Don't get lost in the kpop! | Check out these Kpop and K-indie recommendations

When you become a fan of Korean music, it's easy to get lost in the big old international fandom that is busy dealing with scandals, idol fanwars, the latest haircuts, etc, etc. But it might excite you that there is more to Korean music - even Kpop, than this! Far more! The big old International fandom - as gigantic as it is, often misses out a big proportion of the media, and music from S.Korea, mainly because these bands tend not to have idolising-intentions, nor stem from the big major companies.

And hands up guys, are we really that keen on these big corporations in music?
Really?
Doubley sure?

Korean Music you should check out!

In this post, I shall briefly mention some fantastic K-indie and Kpop bands that might have alluded your eye, while are still enriched in talent. They might sound a bit different, but don't forget, this is large part of Korean music too. Big pat on the back if you recognise any.

Quick Note: I've noticed the music I have posted below seems to go from quite elaborate funk to soft, mellow music, but hey, it shows variety I guess!

Glen Check

Whoa. There really isn't anything else to mention. They are seriously good.

Frenzy (프렌지)

Frenzy is Korean shoegaze indie band that seriously needs more love.
I wrote about them here.
There is no singer, but they are masters of sound.

Mongoose

The singer's voice will be higher than you expect, but it's easy to go along with. This is a synth-y, pretty funky band. The bassist has some groovy rhythms.

Standing Egg

A pretty chilled band. Got to say, I particularly like their music video for 'lalala', as featured above. Standing Egg is great to listen when you're feeling down, or just need some background music for work - they're very uplifting and easy listening.

Adulthood  (어른아이)

Adulthood is mellow and beautiful. The lyrics are often minimal, but sang in different ways when the singer repeats them.

Vodka Rain 

I really like this band. I don't know if it's partly because of their name, but it's defiantly because they are so cheerful and easy to love, really quirky, and just a delight to listen to.



Other mentionable bands:
Donawhale
Misty Blue
Thornapple
Busker Busker
Zitten 곁에
Bluedawn
Monni
316
J Rabbit
Neon Bunny
Dear Cloud

Final Symphony - Featuring Music from Final Fantasy VI, VII, and X! (If you have £30)

Woops, it's been a while since I've posted - but stumbled upon some news that might excite a few readers.

Music from Final Fantasy VI, VII, and X will be played at the 'Final Symphony' in London, May 2013, by the London Symphony Orchestra. It is hoped they will follow the same success as the award winning Symphonic Fantasies events last year and in 2009, covering various Square Enix titles such as Kingdom of Hearts, Chrono Tiger, and Secret of Mana.  Benyamin Nuss will be returning as a soloist to the orchestra, after preforming at the previous events exceptionally.

If you're not in the UK, they'll also be performing in Wuppertal, Germany. If this sounds like your kind of dream event, I would defiantly recommend doing a quick search to see if they'll be coming your way.

Tickets are expensive - from £30 to £65, and are already selling well particularly in Germany. This is an event only for the core fans of Final Fantasy, who are keen on the sound of a well organised orchestra.

http://www.ffsymphony.com/
http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=14201

Good music you should listen to: Part 1

Being a fan of kpop and jrock for quite a long time, new band arrivals such as B.A.P, and EXO are quite exciting for me, because they're new and their music supplies the whole genre an added 'boost' of awesome, and fandom. In particular the Hallyu wave has been pumping out quite a strong year of debuts, and sometimes these can block out other, alternative genres that don't get so much a listen to. With the exception of the success of Epik High and Visual Kei, I think it can be the case in both South Korea and Japan, when equally talented artists don't get so much exposure as those who are involved in the pop or rock sphere.
So here's the beginning of a series of posts to try and tempt you to listen to more alternative sound.

And what better way to start of, with the sound of FREETEMPO.
It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but this music is good for generating a positive, casual mood.

 Even if there are some sadder sounds/themes, Takeshi Hanzawa always includes some kind of reassurance in his music that things'll be fine in the end.

 I had never discovered FREETEMPO until I stumbled it from Youtube, but as far as I can tell most music he makes has English lyrics rather than Japanese lyrics. More information and more tracks can be found at his page on last.fm

Next is DJ Okawari who I've only just recently discovered. His music is deeply varied, from composing a beautiful melody on the piano, to making more technical rthymns.

DJ Okawari is a great composer for the piano.

I find it easy to listen to this artist because the sounds are so varied, he doesn't get boring, which I think makes him a very good, original artist.

Another thing with DJ Okawari is that he likes to use sampling in his music, and I think he does this brilliantly. Check out his last.fm page here.

Now for a few more alternative sounds you may have missed out on:

I have to especially mention Mutyumu as being particually amazing ^

Hope this was interesting to you.

Part 2 coming soon...

A few notes

Hello!
It's been a while since I've updated this blog, mainly because I've not had time to be in sync with the Kpop/Jrock community for a while. However, there's a couple of things I'd like to mention in this post:

Otaku House

I'm really starting to like http://www.otakuhouse.com/. I've never actually brought anything from their stores, but I really prefer the community much better to Tokyo Toys. If, and more likely when I buy something from Otaku House I'll be sure to review it - but I guess the main reason is that they are firmly against SOPA. It's quite obvious why - they'd lose a heck of a lot of business - I guess I just liked their vocal detest against it. Even if they stole someone elses' meme. If you're fine with frequent FB posts and a heck of a lot of cosplay competitions, you might wish to check out their FB Page.

Concerts and Conventions

In London at least, there's a lot of jrock/anime action coming to town!

Starting with the closer events.... Two interesting conventions will be held in London in February.

With their tagline as "London's Anime and Gaming Convention" London Anime Con will be taking place next weekend. With an 18+ requirement and an interesting 'clan system' does this look to be the new alternative to 'London Expo'?

No.

The London Anime Con is part of the AnimeLeague, which is run by the famous "Mr Towers", who is infamous among the anime community. Their general miscommuication and drama usually seed events to fail before they bloom, so I wouldn't count on this convention to compete at all with the famous London Expo.

Is it worth attending?
Maybe - If you are happy to part with £10. If not, you might want to check out Hyper Japan instead.

For an extra £2 on the ticket price you get professional quality and a real alternative to London Expo. If you're fed up of walking up and down the crowded Excel Centre for an empty seat that does not exist and staring at overpriced merchandise you can't afford - Hyper Japan may be able to rekindle your love for conventions. What makes its stand out is that it is a Culture Convention. That means delicious cuisine, traditional and modern art, films and various other aspects of Japanese culture will have their own stalls. So this time you'll be able to walk down the event looking at overpriced objects you can't afford and won't ever see again =)

Hyper Japan does have a few stars visiting that some readers may find interesting, such as Natsuko Aso. I am not a fan of j-pop but I've heard she's quite popular, which might be enough to persuade you to go.

But because I like Jrock so much, I can detect an awesome presence coming to the UK... Yes, I am certain that L'Arc~En~Ciel will be in London on the 11th April, £56.50 for a ticket.
--What?
You heard me right. According to Dada-san from Versailles, (Seriously he's awesome, go add his FB and understand what I'm referring to) Jrock isn't doing too well overseas, and to cover up the costs? Scary ticket prices. The band is amazing though, so is it worth it?

Out of London, there is also Cam Con which some people are quite excited about, as it means finally a local convention in Cambridge. I'm not too sure about it, and as it's so close to London Expo - So I won't be attending, but I'll be looking forward to see how it goes. I hope it goes well, simply because Cambridge isn't too far away from me back at home - it'd be nice to meet some local anime fans.

Not to mention Music Bank in Paris on Tuesday! May not be in London or the UK (well duh) but I know a lot of you UK folks are coming.

Hope the snow doesn't cause any problems...~! And be safe fellow k-pop fans v_v;

Viewers

One last thing to mention, how on Earth did I get so many views?? 873 hits all time is something pretty cool, even if they were google image searches for visual kei pictures.

Shinichi Osawa

Now for something a little different on Yellow Kokoro. Japan doesn't just have an amazing rock music scene, but also has brilliant electronic artists such as Shinichi Osawa, who has really helped create a new genre of music.

If you've not heard of Shinichi Osawa, it's about time you did! Shinichi Osawa is an amazing musician from Japan that is incredibly talented at remixing songs and producing his own tracks. His genres range immensely, and after finding him via a Clazziquai remix, I'm completely addicted. Here's some of my favourite tracks of his.

If you are a BoA fan, I particularly recommend Everything Needs Love - the last video on this post!

(Contains some swearing)

TVXQ gives an outstanding performance!

Fans of TVXQ are currently buzzing over an exceptional performance on Maximum earlier today. The song itself isn't my favourite of the band's releases, but I absolutely love watching YunHo sing his heart out, and the dancing was amazing! Although I will always prefer the band to be with the full five members, this was pretty brilliant to watch.

Music

"Music isn't as good as it was back in my day"

"I wish I was born in the 70s/80s"

"Music is all about auto-tuning and looks now."

"There is no real music of today"

These are just a few of the comments that makes me want to shout...

HELLO!?

Around the UK someone somewhere is complaining - (No surprise there) about the current music of today. Usually every month or so there's some celebrity or near celebrity complaining about modern music and teenagers, and it's getting to the point where it's getting a little bit silly. Every so often the tabloid dribbles it's own thesis, and even some of my dear friends have fallen into the trap of believing that music really is getting worse. Even I joined in believing the statement so blindly that is, until I went to university and listened to different kinds of music I had never heard before. And so, to make a change to the usual Yellow Kokoro standard, I'm going to challenge both statements.

"Music is getting worse"

Firstly, technology and the Internet has made music production a whole lot easier, and there is certainly a heck of a lot more music out there to listen to. All you Gothic rockers out there who criticise that "mainstream music" is a load of poo, well it could very turn out that your precious 'alternative' rock may as well be a mainstream genre for all the contributions it receives on a day to day basis around the world. With so much choice, you're bound to find some kind of sound you like - where in the past there was a time where you'd have to stick with the Beatles or cover your ears.

Because of technology new sounds can be made and thus new genres can be born - and well, if you don't like that kind of music - you can always go back to the more concrete and older genres - "older style" music is still being produced - and if you still, really, really can't stand any new bands or artists that come along in your preferred idea of your favourite genre, then you can just listen to your old music. Bob Dylan's albums and singles are still making money and the 70s and 80s have been able to secure track immortality. Since you can obtain a digital form of "older style" music, music can never essentially be "worse" for you. Instead it remains the same.

"I wish I was born in the 70s"

Do you really wish to be born into a world with a worse health care, less choice of music (and much more expensive means of obtaining music), and (for the UK readers among us...) Margaret Thatcher?

I didn't think so.

"Music is all about auto-tuning now..."

A lot of music do use auto-tuning, but again, there is as much music available that doesn't. Auto-tuning is interesting stuff - and some great songs wouldn't be able to exist without it. Just because a singer in the charts uses it in his or her songs, doesn't mean you have to worry about your precious genres becoming extinct. Recently there has been a trend of 'unplugged' versions of familiar songs - especially with newer bands who want an increase in popularity and admiration.

"Music is all about looks now"

Music has always been on par with style and image, even during the classical-music period. Lets take Adam and the Ants for example.

Sure, some bands of today have a less than desirable image compared to Adam, and some female artists wear rather disapproving outfits but-- That's society for you - and as there is SO much music around, you're going to find decent females who don't look like they're from a late night club down the road. (and for the record, I'm mentioning 'those' kind of clubs.)

To be fair, I have to say that some bands are focusing a little too much on their nails and less on the sound.
And I'm not talking about American or European bands here, I'm mentioning my beloved Visual Kei. Suddenly I've just woken up the jrock readers here.
Recently, a lot of new bands have emerged from the Visual Kei scene with an exciting image, only for their tracks to sound the same as the previous dozen bands that debuted a month or two before them. Please freshen up Visual Kei genres...
Saying that, there will always be good old Kra to turn back to, and Dada-san from Velvet Eden who is always contributing to music and usually making a post or two on facebook...
And some good bands will eventually be born out of the dead buds...

"There is no real music of today"

If you truly believe that - you cannot love music. There has never been a year of outstanding quality and quirkiness when it comes down to music and new sound - you've just got to find it. And next year is just going to get even better....