Friday, August 26, 2016

[MV] ELO - ROSE

[DEBUT] KREATURES - Some Say

[MV] Triple T (feat. JYP) - Born to be Wild

WARNING: Be very careful watching this if you have light sensitivities. I get ocular migraines sometimes and I had to look away for most of it. Ouch.



Station #29

Triple T is Hyoyeon (SNSD), Min (missA) and Jo Kwon (2AM). JYP produced the track.
Seeing the teaser announcements for this was a trip.
JYP on an SM track?!
I wish the MV wasn't such a mess of filters that we could actually see them dancing properly.

Jo Kwon needs to be in things more.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

[MV] SPICA - Secret Time



Dancing on ALL THE TABLES!
Thrilled to see SPICA back in action after their company being a sh*tshow.
I don't think it's the type of thing that'll be a hit, but I personally love it.
Vocals!

[MV] I.NA - Like a Sunshine

[MV] Django (feat. Paloalto, Kim Hyemi) - Play on, Playa

[MV] Urban Zakapa (feat. Beenzino) - Thursday Night



Lovely!

[DEBUT] I-REN - butt



Considered not posting this at all, but it's a good opportunity to mention the fragmentation tally. I assume this group is yet another of those erotic performance troupes... so that's their thing.

But (heh) the response to this is pretty clear. It makes people uncomfortable. They might pin it on being really sexual or what the women are wearing. And maybe that's really what it is for some folks. But just imagine this same video if you could almost always see their faces and expressions? What if you could actually see the choreography? Wouldn't that improve the way you felt about it? Less voyeuristic and more an appreciation of the full performance.

There's like 15 seconds worth of this video with direct camera angles at their faces. 15 seconds of them as people. The other 3 minutes is a parade of hyper-sexualized body parts. I don't know what it feels like to be sexually attracted to women, but I would guess that someone who does know would prefer way more substance than this. It's basically soft-core porn masquerading as a pop act... poorly.

And knowing some of the dark industry stuff about sponsors and that kind of thing makes me further uncomfortable that I'm watching an advertisement to buy these women for their 'services'.
/ramble-rant

79 03

Monday, August 22, 2016

[MV] Two X - OVER



Didn't even know this group still existed.
I think they might have been active in China?

05 06

[MV] Geeks - Divin'



Official channel link

[MV] LABOUM - Shooting Love



Official channel link

Gotta appreciate the energy here.
I see you LABOUM. I see you.

Performance version:

[MV] Ailee - If You



Lovely gospel kind of groove to this one.
Don't often hear an organ in Kpop!

[MV] Jimin Park - Try



Sounding great as usual.

[DEBUT] VX - What You!



These guys debuted and were active last year with 'Fantasy', but this is their first MV and they'll be participating in music shows for the first time. So I'm calling that a debut.

[MV] Puer Kim - Pearls



Official channel link

I think it's all in English... ?
But it's that The KOXX kind of abstract English. More about what it sounds like than what it says.
Love Puer's voice.

[MV] HyunA (feat. Qim Isle) - Morning Glory

[MV] Bambino - Moonlight Shower



Pretty tame for Bambino. Lol.

[MV] ROMEO - Treasure



Official channel link

[MV] Soul One (feat. EVO) - No Jam

NSFW: More naked cartoon ladies, boobies and sexual context.


15 00

Friday, August 19, 2016

[MV] Jay Park (feat. KIRIN) - CITY BREEZE



I am thoroughly transported to the early 90s.
This is some Immaculate Retroception realness. So fun.

[MV] Tymee - Cinderella

[MV] NELL - Dream Catcher

Minor warning for flashing lights.

[PROMO/CF] Yuri X Seohyun - Secret



Station #28

Advertising collab with Pantene hair products.
So much hair swoosh!

[MV] CL - LIFTED



This is finally CL's OFFICIAL official debut in the US.
Exhibit A for why I prefer not understanding Kpop lyrics. Lol.

My initial reaction was "derivative"... which probably sounds snooty.
I have some conflicted feelings. The relaxed vibe of the track is really nice. I think that works. But the lyrics are entirely about getting high and drinking, which I suppose there's nothing wrong with... it's just so common and tired in American music right now.

Also some potential issues with casting almost entirely black men for the video and essentially using them as props to show how cool CL is. Appropriation issues come up a lot with CL and YG in general. This certainly isn't helping things.

The dudes trampolining (?) up that wall she's sitting on was neat. Most everything else feels like pandering to particular demographics in a rather cringe-y way. MRJ expressed a lot of my concerns in his review.

I've been rooting for CL hard since she debuted. Fantastic performer. I just think everything she did with 2NE1 early on was vastly superior to all the stuff she's done recently. I wish she could bring something vibrant and distinctly 'Kpop' to the US market, instead of something like this safe, corporate, cliche-filled creation.

[DEBUT] MASC - Strange



Official channel link

[MV] Agust D - give it to me

[OST] Junsu - Grow Old Instead of Me



For the upcoming musical Dorian Gray.
Likely his last theatrical run before enlistment.
The video was shot in Prague and the location is gorgeous!

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

[MV] NiiHwa - XYZ



Ooo... the simplicity of this track is ... mmmm.

[MV] EXO - Lotto



Chinese version

All that autotune/vocoder makes me feel like it's 2009. Heh.

[MV] Guckkasten - ULTIMATE



Guckkasten still rocking that OGN promotion for League of Legends.

[MV] StellarJet - Right Before A Storm

[COVER] SPICA - Get Lucky



Praying for SPICA's comeback to be awesome.
In the meantime, lovely little ditty of Daft Punk/Pharrell's Get Lucky... acappella with cups, in 360!

[MV] Hanhae (feat. Jeong Eun Ji) - EYESCREAM



Official channel link

[MV] I.B.I - Molae Molae



LOEN put these five together as the underrated Produce101 contestants that deserved more attention.

Monday, August 15, 2016

[MV] Agust D (Suga) - Agust D



This is Suga from BTS. He just released a mixtape [Soundcloud].
Apparently the name is 'D Town Suga'... backwards. D Town referring to Daegu.
Interesting solo project.
My favorite track on the mixtape is the collab with SURAN. Pretty cool.

[MV] BADKIZ - HOTHAE


28 00

Sunday, August 14, 2016

[MEDIA] YOUTUBERS REACT TO K-POP #5



Featured videos:
  • EXO - Monster
  • IOI - Dream Girls
  • Keith Ape - It G Ma

[MV] VIXX - Fantasy



Dark VIXX is back!
Pretty cool. Seems to have some mix issues... could be a Youtube compression thing again. It's a bit muddy or muffled.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

[MV] 24K - Still 24K

NSFW: Weirdly gratuitous gun violence...



Official channel link

Never fails to amuse me how knives get blurred in Korean media, but people getting shot in the head... no blurring necessary? Lol.

[MV] JERO (feat. Giriboy) - Airplane



He has been J'Yo as part of Lucky J.
Going by JERO as a soloist, I guess?

[MV] BeatBurger - VAGABOND

[MV] Sanchez (feat. Killagramz) - Claustrophobia



Official channel link

[MV] Jun.K - Young Forever

[MV] 220VOLT (feat. Gyro, Mirror Boy, D.Ham) - Night Glow

[MV] JAENEY - Tell Me Why



Official channel link

Nice voice.
I think this is actually Jaeney's debut. Here's an Adele cover.

Monday, August 8, 2016

[MV] I.O.I - Whatta Man



HYPE!
This is what I wanted from IOI, post-Produce101. But we got some relatively low energy cutesy stuff. BUT NOW THERE'S THIS!

Is it cheating a bit by building almost the entire song on the Salt N Pepa / Linda Lindell hook? Yes.
Do I care? No.
Is it the kind of repetitive I usually don't like? Yes.
Do I like it anyway? Yesssssssss.

Chungha's (black hair) choreo looks great as well.
It's a shame a few of the other members have already moved onto their groups and aren't involved here...

[MV] Jun.K - Think About You



Caught me off guard for Jun.K.
Not into the styling of the cap and 'locks' look.
Sounds great though.

[MV] J-Min - Ready For Your Love



Rather gorgeous.

[DEBUT] BLACKPINK - WHISTLE and BOOMBAYAH

WHISTLE:



BOOMBAYAH:



At long last, YG's new girl group.
Whistle is interesting. Definitely feels like 2NE1 for the new generation... more than I thought it would.
Boombayah got a little too much Frankenstein treatment for me.

[MV] B.A.P - That's My Jam



Official channel link

Heavily reminds me of something 2PM would do. Pretty fun.

[DEBUT] IMGL - My World and Hey You

My World:



Hey You:



New-ish band that debuted back in April. IMGL = It Might Get Loud

[MV] K.SHIN - Overmind

[MV] Benji (B.I.G) with HEYNE - DUET

[MV] Jin Won and. Lee Ji Ae - Play Hot and Cold

[MV] MONSTA X - Stuck

[MV] D.A.L (feat. Bignose) - Fireworks

DEBUT


Chill.
Bignose is HISTORY's Jaeho.

Thursday, August 4, 2016

[MV] UP10TION - Tonight



Official channel link

[MV] Girls' Generation - That Summer (0805)



Station #26

It's a celebration of SNSD's 9th anniversary this week!

[MV] Koh Na Young - Bucket List

[MV] Stellar - Love Spell

[MV] DUSKY80 - I'm Not Worried



A real dancer!
And accordion! I love accordion!

[MV] K.SHIN - FAM



This was released in April, but I just came across it.
A different groove from most of the rap out there right now.

[MV] 9MUSES A - Lip 2 Lip



New 9MUSES sub-unit with Kyungri, Hyemi, Sojin, and Keumjo.
07 07

[MV] JANNABI - Summer

[MV] Microdot (feat. Jessi) - Talkin Bout

[MV] Ja Mezz (feat. The Quiett) - Memento

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

[ADMIN] Testing new looks...


Exploring possible new templates for this blog. If you're visiting and it looks crazy, know that it's only temporary!

And if you've been a regular visitor and can't stand something that has changed, don't hesitate to let me know!