(July 2004) Primarily for rap-lovers. Strangely, 5 out of the 14 tracks have no musical content whatsoever, being recordings of one end of a phone conversation. Not understanding Korean, I don’t know whether there is any deep significance in these tracks. The first four tracks I can happily live without. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 216)
BoA #5: Girls on top
BoA’s 5th Korean album is leagues ahead of her 2nd, (No 1). Since then, she’s worked on her voice, and her managers have hired some decent songwriters and pushed the music in a more international direction. Let’s get the final track, 가을 편지, out of the way first, as it’s atypical. It comes as a … [Read More]
BoA #2: No.1
With the emphasis on electronic sounds rather than compositional inspiration, this is not a recommendable album. The robotic drum machine, brainless key shifts and silly noises do not make for engaging listening. BoA’s voice is nothing remarkable, a bit nasal – though not unpleasant. Perhaps the video is worth watching, but I’m not going to … [Read More]
Guy Delisle: Pyongyang – A Journey in North Korea
Guy Delisle: Pyongyang – A Journey in North Korea Jonathan Cape, 2006 An account of a three-month work stint in Pyongyang at around the start of the Bush presidency, this book is neither particularly topical (it’s taken some time to be translated from the original French) nor well-titled. But it sure is original. We’ve read … [Read More]
Loveholic #3: Nice Dream
Loveholic’s 3rd is another great CD, full of good tunes, well arranged, and well sung by the excellent Ji-sun. She has a pleasing, breathy top end to her voice, a nice casual mid-range, but she is also capable of some ballsy rock chick bottom notes. The band that Loveholic most seem to bring to mind … [Read More]
Rollercoaster # 4: Sunsick
(March 2004) A glorious mix of acid jazz, funk, fusion and latin. The latin element is new to this album. The fact that Tyle Brule, the FT’s dude in the fast lane, has it on his iPod, adds to its street cred. Brule’s been living with the album since the end of 2004 and still … [Read More]
Sea-Jin Chang: Financial Crisis and Transformation of Korean Business Groups
The Rise and Fall of Chaebols (Cambridge, 2003) A welcome and very detailed examination of the history and structure of the Korean business conglomerates. The strengths of this book are manifold. First and foremost is the wealth of evidence sourced from the Korea Information Service which provides some raw data for some hard conclusions. And … [Read More]
Humming Urban Stereo: Purple Drop
Humming Urban Stereo combine acid jazz and lounge music, with some Latin / bossa nova rhythms. The sound is largely electronic – rhythms are programmed, and there are lots of fun synthesized effects. The music is written, arranged and programmed by the band’s leader, Lee Jeereen. It’s slick, polished and in the end a little … [Read More]
Shinhwa: My Choice
My choice is a compilation of the highlights from Shinhwa’s first four albums, and so is a good place to start for those unfamiliar with one of Korea’s popular and longest-lived boy bands. One of the more peculiar numbers is T.O.P. (Twinkling of Paradise), a reinterpretation of a famous Tchaikovsky melody, together with some rapping … [Read More]
Rain #1: Bad Guy
Rain’s first album displays his vocal qualities (it’s a good voice), and the range of stuff he’s prepared to sing. There’s a problem though. The music isn’t really distinctive. The ballads he sings are the sort of ballads which lots of K-pop stars are singing. The same key-shifts, the same use of that infuriating tingly … [Read More]
Park Chul-soo’s “Green Chair” and underage sex
This is a film which is not quite sure what it is. (And the remarks below contain spoilers). For most of the film, it’s a rather touching story of a young man (just under 20) and an older divorcee (early 30s) in love with each other. It’s complicated by the fact that the relationship started … [Read More]
THe ThE Band: 4th album
Highly listenable-to guitar-based pop / rock. Both electric and acoustic guitars. THe The Band write all their own stuff, so it’s music that suits them. And they have also decided that the first of the H’s in their name should be capitlised. Not that I’m a great expert, but the sound of the band seems … [Read More]
Rollercoaster # 2: Il Sang Da Ban Sa
One of those annoying albums where it’s hard to say which track is your favourite. You listen to one and think it’s the best; and then the next track comes along and you change your mind. Probably my least favourite is the repetitive and slightly twee title track which closes the album. Mr Kwang describes … [Read More]
Korean alcohol consumption
It’s always nice to know that people are occasionally reading the stuff I write. Aidan Foster-Carter was prompted by my post on the Asian craze for fine wine to trawl his compendious archives, and he forwarded me this interesting piece on Korean alcohol consumption. Though out of date, it does confirm that when it comes … [Read More]
Loveholic #1: F.L.O.R.I.S.T
Loveholic’s debut album is a huge success. Intelligent, tuneful, and varied. Their style is shows a number of influences, including some from the 60s and 70s – I detect hints of Simon & Garfunkel’s 59th Street Bridge Song in the 8th track Come to Visit, some ELO in the background vocals of other tracks (particularly … [Read More]
Bada #2: Aurora
A ridiculously good album. Pop perfection. This is the sort of unpretentious music which has me bopping around the kitchen as I cook. If I were to have a criticism, there’s rather too much synthesizer and computer-generated beats – particularly in the numbers produced by the Japanese team – and not enough human intervention. But … [Read More]