Saturday, January 31, 2015

[REMIX] SHIMMixes - "BEST OF 2014" K-POP MEGA MASH-UP



Totally knocked it out of the park this year.
Thoughtful and smooth transitions. Great hook choices and overlapping vocals.
Rad.

Friday, January 30, 2015

[MV] Jung Yong Hwa (feat. JJ LIN) - Checkmate


Cool collaboration with JJ LIN singing in Mandarin.
Works really well!

[MV] TEY - Dangerous



The solo projects keep coming.

Acousitc version:

[MV] Vasco (feat. Nochang, Cjamm) - Giddy Up

[ADMIN] It's back!



As I said on Twitter yesterday, I was in the middle of adding new videos and suddenly the blog disappeared. This also happened a couple years ago. I imagine it's because I don't typically make content-heavy/text posts. Whatever. Just got this e-mail:
Hello, We have received your appeal regarding your blog http://kpoppyblog.blogspot.com/. Upon further review we have determined that your blog was mistakenly marked as a TOS violator by our automated system and, as such, we have reinstated your blog. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused in the meantime and thank you for your patience as we completed our review process. Thank you for understanding. Sincerely, The Blogger Team
 Identical to the message I got last time. Fun. At least they're quick about it.

Anyway, up-and-running again. Going to backlog a bit and keep on keeping on!

Thursday, January 22, 2015

[MV] Dok2 - RIATCH



This is like the fourth time this sucker has been uploaded and I've had to change the link. Lol.

[MV] Lizzy (feat. Jung Hyung Don) - Not an easy girl


Lyrics on 1theK's channel here.

Been a long time since we had some oldschool Trot from an idol. It really suits Lizzy.
The film Lizzy is composited into is based on the folk tale Chunhyangjeon.
Orange Caramel's team continues to make creative stuff. Really fun.

[MV] Davichi - Sorry, I'm Happy


D'awww. Cute video. Budapest is lovely.

[MV] 9MUSES - DRAMA


9MUSES back after even more membership changes.

[MV] 1PUNCH - Nightmare and Turn Me Back

Oh dear... prepare for some cringe. Obviously they're going for an obvious throwback to early commercialized hip-hop. The kid version. Kris Kross I guess. It could be kind of cool, but I think it suffers from a similar problem as Zico's Tough Cookie. Referencing a foreign culture so directly, out of context, out of time, and it feels like a disingenuous parody, rather than a tribute.

DEBUT

[MV] Paloalto (feat. Babylon) - Good Times

[MV] U-KISS - Playground

Thursday, January 15, 2015

[MV] Eddy Kim - Apologize

[MV] GFRIEND - Glass Bead

DEBUT


This might be as close as you can get to SNSD's 'Into the New World' without being a cover.
And the dance and outfits, too. Purposefully referential?
Anyway, I love it when girl groups don't wear heels.
Pretty strong debut.

Choreography version:

Thursday, January 8, 2015

[MV] Jung Yong Hwa, YDG - Mileage


My-ull-age. XD
Looks like 2015 is going to be the year of the solo projects.

[MV] HALO - Surprise

[MV] HELLO VENUS - Wiggle Wiggle


........ m'kay.

[MV] Mad Clown (feat. Jinsil) - Fire


Mad good Mad on Mad action.

[MV] Jonghyun - Crazy (Guilty Pleasure)



First major release of the year. The teaser looked/sounded pretty fantastic.
Unfortunately, the full MV fell a bit flat for me. It doesn't feel cohesive and the song seems... incomplete?
Lots of great individual elements that are fighting with each other rather than complementing each other. Cool spider.

The teaser for the album sounds pretty awesome though. Lots of excellent collaborators.
Hoping for the best. I like the SHINee guys and want them to do well.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

[PLAYLIST] KPOPPY's Best Of 2014 : The Eclectic Mix



2015 has arrived! Happy New Year!

There are a zillion top Kpop lists out there. Every fan will have their own unique favorites. My list is not strictly mainstream Idol pop. I like to see an odd spectrum of different styles. The main thread that runs through my top 30 is that each entry has synergy between the video and song. The song offers something pleasing to the ear, is often catchy, and makes me excited when it shuffles onto a playlist. And ALSO that the video amplifies the experience of the song visually, ideally offering something inventive or at least a comprehensive vision in terms of aesthetics.

Link to the full playlist on Youtube

The order is purely in chronological publishing order. But I'll be pulling out some highlights for this post. Onward!

1. Puer Kim - Manyo Maash


Manyo Maash was the perfect start to my year. Fantastic debut, unique sound, dark video. Love everything about it. Her second single 'Bank' is also a rad song and video. I want more Puer!

2. SPICA - You Don't Love Me
3. 40 - Counting Stars
4. Neon Bunny - It's You
5. Orange Caramel - Catallena

6. Lee Seung Hwan - What Happens Only To Me

A video that I haven't seen on any other list. Interesting vocals, the chilling build to a much larger choral sound, and the video is exquisite theater with a beautiful color palette.

7. Park Hyo Shin - Wild Flower
8. Eric Nam - Ooh Ooh

9. Jay Park - Metronome

Unconscious/restrained/struggling women showed up in a lot of 2014 videos for some reason. It's forgiven here (kind of) for being in an overall great video. Love the repetition of metronomes, pendulums, and swinging objects. And the song has been stuck in my head since April.

10. Akdong Musician - Melted
11. 15& - Sugar
12. Kim Yeon Woo - Move
13. AOA - Short Hair

14. f(x) - Red Light


f(x)'s comeback was one of the very few girl groups not falling into the 'overtly sexy' or 'sugary cute' categories. In a year of seeing the same styling over and over again, Red Light was a breath of fresh air.

15. Block B - HER
16. Ra.D - As Always
17. HyunA - RED
18. Taemin - Danger

19. Orange Caramel - My Copycat


Catallena is probably the stronger song and was also a major highlight of the year. But My Copycat brilliantly tapped into all our nostalgia in a delightfully colorful way. I'm hoping Orange Caramel continues down this road.

20. EXID - UP&DOWN
21. John Park - U
22. IU - Sogyeokdong

23. Kiha & the Faces - Mine


Got a great song and no budget? Just dance like a spaz in a warehouse with a few costume changes. This is my favorite music video of the year. No joke. This is forever my jam.

24. VIXX - Error
25. Epik High -Born Hater

26. Purfles - 1,2,3


One of the strongest debuts in all of Kpop. I love the transition in and out of the bridge. Some tight production and good vocals on display.

27. MATE - BABY
28. Hyolyn x JooYoung - Erase

29. MAMAMOO - Pianoman


MAMAMOO completely owned everyone right out of the gate. I would prefer to put Mr. Ambiguous in this list for the song and video, except for the long minutes spent pranking these ladies to the point of tears... ruining an otherwise perfect MV for me. :(
Luckily Pianoman featured these brilliant women, right at the end of the year, with appropriate focus.

30. Guckkasten - Transformation


My favorite 'classic' Idol group videos are Block B's HER and AOA's SHort Hair.
My album of the year is JYJ's Just Us.

[MV] Keith Ape (feat. JayAllDay, Loota, Okasian & Kohh) - It G Ma

[REMIX] SHIMMixes - K-LUBBING 2.0 (July - December 2014 K-POP MEGA MASH-UP)