Something Korean

The above headline, referring to BTS's newest song Butter, is partly coincident with "Bread and butter with jam", the name of the delicious old-time gayo instrumental ending track by a successful Korean band, 015B, produced in the early 1990s. There is more complimentary space for Butter than in closely knitted Dynamite. In summary, the short but stout Butter is better. The instruments spread ou..

I nearly always wonder, my fellow South Korean popular music listeners, have you ever wondered where all that big Shibuya-kei songs have gone? Well, it still serves as pillars of music grammar in today's pop and rock in Korea. And as for putting stuff together, prominent South Korean musicians are busy parading doing just that with that grammar. Meanwhile in the same vein, Elton John has lauded ..

These youngsters have aged well with a bunch of attractive dishes that are their seven track single album, ALONE, released in 2012, and several other fine albums. With ALONE, the listeners may be astonished to find or divine the swirling, raunchy streams of pop and what might be called "nocturn", something a little bit nearer to portraying the girls' candid performances in its sad and breathtaki..

Born in 1932 and passed away aged Feb 15th 2021, Paik Ki-wan was more than an activist for the repressed and the resistance. He had close relationship with words, and was also an author and poet. His endeavour as an activist got him to already and always be there up front in protests, but as said above, there is a lesser known fact; he crafted the Korean language beautifully and coined several n..

Here we seek out our favourite millenium babies crooning. 1 Lee So Eun Orae Orae In December 2002, some rays of sunlight pierced the sentimental ice of Korean gayo winter season. Lee Soeun's feisty voice and Yoo Hee Yeol's (of TOY fame) bold lyrical arrangement soar throughout the splendor of Orae Orae (meaning 'For a long, long time' in Korean and refers to the length of her wait for a lover) i..

음악 / Music, 음악비평 / Music Review 1. 차은주 3집 – 친구의 맑은 음성 차은주라는 분은 낯선 사람들에서 활동한, 오랜 음악인이다. 이 분의 3집 앨범 자켓은 나무그림과 사진이 하나로 합쳐져, 색감이 동화처럼 단순하고 상큼한 일러스트 같은 느낌을 준다. 리메이크곡 두곡을 빼고 일곱곡 정도의 정통적이고 전통적인 가락은 멜로디가 되어 허공에서 울리고 서서히 그 여운이 사라진다. 가사는 또 곡과 어울리게, 친구를 향한 우정의 엑기스, 좋은 음악을 만난다는 기쁨의 엑기스, 이런 엑기스같은 가사가 많다. 결과적으로 듣기 좋으면서도 항상 한 걸음 더 들어갈 채비가 되어 있는 음악적으로 두근대는 앨범이다. 끝으로, 이 분의 목소리. 이 분의 연배가 어떠신지 나는 잘 모르지만 (음악과 별로 상관..

2014년 2월 1일 여행스케치(줄여서 ‘여치’), 모든 앨범을 다 듣고 리뷰를 쓸 만한 가치가 있다고 생각중이다. 이것은 내가 ‘남준봉’ 앨범을 선물받아 들으면서, 예전 콘서트에서 지금까지 낸 모든 앨범까지 모든 그들의 활동이 각각 그만큼 포인트가 있어 보인다고 믿기 시작해서이다. 내가 들어본 이들의 각 곡은 기쁨을 표현하면서 새벽 잠을 깨는 듯한, 어떤 모멘텀을 각자 갖고 있다. 그리고 그 가사는…!! 곡들이 표현하는 장르의 어법에 맞으면서도 하나하나가 서로 다른 시와 같다. 리듬에 구애받지 않으면서 리듬을 그려 나가는 모습이라고 해도 될까. 그 자유의 느낌이란! 이들의 밝은 노래는 ‘98년 내가 다닌 과 노래동아리가 98학번이 모인 뒤로 여치 노래를 가장 먼저 선택해 연습했을 정도로, 정말 맑고 순..

Reeling from the splendid opening of the album in grand arrangement, the new album "One-reeler" featuring girl group IZ*ONE appeals to other young girls with their youthful and dizzy "first love" lyrics, and without the cumbersome (depends on whose opinion you ask) intros. Its vocal is stronger than the usual K-pop doldrums, as you will find in the fragments of ideas and thoughts in the lyrics. ..

Like mini crystal toy soldiers against a glass bowl, Lovelyz's very own 7th Mini Album's intro track Unforgettable rings for just 47 seconds. Going further and repeating itself, this piece reminds us of the magical, snowy atmosphere of Tim Burton's films. Still further, it works as an overarching appetizer for the meal of the whole album. And the magic lasts for the second track, Obliviate. It i..

On screen she creates little mental dances, and on stage, she is making use of her outgoing childlike personality and manners. In Ibadi's 1st and 2nd album, she reveals some of her artistic taste, what she really wants to do, sometimes genre-aware, oftentimes not. Her cherubic vocal work at Clazziquai pushed the public gestures to learn to groove with her, Alex and DJ Clazzi. As solo artist, she..