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Yoon Do Hyun: Difference

I often find myself puzzled by the blurb at YesAsia. The editorial commentary on Yoon Do Hyun’s second solo project, Difference, is stranger than usual. If you haven’t listened to the album, it might seem quite informative if you edit out the superlatives:

yoon_differenceYoon Do Hyun, head and vocalist of the K-pop formation Yoon Do Hyun Band offers his fans another great musical treat with a sound that is far removed from that of his and bears his own charismatic touch. Yoon invited other well-known K-pop artists like Bobby Kim, the godfather of K-Hip Hop, Drunken Tiger’s Tiger JK, female rapper T (a.k.a. Tasha), guitar expert Sam Lee as well as the R&B singers Hareem and JK Kim Dong Wook to create new musical magic for his latest solo efforts. Jung Hye Sung who was responsible for the lyrics of Lee Seung Chul’s hit “One long day” penned Yoon’s principal track, the sentimental “Seems to fall in love” (track 1), a mellow mid-tempo ballad that promises to put all Do Hyun lovers in the mood for the rest of his absorbing new melodies!

I’ve mentioned elsewhere that I’m not so hot on musical styles, but I’m pretty certain I can’t detect any rap on this album, and I’m hard-pushed to find any hip-hop either. But what there is is a great mixture of styles, from Motown soul (track 11’s opening riff is straight from James Brown) through funk via Chick Corea electronica, R&B and acoustic ballads.

The most obvious omission from YesAsia’s list of guest artists is the fantastic female vocalist 이미옥 who joins Yoon for a stylish duet in the laid-back jazz number “With You” – the tenth track. It’s an outstanding track, and very different from the remainder of the album. Which is not to say the rest of the album is no good.

Yoon is undoubtedly a versatile musician with a great voice – particularly mellow in the middle and lower ends of his register. This is the first of his albums I’ve sampled, and on the strength of this I’ll try some other ones as well.

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One thought on “Yoon Do Hyun: Difference

  1. Good review! I love Yoon Do Hyun’s music and I love his voice- his solo stuff is just as good as the stuff he does with his band. I do hear Bobby Kim in the fourth track. It’s hard to miss a voice like that. I’m not sure about the rest of the artists that yesasia listed though. I hardly ever read yesasia reviews anyway… they’re not always reliable.

    Ah… ‘With You’ – my sister loves that track.

    Oh! The band just released their 7th album not too long ago actually… I prefer the 1st disc over the 2nd which is filled with a bunch of remakes.

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