall the ghosts of my pre-past, "Look At Me" has the bright beats of K-pop but the weathered sound of a nonchalant little throwaway B-side from scrappy mid '50s R&B independents like King Records out of Cincinnati. Appropriate, as it's a B-side itself.

Great slow jam from Satbyeol - think Ciara's Promise meeting Taeyang's I Need a Girl - the song shares producer with the latter:
http://youtu.be/qgQBAb--ci8
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8360/8281021974_72bebf50c8_n.jpg

She also released an amazing single last year http://youtu.be/2VbN8JPYCcM

Most known for featuring on lots of hip hop tracks.

BONUS: Very funny and on point skit about plastic surgery f rmo the Brown Eyed Girls on SNL Korea http://youtu.be/264nb9wX0Qo

Are we still doing Kpop Top 50 lists? I did one based purely on personal utility this year:

TOP 10
Miss A - I Don't Need a Man
Sistar - Alone
T-ara - Day by Day
Epik High - Wrong
Infinite - The Chaser
Big Bang - Still Alive
GDragon - One of a Kind
Big Bang - Fantastic Baby
UKiss - Believe
T-ara - Sexy Love

NEXT 10
K.Will - Please Don't
Sunny Hill - The Grasshopper Song
Xia Junsu - Tallentelegra
Block B - Nilili Mambo
Boyfriend - Love Style
Crazyno - Musiche
E.via - Night Blooming Roses
EXID - Every Night
Electroboyz ft. Gaeparta - My Love
Big Bang - Bad Boy

THIRD 10
Miss A - Touch
Tasty - Do You Know Me?
BTOB - Wow
UKiss - Stop Girl (English version)
GDragon - CraYon
Primary - ?
Neon Bunny - Oh My Prince
EXO-K - History
BAP - No Mercy
ZE:A - Aftermath

FORTH 10
Brave Girls - Nowadays You
Spica - Painkiller
BoA ft SYChaserSY - Only One (rap remix)
SPEED - Lovey Dovey Plus
B1A4 - Wonderful Tonight (unplugged remix)
4Minute - Volume Up
100% - Bad Boy
CReal - Sorry But I
Jo Kwon - Animal
E.via - I Know How to Play a Little

FIFTH 10
Kara - Pandora
TVXQ - Catch Me
Girls Day - Oh! My God (areia trance remix)
Nam Soo-Rin - Drive Me To The Moon
Teen Top - Crazy
Fiestar - Vista
Bigstar - Hot Boy
EXO-K - What Is Love
Teen Top - Be My Girl
LEDApple - Let the Wind Blow

Will check this so thanks for posting

I know that I dig the pirate Block B and the K Will (cool video too)

The K Will mv is so great. Twist ending!

I feel like I ask this question every 6 months but what's the best intro BoA album to get

Hard to say. Last two Korean albums have been good but she's got a surprisingly deep discography and some of her earlier stuff touches on great asian pop sounds like Utada's stuff. There's also the JP best-of. Watch this while figuring it out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxbaxNb4egU

Or rather three JP best-of albums: "K-pop Selection", "Best of Soul" and "Best&USA".

Ur welcome.

Actually if I can make an addition - I'll take out Teen Top "Crazy" and sub in B2ST "Midnight". I'm not a fan of the nasal/showtunes B2ST singing style, is why I left it off, but the melody has been running through my head since this morning. This here is an excellent cover.

I like BoA's American album and her latest, but I haven't listened to most of them... top BoA tracks for me are "Hurricane Venus", "Girls on Top" and "I Did It For Love".

Also about the K.Will video (which is great): I've heard that the Korean TV broadcast version leaves off the last 10 seconds. So including the twist at the end doesn't just improve the video, it also sneaks it past the censor board.

Also speaking of subversion, there's Glam - Party XXO, a song about girls kissing girls. It's my #51 pick for that reason, though Cher Lloyd's people will probably want a word with the video director.

Songs that use the same three descending notes and charted well:
Shinnee - Lucifer (2010)
CL & Minzy - Please Don't Go (2011)
Block B - NalinA (2012)
Girls Generation - Twinkle (2012)
A Pink - Hush (2012)

The three notes I'm taking about are the "Hush, Hush, Hush" part of Hush and the "Nalin, <S>Nalin</s>, Nalin-A" part of NalinA.

Better yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz2P11-uU2s

And SKorea's own year-end roundups:

The Color of Kpop, Maddie's review
SBS Gayo Daejun collabs, here
SBS Gayo Daejun solos, here
MBC Gayo Daejun collabs, here
MBC Gayo Daejun solos, here and here.

Haven't watched the solos, of the collaborations nearly all the SBS Gayo one are good; at MBC Gayo Seohyun + three MCs, Shinnee and F(x), Park Myungsoo and guests incl. Crazyno who steals the show for the 10 seconds in which he appears are good. Ailee, Epik High and Koyote also bring it, but those performances are more like solos that happen to overlap with another group than true collaborations. Minzy and Park Bom of 2NE1 in good voice, also.

Just watched MBC Gayo solo stages.

Afterschool's Flashback remix (http://youtu.be/YPN6DTVd5o4) is better than the original. I also kind of like what Kara did with Pandora (http://youtu.be/k9WiJkRvaig), though the original is still better. Sistar Alone rock remix (http://youtu.be/wYjxn7HnoWU) is a miss - they don't have the pipes and the original arrangement is perfect and can't be improved.

Very good performances by BAP, Miss A, 4Minute and TVXQ, as expected. For some reason I like Secret Talk That (http://youtu.be/Bzshr9dOmyk) here where I never did before. A Pink Hush (http://youtu.be/0V8I-OKN5oA) belongs at this kind of event. The fake-out non-breakdown in BTOB Wow (http://youtu.be/8Cw4HOPHdcQ) is hilarious, as are the cameraman's shots of the non-reactive audience. A lot of good performances, all around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwm7IlPO1Uo

this rules a lot

yeah that's good, love that propelling guitar strum

btw the sample is the cover girls' "because of you" (identified by maura) and i think that's really awesome