K-pop (2014)

@forapper, by the way, isn't it super late/early in Korea? What are you doing awake?

I'm not in Korea, nor am I Korean, LOL. I live outside NYC!

I'll be in Hong Kong visiting friends in late June/early July, though, and I'm thinking of swinging by Korea or SE Asia... either Seoul or Singapore or MKuala Lumpur, I haven't decided yet.

I'm sorry ∞... Akdong Musician get a lot of coverage on other websites though. I like their OST song I Love You.

^Just pulling your chain, forapper

And oh, sorry. I didn't know why I thought you were Korean and lived there.

don't*

AKMU are a little too twee for me but yeah that's their best song, and the video's beautiful.

Taeyang's stages for "Eyes, Nose, Lips" are gorgeous, and he sounds good too. someone on omona said YGE overhauled their creative department this year which might explain why their recent releases have been on point + barely any delays! way to step up.

btw are we not into Crush around here? What rhymes with...

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

What other people call a teaser, History call a "pre-listening release":

http://youtu.be/1gndhS771A0

I love how Kpop companies assume you'll want to buy an album based on who composed the tracks and their degree of sophistication in genre-borrowing.

J4kob D0r0f is an ilxor, no? Dude, if you're still around... thanks for this sweet interview with Winner!

Anyone else following the drama with EXO and SNSD? Fans are approaching Changmin-in-a-spoon levels of detection... they figured out that EXO Baekhyun posted a photo of himself at Taeyeon's house based on the wallpaper, and that a picture Taeyeon posted of two oreos was a coded message to BH because his name means "white black" and the oreos were stacked the same way as the ones on his birthday cake. Apparently.

Crayon Pop!

http://youtu.be/dlg6DkJF3sE

It's for the soundtrack of a show called "Trot Lovers" and it sounds like an Orange Caramel song <-- everything you need to know

Haven't liked Beast's recent singles but this new one is pretty good. chorus keeps getting stuck in my head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs8QGv2VqJA

It's for the soundtrack of a show called "Trot Lovers" and it sounds like an Orange Caramel song <-- everything you need to know

gotta admit, I don't fully grasp what 'trot' music really is but I've really enjoyed the last two crayon pop singles and am curious. I've dug around and the history about how it evolved from enka is really interesting but I haven't found any modern examples that have really done it for me and that's more what I'm after (dance beats, keyboard presets, good stuff like that - basically looking for more songs that sound like "uh-ee").

a little help? recommended comps, mixes, etc. would be greatly appreciated!

f(x) continue to release amazing teasers

https://31.media.tumblr.com/939e40db107cff95a480554044006ad4/tumblr_inline_n7xpvk23iv1qdjb7q.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhrgQdEgL-g

http://www.southflorida.com/music/sf-kpop-korean-culture-south-florida-20140627,0,1290145.story

f(x)! http://youtu.be/iv-8-EgPEY0

They look amazing! Shame about the song though - some great sounds in there, but overall a bit of a mess.

I'm into it. I loved IGAB. I even dug 'Wolf'. Disjointed SM singles get a big 'yes' from me in general.

The other song they've performed, Milk, is also classic f(x) and great https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAo87xaFJAw

lol i hate "IGAB", and can only barely tolerate "Wolf" (the "awwwwoooooooo...."s amuse me).

"Milk" is good though. :D I'm still looking forward to the rest of the album.

f(x) album is out and it delivers for anyone who liked pink tape

Looks like f(x) went ahead and made the indie MV they teased in front of Pink Tape, lol.

Have you guys heard the demo track SM turned into Red Light? It's kind of a better song (http://youtu.be/xJo3DN0Nrzs)

But I also like Milk

Had to double-check to make sure these girls weren't a Jpop group: http://youtu.be/8b9TWbkN0K8

SHINee Jonghyun sharing some self-composed songs on his radio show, of which this is the prettiest

I mean it's clear why SM aren't falling all over themselves to put this out as an album, but they're serviceable... B2ST's Good Luck is growing on me btw.

ummmm B2ST's new mini, Jonghyun's new songs, and all of Red Light fucking kill it. plus the finalized "Red Light" is miles beyond the boring, straightup trap demo.

I can't say which just yet, but I just successfully pitched an article at a HUGE (and hugely influential) publication that stands to be the biggest and most detailed musical discussion of K-pop to date. The idea is to talk about K-pop not as MV countdown, cultural curio, or fashion talking point, but as actual, fantastic music (for once!). I'm substantiating the claim that K-pop has produced some of the most intelligent, adventurous, and challenging pop music in recent times.

I think ILX might have some good perspective here. What are the most MUSICALLY mindblowing K-pop songs you know? Does not have to be a single or have a video, but if it was a commercially successful song then that's a bonus. Examples of what I mean are things like "Rum Pum Pum Pum," "One Minute Back" (SHINee), the "Whatever They Say" a capella by DBSK, etc. "Catallena" stuff. Please rack your brains for me; maybe one of your favorite songs will wind up in a milestone K-pop article!

(didn't want to risk opening a new thread since i'm pretty newb, but do you think this merits it? this is gonna be the most significant k-pop article in yearssss)

I feel like I was just asked to help with someone's dissertation, lol. But OK!

SNSD - I Got a Boy (it's a musical in a single song), MR MR (it has two key changes)

B1A4 - What's Going On (sounds like it's made entirely out of bridges, has five key changes)

2PM - Hands Up (awesome backing instrumental that sounds busy and clean at the same time)

JJ Project - Bounce (shifts from trap to K-hip-hop to rock and back again, v. good and underrated song that was sadly released ahead of its time)

2NE1 - Gotta Be You (can't decide what genre it wants to be but pop-prettified all the way through), Come Back Home (although the genre-switching in this song sounds like a stunt)

EXO - Wolf (harsh-sounding electro-dupstep track promoting madness that's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Mountain-Three-Short-Sleeve/dp/B002HJ377A";>3 Wolves</a> levels of cheesy), also some of the experimental RnB tracks on EXO's first mini like What is Love and Machine

SHINee - Why So Serious (to quote absfk, it's metal/mental, a homegrown version of the crazy tracks SMEnt likes to buy off foreign producers to keep up their rep of being futuristic and modern)

Infinite - The Chaser (has traditional instruments), Destiny (lacks modulation)

TOPDOGG - Arario (has traditional instruments AND lacks modulation!...I think these guys make unintentionally weird songs because they're ambitious while still learning how to write, like Double A and B1A4)

GDragon - CraYon (touched off the many-songs-in-one-song craze)

SISTAR - Alone (pop piano/disco/reggae hybrid)

MFBTY - Sweet Dream (wouldn't sound out of place on US pop radio except it mixes two totally different genres together)

Boyfriend - I'll Be There/Brave Girls - Nowadays You/ZE:A - Aftermath/C Clown - Shaking Heart (dunno if any of these are ground-breaking but Kpop certainly does set its sad/psychotic breakup songs to a faster beat you'd find in most other countries, also the C Clown song and many Shinsadong Tiger tracks surprisingly use traditional instruments for their dance tracks)

Tara - Roly Poly (it secretly speeds up from 126 to 130 beats per minute), Lovey Dovey (ditto but only speeds up during the chorus)

Wa$$up - Jingle Bell (like very few other Xmas songs you've ever heard)

Wonderboyz - Tarzan (I dunno that anyone else is going for the pop-radio-friendly-dancehall-lite sound this song has, for better or worse)

[this list needs more girlgroup songs!]

Overall I'd say it's not that Kpop is more experimental, but that Kpop producers make more of an attempt to incorporate newly popular sounds into songs that are then produced in a crowd-pleasingly approachable pop way, with sticky melodies/traditional instruments/lots of energy.

Not wanting to pigeonhole one group here but I would personally add 'Oh', 'Gee' and 'Boys' by Girls' Generation in there.
When 'Oh' was released I found myself listening to it about 10 times a day, and even now consider it one of my favourite tracks ever - when speaking with friends a lot of common SNSD respect seems to be for 'Gee', a 'mutually loved' track you could say :).
I added 'Boys' too because of that sensational performance on Letterman.

soyrev, will you be covering the hit producers - Brave Brothers, Shinsadong Tiger, Teddy, Sweetune, Primary, Kenzie etc? Most of them have signature sounds which in turn have driven K-pop's big musical trends.

f(x) - Airplane
Someone on here I think described it as sounding like a Max Tundra song, which was a connection I wouldn't have made on my own, but it's quite accurate (Max Tundra never sounded so pretty though). Actually the first time I heard it, I thought of Robyn - the melodies are very Swedish pop.

miss A - Bad Girl Good Girl
I love those gurgling synths

GD&TOP - Knock Out
Diplo samples Cajmere's "Percolator" for a basic af beat, sends it to YG where G-Dragon & TOP, both at peak charisma, turn it into an instant classic party jam. It might still be the best thing produced by everyone involved.

BIGBANG - Sunset Glow
Skittering synths, stunning production on this deceptively joyous breakup track.

BTOB - WOW
New Jack k-pop!

It might have been me calling Airplane Max Tundra. It's that little synth-melody at the end of every chorus (didelide du-diii-du) which sounds so Tundraish to me. And the amazing thing is how the Robyn/Max Tundra sounds are meshed with this blatant edm-drop structure, which is something you would probably never get in Sweden. There is a mix of the sophisticated and the low-brow, which to me underlines how arbitrary those distinctions are in western pop.

Oh I'd also add 'Crayon Pop - Bar Bar Bar' and 'MBLAQ - Smoky Girl' from last year to my list of accomplished tracks.

You could add Duble Sidekick to that list of hitmakers, though some of their songs are misses (Tara N4's Countryside Life and Girls Day Something (which combines are hits, Hyomin's Goodnight Kiss (which is ENTIRELY made up of the chorus and prechorus, no verses) is a miss for me. Hyomin's You Don't Know Women is an excellent recent non-single track though.

Also if you talk about Teddy plz mention his ex-YG cowriting buddy Kush (of S Korea's first reggae group Stony Skunk) as well

here's a list of influential kpop producers that popped up while I was looking for info on History's 'Psycho' (which is dope BTW); http://beyondhallyu.com/k-pop/12-k-pop-producers-composers-know/

History - Psycho (composed by Lee Min Soo and produced by the guy who's done all their releases so far):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJDc5vYw_UE

^yeah that track is so good, even though really not here for yet another k-boyband song about stalking.

Stalking is like History's whole thing though, and they always make it sound creepy and unhinged so I kind of like them for that

in other news, joining the euphemism train with Crush 'Hug Me' and Gary 'Shower Later', there's Beenzino 'Let Me Paint You Like How Jackson Pollack Did' http://youtu.be/Dn0anyrB2mg

Mini is solid and summery, I also like How Do I Look http://youtu.be/oHTQxuMfxaE and I Don't Have to Work http://youtu.be/vz5xwnAiIa8

on the other hand GOT7's smirking 'you know you want me girl' thing irritates me way more, even though it's (supposed to be) more harmless. "A" is musically a nice chill track though http://youtu.be/eISomx-VMow

hahahahaha ok there's nothing euphemistic about that Beenzino track.

guess not, lol.

another producer list http://noonchi.us/article/show/best-kpop-producers

maybe if it was just the jackson pollack reference and didn't also talk about Brazilian waxes and 'in my bed, let me paint you...' etc

It might have been me calling Airplane Max Tundra. It's that little synth-melody at the end of every chorus (didelide du-diii-du) which sounds so Tundraish to me. And the amazing thing is how the Robyn/Max Tundra sounds are meshed with this blatant edm-drop structure, which is something you would probably never get in Sweden. There is a mix of the sophisticated and the low-brow, which to me underlines how arbitrary those distinctions are in western pop.

― Frederik B, Wednesday, July 16, 2014 9:26 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

totally! It ties in with how a lot of K-pop (well Asian pop in general tbh) can come across as cheesy to Westerners - Korean idols aren't really afraid of coming across as campy or OTT, and this extends to the music as well. One of the primary appeals of K-pop, musically, for me, is that (melo)drama is not just embraced but encouraged.

Oh, man, the new INFINITE album! I only just realized it came out. Along with this, which for me is a fine one-song restatement of the greatness of K-Pop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7kaScuQ0KM

^I really love Last Romeo and it says something about Infinite's run of quality singles that that's actually considered one of their weakest tracks.

Also, they're already on their -next- comeback! The music is a little buried here, but it seems the new single is some kind of unholy alliance between piano ballad, "I Will Survive", and squelchy French electro.

"Back": http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x21ox0t_140718-kbs-music-bank-infinite-back_music

And what's more remarkable is that that song was produced by the same guys who did this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZn72SqGljU

(^count as one of the songs that blew my mind musically btw, though not exactly K-pop.)

I can't believe Infinite are ALREADY returning. If we count Woohyun's thing with Key and their instrumental album repackage, did they ever leave? Are they going to be this year's SHINee?

Should be working on something else, but soyrev's question captured me, even if I have time for only minimal answers:

2NE1 "I Am The Best," 2NE1 "I Am The Best," 2NE1 "I Am The Best," 2NE1 "I Am The Best."

CL going beyond effervescent into total incandescence while she and the others prance about in the vicinity of towering, bruising electrodoodles. There's a live version caught on fancam in Singapore that captures the emotional rush.

But I wouldn't say that "mindblowing" is what attaches me to K-pop. I like how disco and Michael Jackson and freestyle and Italopop and Scandopop and Bell Biv DeVoe are living presences, with hip-hop incorporated in ways that seem less forced (or less tough, or something) than in America. Everything in play and seemingly used as easily as fingerpaint. But I can't safely generalize about K-pop any more than I can generalize about American pop. One thing I like about Miss A's "Bad Girl Good Girl" is that you can see the effort, which I find touching and inspiring. And then they followed up their basic R&B with "Breathe," which sounds like half R&B and half comic operetta. Hilarious live performance here (bad transfer, but the best version).

E.via/Tymee, the angriest rapper, is also the most vulnerable and funny. "Shake" and "Pick Up! U!."

My favorite K-pop track is T-ara's slavish (so to speak) Britney rip, "I Go Crazy Because Of You." T-ara are a whole world, one that I don't really understand, but I'm consistently drawn to it. For instance, in the "Roly-Poly" vid, Jiyeon is effervescent without once cracking a smile, an engaging disengagement she kept up in the initial live promotions. And here's a compilation live performance of "Lovey-Dovey" with its poignantly simplified shuffle dance, many outfits, and excited crowd (and maybe T-ara ripping themselves up internally, but you don't see it).

Speaking of Britney, here's BoA doing one of the great dances ever on a Britney discard that fell to her.

My favorite SNSD is a mobile phone commercial for which Bloodshy & Avant simply lifted the chords from their Rachel Stevens song "Sweet Dreams My LA Ex."

Lee Hyori's mobile phone commercial.

UI covers SNSD and Super Junior.

SHINee cover Corbin Bleu and Jay Sean.

Here's Fat Cat going robo-tush on "My Love Bad Boy" (another of my low-fidelity specials).

What's grabbing me now:

Wa$$up "Jingle Bell," which forapper already mentioned.

After School "Shh," funky bottom, smoove top (in Japanese).

Crayon Pop dress like aunties and go Crayon Trot. The young-uns in the audience tap their toes. "Uh-ee."

Badkiz "Ear Attack." Koreans continue to be endlessly inventive on the "Party Rock Anthem" template.

PungDeng-E "잘탕 (잘 시간이 어딨어)." Kiddie-rap being endlessly inventive on the "Party Rock Anthem" template.

(Actually, Jiyeon does giggle along with her mates during the break-free-from-summer-camp bit at the start of the "Roly-Poly" video, but she's absolutely smile-free in the dance.)