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!
Popular k-pop boy band U-Kiss recently performed on stage their new(ish) single, 'Neverland' with a little bit of an unexpected twist.
Okay, it never actually quite hits the genre on the head, but there's certainly some kind of seasoning from Dubstep
land in this performance. I'm not sure if I like this or not, but before I say anything else I have to admit that I'm not actually a U-Kiss fan. But perhaps this song could change my ways.
At the beginning it starts out as a little intro - oh, look, they're all dressing up as vampires today, la la la. I like their costumes but feel they could have been better. It was cool to see the cloaks disappear in complete sync though, and their style is fairly cool. (Little bit too much eye makeup though?)
The specific new take on the song begins at 1:55 in my opinion. That is when it starts sounding like a Clazziquai dance track. And I absoloutely love Clazziquai. The light 'wub' at 2:07 is quite good - I could only wish it was done a little heavier and the dancing at this specific point could have been a little more impressive. Sorry U-Kiss fans... I blame it on the fact I associate the dubstep sound with very highly skilled dance routines...;; And well... Your lovely boys are good at dancing, just not the specific style I was hoping to see.
Am I forgiven? Yes? Oh good. I'll continue then~~
The original version of the song is nice, I thought for some reason the dancing in the video was a lot better - but maybe it's because it's easier to see them? I don't know. The song itself has got me interested in what U-Kiss can do, and I will certainly be less dismissive of them in the future. I do hope that the current k-pop cliché to tell the 'DJ' to 'turn it up' will stop very soon. Honestly guys and girls of kpop land, it's really not cool.
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.
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....
I am happy to announce that L~Arc en Ceil is visiting the the UK capital's O2 Arena to preform at April the 11th.
And about time too!
Tickets cost a whopping £55, with £111 being the price of 'special' tickets. We're not sure how 'special' these tickets are, but there's a rumour going around they're for a meet and greet. It'd be insanely awesome to see the band up close by my goodness it's expensive. I've not decided if I'll go yet, but... This is such a rare opportunity, I'm seriously tempted.
Over to Kpop world,
C.N.Blue and F.T.Island have confirmed that they are also due to preform in the UK! There is no date set, but it's meant to be 'early next year'. I only hope it isn't as late notice as the SHINee concert....
I think it's time to start saving up your pocket money UK readers, because it looks like next year is set to be busy!
Korean music can be so brilliant and amazing. Take Tablo's new song, Airbag which is just gorgeous!
And then, theres the new song with Kyuhyun and Yoon Jongshin which is so beautiful....
Admit it, you wanted him to take off more than just his scarf. Didn't you? Yes, you did.
So now you have a taste of good, clean, excellent music, it's time to introduce three Korean pop songs which we know for some reason we really shouldn't like them, but for some reason or another, it turns out that we're actually COMPLETELY ADDICTED. Yes, I'm going on about those kind of songs. And what better way to start of than with SNSD's Gee.
The song is cheesy, far too cute, and very repetitive. Usually I'd absoloutely hate a song like this, but Girl's Generation has a specific charm that no human being can resist. Somehow, I'm pulled into this magical power, and I'm going all Gee Gee Gee Gee for S-N-S-D.
Random Fact:This song is so loved by k-poppers it was used at a flash mob in London.
Also, aren't coloured jeans supposed to be in fashion now? Looks like this band is way ahead on trends ;)
Yes, I love this song. And you will too, once you've listened it a couple of times. SHINee's Ring Ding Dong isn't my worst guilty k-pop addiction, because if you listen to it, it's actually pretty good. I'll be honest, I didn't notice this at first but after a day or two this became the song I was listening to all day ! I love their groovy dancing.
Random Fact: SHINee recently preformed in the UK!
Whoever managed to see them was very lucky =__=
Next up is a song by one of the biggest Hallyu stars, he's appeared in multiple hollywood films, and have created many albums of awesomeness. And now for his most guilty pleasure song ever created...
Rainism -- song, danced, acted, entertained by the one and only Rain Bi. There really isn't much explanation needed in this one, even the lyrics are something that would cause me to stop watching this video. But.
It's.
Just.
Far.
Too.
Sexy.
You also have to understand that Rain Bi a king, he can get away with having a big ego, having the power to stop random people growling at him, and just having that aura of cool.
Sadly, he's joined the military now, but I look forward to his come back in two years time...
Random Fact: Did you know that Rain Bi has had a dance of with Stephan Colbert?
It was such a funny video, but all I could find was a Korean news report about it.
Still quite entertaining to watch though!
And that's it for this post! Let me know your thoughts below, and stay in tuned for a part 2...! (Because we all know that these kind of songs are made quite frequently...)
I'm never 100 % happy when my beloved fandoms enters the UK media, ever since the cosplay-expo incident. Nevertheless, the Hallyu Wave has snuck right in, landing an article in the London tabloid, 'Evening Standard'. I found out about the news here which pretty much says exactly what the actually article says here. In this blog however, I'm going to review the article in a slightly different way.
By looking at it with a stupidly bias method to provoke absoloute insanity amongst readers.
^ That wasn't the original sentence I was going for. I actually wanted to add a really good emoticon, didn't find any on google images but did found this on page 8 while searching the key phrase "suspicious face".
Kim JaeJoong comes up on 'Suspicious Face'?
I should warn you know this blog entry will probably remain quite crazily stupid.
So anyway, I start reading the article, and with my suspicious face on I saw this. Already my bias grows tenfold.
" Every few minutes, a video camera zooms in on the action."
Damn you journalist, you're just referring to this awful camera work from the new Super Junior single... Which was also quite a disappointment as it sounded pretty much the same as their other songs....
Okay, the journalist probably has no clue about this, but I'm very pleased about my excuse to put this video in my blog. The camera work is so awful it can make one feel very sick, so please don't watch it for too long and continue reading the rest of the post to make you feel better.
We've been here about an hour now so we're quite excited," cries a young male voice through the noise. "Big Bang, yeaaah. 2NE1, ahhh," two girls then shriek at the camera, each hoping to get a place inside the tiny venue.
To be honest I see no fault here, it's pretty much true.
Fanboys, screaming girls, tiny venues... That's just how it is. In fact, I feel kinda sad for the Hallyu stars to have to under go all this screaming when they go through airports..
Infact, lets look at these two videos...
This video is what's going on in fangirl and fanboy heads when they see a Hallyu star...
This is what really happens, and believe it or not, this was one of the quieter vids...
Sometimes fans in kpop world can be really, really screechy.
Anyway, back to actually criticising for article for no good reas---
Hold on WHAT?
"K-Pop's three biggest groups - Big Bang, boy group Super Junior and girl pop rappers 2NE1 - have generated more than 45 million YouTube hits between them for their recent singles."
"K-Pop's three biggest groups - Big Bang, boy group Super Junior and girl pop rappers 2NE1 - have generated more than 45 million YouTube hits"
"K-Pop's three biggest groups - Big Bang, boy group Super Junior and girl pop rappers 2NE1"
""K-Pop's three biggest groups"???
.........
LIESSSSSS
Let me correct you Miss Victoria Stewart...
Well done for writing about something you know very little about in quite a nice and honest way..
But never claim to know the three biggest kpop groups in South Korea....
Because otherwise you'll anger these crazy fans and make them chase you...
Ok, I'm just going to post this insanely late post and catch up with everything I've missed.
Sorry for the late replies,
And Miss Victoria Stewart - Thank you for writing about kpop ^^
