April 30, 2006
Drunken Tiger - 뿌리
Rating: 7.9
Label: Doremi Media Co.
Release Date: February 25, 2003
Relevant Links: Buy it here.
Life seems hard for Korean rappers. Between all the drinking, battles, and ladies discussed in the lyrics of tunes contained on this album, it’s amazing that Tiger J.K. and DJ Shine found the time to make this album at all.
While the themes may not be all that complex or deep, the flow and rhymes that Tiger J.K. and DJ Shine deliver them with are simply amazing. And the fact that they can go from busting serious rhymes to sound like the frontman to some band that could be performing at Ozzfest all while sampling a piece of classical music (”우리 그리고 너 하나”) is totally awesome.
The tunes might be solid, but this is clearly a hip-hop album. This is made abudantly clear by the inclusion of several completely pointless “skits.” Particularly cringe worth is the track in which the lads do their best “ching chong me chikee Chinee…” imitation. Classy…real classy.
But these few low points do very little to detract from the album as a whole. Tunes I particularly enjoyed include the song, “굽혀진 9자로,” which for some reason reminds me of any of those songs with a message off the M.C. Hammer album 2 Legit 2 Quit (”Brothers Hang On,” I’m looking in your general direction).
Other stand out tracks include “Fist of Fury,” which is awesome for a multitude of reasons, the most obvious of which is the title, and “엄지 손가락,” which has such a dopeass beat (this is a review of a rap album…I’m allowed to, neigh required to use such phrases) it would cause even the whitest fool to put his hands in the air and wave ‘em like he just don’t care…God knows I was.
In conclusion, with the exception of pointless skits, 뿌리 is a totally satisfying album from begining to end, the creation of which seems to be nearly impossible in the world of mainstream Korean hip-hop. Drunken Tiger prove not only to the listeners, but to all other “hip-hop” artists in Korea that Koreans can make a hip-hop album without needing to have crappy techno tunes, or love ballads, or back-up dancers to make it listenable.
April 23, 2006
공부벌레 - 공부가 제일 쉬웠어요
Rating: 6.1
Label: Bissan Trophy Records
Release Date: April 19, 2006
Relevant Links: Download It Here
공부벌레 sound like they had a blast making this recording. They do parodies of the Metallica song, “Enter Sandman,” and Green Day’s song, “Basketcase.” They have two tracks that are about 30 seconds long. There’s some quasi-funk riffs. Vocals sound like Danzig thrown into a blender with Cookie Monster. The entire affair seems like it was really fun to make.
But what about listening to it? How fun is that? The biggest problem this album has is the quality of the recording in particular the vocals. Songs like “신나는 야자시간,” and “흥미로웠던 그해의 고려대 논술,” (both 30 second grindcore tracks) low quality recording doesn’t really matter all that much. On songs like “Enter Jesus!” and “사랑하는 주님 앞에,” the poor recording quality makes it hard to determine if they are doing legit covers of “Enter Sandman,” and “Basketcase,” or if they have altered the lyrics like a Korean grindcore version of Weird Al.
Either way, if you’re the kind of person that likes their rock and roll to feature more screaming and less singing, or you are a self-proclaimed (or perhaps board certified) indie rock snob, check out 공부벌레. Even if you don’t fall into either of those categories, still check them out: it’s a free download for god’s sake. If you don’t like it, delete it.
December 28, 2005
The Trax - Rhapsody
Rating: 1.4
Label: Avex
Release Date: April 20, 2005
Relevant Links:
Seriously Japan, what is wrong with your music industry? Do people honestly pay $11 for two songs? That’s right kids, Korea’s favorite (or perhaps second favorite after Buzz) boy band with guitars are back with this single. The lads apparently have had more sucess in Japan than their native land, and therefore released this Japanese language single for their fans in Japan. Two songs, more than $11 US…these tunes better be the most awesome songs ever! Let’s check it out.
The very second the first of the two tracks, “Rhapsody,” kicks in it becomes painfully obvious that this is a rock ballad. The riff in the begining of the song isn’t that bad, but the song goes on far too long for my tastes. Rock ballads, if properly executed, can be decent, but this song is just over wrought and boring. Overall the song is very similar to the rock ballads of the hair metal bands of the 1980’s, only with Japanese lyrics.
The second track, “Vampire,” starts off sounding like something off a crappy Batman soundtrack with rediculously arranged “creepy” strings and someone announcing something that sounds like, “Ladies and gentlemen thank you for choosing vampire, but don’t do anything you’ll regret,” before they turn up the heavy metal knob in the production booth and kick out the jams rock and or roll style.
The song features some woman (or perhaps a really feminine sounding dude), proclaiming, “I need your love,” in the first verse while Jay Lee busts some crappy rap-rock lyrics. The chorus seems to have been written with that “screaming is good” mentality in the mind of the composer. As a whole the song does not really get that far away from something that would show up on a crappy superhero movie soundtrack, which is not a good thing.
All in all this CD is no where near worth the price of admission. $11 bucks for a couple of mediocre songs? Sorry kids no dice!
March 28, 2005
El - Soft Breezes
Rating: 7.2
Label: Fish Eye Studio
Release Date: September 4, 2004
Relevant Links: El’s Homepage
El has a dreamy pop-rock sound that some might label as “emo,” but since I think that term is dumb I’m not going to do that. The majority of the tracks on the album feature both acoustic guitar playing jangley chords and electric guitar playing reverb drenched leads, with rocking bass, drum, and keyboard support.
Vocalist, Kyo, has the sensitive “heart on my sleeve” guy delivery commonly found in a lot of “emo” bands, but he can also give some epic, intense performances (think Bono from U2), without venturing into the realm of screaming.
As for the tunes, this album as a whole, is pretty laid back and mellow. Nothing found here is going to the soundtrack to a high speed chase, but these are good tunes to listen to while having coffee on a Sunday morning. Tracks like, “캥거루를 위하여,” in particular sound like the kind of tunes that a guy at a coffee shop would play.
Sonically the band has some similarities to the more mellow Jimmy Eat World (”For Me This Is Heaven” as opposed to “Bleed American.”) The is especially true on “Hotel Africa,” (both versions), which mix drum machines and synths with the guitar, bass, and drums.
But the band these guys sound the most like is the Korean band Nell. El is basically Nell without an N and L, and aside from the similar names, the two bands have very similar sounds. It’s not a bad thing, just don’t be looking for either band to really rock your socks off.
March 25, 2005
Lazybone / Johnny Royal - Our Nation Vol. 4
Rating: 6.4
Label: Drug Records
Release Date: June, 2000
Relevant Links: Buy it here.
Drug Recoreds are back with another installment of the Our Nation series. This installment pairs ska-punk pop band Lazybone with the unstoppable fury that is Johnny Royal.
Lazybone kick off the album with a bunch of craptastic ska influenced jams. Ska has never really been my thing, and the tunes Lazybone have to offer are nothing to really get excited about. That being said, they aren’t really bad songs either…they’re just kind of bland. A few of the songs have decent parts, but these are quickly aborted. For example, one of the riffs in “비상구,” is close to being rocking, but the rest of the song is boring paint by numbers ska. The laid back, jazzy verses of “Why Don’t You Smile?” (complete with Bobby McFerrin whistling) transitioning into manic punk with wailing guitar solos is pretty decent as well, but the song is entirely too long, and I for one was bored by the end of the song. That’s the problem with the bulk of the Lazybone tracks: they are just far too long. I really don’t care to hear a ska riff for five minutes before moving on to a different track that has a “different” ska riff (again being played entirely too long).
Additionally these songs feature a ton of non-ironic 1980’s style wailing guitar solos. Not since Van Halen 1984 has there been a higher concentration of wailing guitar solos (and guitar face) in an album.
Johnny Royal can be summed up with one word, and that word is “Awesome!” There seem to be Johnny Royal modes of rocking: hardcore and rap. When in rap mode (on tracks like “로보트 나라 [Robot Country]”) they sound kind of like the Beastie Boys. When in hardcore mode they are fucking insane. “빈대부랑자의 격파차기,” starts off with a sample of a woman singing in a traditional Korean folk style before off the wall drums and guitars come in assaulting your ears like the Kool-Aid man bursting through a brick wall.
One of the best things about this band is that they have three singers. In rap mode they trade off verses like, well the Beastie Boys. But in hardcore mode, the singers work like 1980s tag team wrestlers. They bellow until they can’t bellow anymore and then someone else comes in with fresh bellowing.
Rarely do the the rap mode and hardcore style meet, but when they do (like the track “Homeless”) the asskicking fury delivered is as intense as it is unstoppable. This is not to say Johnny Royal are over the top Macho Man Randy Savage style hollering. The largely instrumental track “동해바다” calms things down briefly, and “파괴지왕” has some outstanding Tom Morello style guitar solo.
Overall, the Johnny Royal tracks are a lot better than the Lazybone track, and are almost mighty enough to make up for the fact that they are on an album with ska.
March 19, 2005
눈뜨고 코베인 (Nunddeugo Cobain) - 파는 물건 EP
Rating: 6.6
Label: 눈뜨고 코베인
Release Date: October 11, 2003
Relevant Links: Band Homepage
If 눈뜨고 코베인 hailed from America, 파는 물건 would be the kind of album kids would make after discovering their parents actually had a decent record collection. This album is chock full of psychadelic and class rock sounds. The bulk of the tracks on this album feature some of the best organ work this side of Deep Purple.
Aside from the band’s sound there are other classic rock aspects to this album. Though only containing 5 songs, this EP clocks in at over 26 minutes.
눈뜨고 코베인 are not simply a band hell bent on rehashing the sound of the late 60s and early 70s like some (cough cough phish cough). The band also flirts with reggae/ska on a couple tracks (그자식 사랑했네,” and “외로운 것이 외로운거지,”).
And on the outstanding track, “그대는 냉장고,” they dabble with new wave. This song also includes some of the best lyrics ever: 그대는 아이콘…추워! 추워! 추워! 추워! (That machine is an air conditioner…COLD! COLD! COLD COLD!)
The band is an extremely awesome live group, and this EP is able to capture that energy. Be sure to check it out if you can, and definately check them out if you’re ever in Seoul.
March 13, 2005
Viva Soul - Youth On The Road
Rating: 7.3
Label: Warner Music Korea
Release Date: Feb. 22, 2005
Relevant Links: Buy it here.
When I first heard Viva Soul on Our Nation 5, I was incredibly impressed by the odd take on hip-hop they presented. When I learned that Viva Soul was in fact made up of members of 18 cruk (a disbanded Korean punk group), I both understood why the songs were so weird, and came to the conclusion I’d never see another Viva Soul release. How surprised was I the day I discovered this album at my local record shop.
One listen reveals how much Viva Soul’s sound has changed. While the Our Nation 5 songs were punk kids doing what they thought was hip-hop, the songs on Youth On The Road, are legitimate hip-hop. That being said, Viva Soul are still a far cry from being a “Throw your hands in the air and wave ‘em like ya just don’t care!” rap group. Live instruments are featured on the bulk of the tracks, and Latin rythms (samba, bossa nova, etc.) pepper the album.
The album’s first single, “Swing My Brother,” features jazzy, honky-tonk piano, a brass section, and the lads busting rhymes over Roaring Twenties grooves.
The album as a whole is a lot more laid back that their previous outing. This is most obvious on the track, “Music Picnic,” (which appears on both albums). The Our Nation 5 version was a frantic mass of sound, featuring a flute riff, that expounds upon the virtures of funk music, hamburgers, and beer. The version on this album, while still keeping the message that hamburgers, funk, beer, and rock music are good things, is a lot more subdued, it’s something you could groove along with during a summer time drive to a beach. The original version was something you’d be blasting at a house party, but that’s kind of how this album is. It’s good music for chilling out with your friends, but not raucous enough to get a party started.
February 12, 2005
Propeller21 - We Are Moving On Forward
Rating: 9.2
Label: Skunk Records
Release Date: 2004
Relevant Links: Propeller21’s Homepage
We Are Moving On Forward is 11 minutes of punk pop madness. It rocks hard and fast, yet is catchy and infectious enough that you’ll be humming it as you run through the streets in Converse sneakers.
After hearing Propeller21’s outstanding track on We Are The Punx in Korea, I made it my it my mission to locate more tunes from these guys. I scored this EP, and it has not left my player since.
The first track on the album, “Dirty (Pop is Dead),” is a crunchy, Weezer-esque poppy number, which is almost laid back. If “Dirty (Pop is Dead),” was laid back, the second track, “ThreeBluePig” is anything but. It’s a track tailor-made for skateboarding, riding a bike, or running through a city. Fast and furious, it also includes the best chorus on an album…ever!
Lose some weight and wake up fat ass
I will bust your head
tell mom to suck your cock, fat ass
I will bust your head
I mean “I will bust your head?” How can you not dig that? It’s worth mentioning that all of the songs are sung in English, though without the lyrics sheet, you’d be hard pressed to know what is being said.
The other two tracks on the album (”Last,” and “Someday,”) are more fast, in your face anthemic punk, but the surprising thing about this is, for as fast as it is, the songs are extremely melodic. Each of the tunes on this album (including the piano outro after “Someday”) are ladden with pop hooks.
This album is outstanding, and I am looking forward to hearing more from these guys.
February 9, 2005
Seo Taiji - Take 2
Rating: 8.2
Label: Yedang Entertainment Company
Release Date: July 7, 1998
Relevant Links: Seotaiji Homepage
To say Seo Taiji is a legend in Korea is an understatement. I’ve seen articles that compare him to Micheal Jackson, Kurt Cobain, and John Lennon all in the same breath. He has been one of the most influential artists in the history of Korean pop music.
With his group Seotaiji and Boys (서태지와 아이들), he brought new styles of music (rap, alternative, metal, etc.) to Korea. The group became one of the most popular and respected groups in Korea.
Take 2 is Seo Taiji’s first go at it alone (the “Boys” are no where to be found on this disc), and he turns in a solid effort. While Seo Taiji’s past discs have offered up hip-hop, ballads, rockers, and so on, this album is a straight rock album (sorry ladies, no smooth r&b ballads).
Of the nine tracks on the album, only six are fully formed songs. The tracks “Maya,” “Radio,” and “Lord,” are kind of half formed intermissions, but even those 30 second tracks are awesome. “Radio,” had about 4 or 5 awesome riffs in it’s brief play time.
As for the actually songs, the bulk of them tend to stay in the alterna-rock circa 1996 realm. The songs “Take One,” “Take Five,” and “Take Four,” would have been at home at any alternative rock station in the mid to late 90’s. I can easily invision “Take Four,” being played between Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Pearl Jam tunes. The track “Take Three,” with it’s hefty low end, chunky riffs, and bizarre squeally guitars would appeal more to fans of Korn. “Take Six,” is an upbeat punk pop tune (cough Green Day cough cough), albeit with actual singing.
And what would an alternative rock album be without a secret song? This album features one more (unlisted) instrumental track to close out the album.
While it’s easy to hear a lot of influence from American artists, Seo Taiji is able to take those elements and put his own stamp on them. The end result is a fairly unique album.
January 21, 2005
Couch - Pogo Till We Fuckin’ Die!!!
Rating: 7.3
Label: Skunk Records
Release Date: September, 2003
Relevant Links:
I’m going to try something different here, I’m going to write this review as the album plays. When the album is finished, so is the review. I’ve previously listened to the album, so this is more an experiment in my typing speed than anything else, since I know what I want to write. Ready, go!
So what we have here is a four song EP from outstanding oi! band, The Couch. With scant over ten minutes of tunes, the Couch pack a lot of punch into this EP. The first song, “청춘이 간다,” is an extremely catchy song with an outstanding hook. At the same time, it retains a gritty beer drenched feel.
“밤의 무법자,” is fast and furious, with a sing along chorus, and more drunken street punk riffs than you can shake a 40 at. It kind of reminds me of Social Distortion for some reason.
“Watch Out,” is my favorite track on the album. Again it sounds like 20 drunk punkers are singing. The Couch can really craft some catchy choruses, and do so again on this track. There is definately something to be said for the simplistic, children’s song like take to the lyrics these guys (and lady) are rocking. Oh the guitar solo in this song is awesome as well.
Ah, we come to the title track, “Pogo Till We Fuckin’ Die!!!” (though the album might actually be called “Oi! Oi! Let’s Pogo Dancing”). This song is fairly typical street punk material, but is a lot of fun.
In all this album is pretty awesome. The Couch rock hard and fast and are outstanding music to listen to while riding a stupid red bike with a basket on it around a major city in Asia.
January 15, 2005
Crying Nut - 서커스 매직 유랑단
Rating: 6.6
Label: Drug Records
Release Date: November 1, 1999
Relevant Links: Buy it here.
There’s no doubt about it, this is a punk album. It has “Woah Woah Woah” choruses, dudes yelling “Oi!” and 2 minute, three chord blowout. But to say this album is only a punk album would be dishonest.
Over the course of this album, it becomes abundantly obvious that Crying Nut is a band who’s members have multiple personalities. They are constantly jumping from genre to genre, like a sex craze monkey jumps from tree to tree looking for new things to fuck. Like said monkey, Crying Nut don’t stick with one genre for too long.
The first track, “서커스 매직 유랑단,” sounds like a punk rock take on Russian folk music (complete with accordians folks), while “강변에 서다” sounds like some sort of ska-metal hybrid.
The amusing/awesome/frustrating thing about this blending of styles is the fact that you will get an old school spirit of ‘76 punk song followed by a smooth jazz number featuring a xylophone. This is an album that keeps you on your toes. Even in their punk tracks, Crying Nut mix it up on you. “배짱이” features (in addition to “Woah! Woah!” choruses) some fuckin’ flamenco guitar work, and “군바리” has trumpets (which aside from doing typical ska trumpet stuff) rock some military style battle calls.
There are moments when all this mixing of genres falls flat. “탈출기 (바람의 계곡을 넘어…)” sounds like a walk through Sibera, complete with some wind sound FX. The song is slow and plodding and pretty much kills the energy the album had going on. This track aside, there are a couple other tracks that are a tad too long (especially for the short attention span of most punk rock fans).
These small things aside, the album is fairly solid. Crying Nut avoid the problems a lot of other artists who the the “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to writing. While others comes across as either too cluttered sounding, or listless, Crying Nut are able to experiment with different styles and instrumentation will maintaining a distinct sounds, and more importantly remaining listenable.
January 9, 2005
Our Nation Vol. 5 - Viva Soul / Pastel
Rating: 6.5
Label: Drug Records
Release Date: October 22, 2002
Relevant Links: Buy it here.
Up until this point, I was under the impression that Drug was a punk label, and that the Our Nation series were punk albums. Apparently that is not the case, as there is very little punk involved in this album. What we do get are an indie hip-hop group, and a female-front disco-pop outfit.
Viva Soul, a hip-hop group, make up the front end of the album. I’m not going to pretend like I know a lot about rap and hip-hop, because in all honesty I don’t. What I do know is that Viva Soul are really awesome. They play some really upbeat, old-school sounding hip-hop. Additionally, they play actual instruments (at least according to the liner notes where the various members are credited with instruments). “Green Hill Ground,” for example, is all about the wah guitar in addition to the record scratching. In a sad testament to how little I know about hip-hop, the only other group I could compare them to is another Korean hip-hop outfit, Epik High.
Like I have already said, I really enjoyed Viva Soul. The one complaint I have is out of their six tunes, one was an 18 second skit, and one was a remix (though in all fairness, the remix has very little in common with the original musically).
I’m a tad enraged I purchased this in the dead of winter, because the Viva Soul tracks are decidedly summer jams, like Fresh Prince’s (Will Smith’s) “Summer Time.” God I’m lame!
Pastel are two women with a guitar and a bass, and a drum machine / studio drummers that can do disco beats…oh and keyboards that do K.C. & The Sunshine Band sounds (fake trumpets and the like). The play really upbeat pop rock, and come across kind of like a less rockin’, more disco version of the goofy Japanese pop rock outfit, Shonen Knife. This is not to say Pastel doesn’t rock out at all. On the tracks “말해,” “Movie Star,” and “날씨흐림,” the ladies of Pastel indulge in some rock, but somehow come out sounding like a cross between Shania Twain and Huey Lewis and the News. The tracks that fair better are “푸른 눈동자,” and “Day dream,” both of which, incidently feature members of Viva Soul.
While past Our Nation installments are tailor made to be listened to prior to heading out to a rock show, or while driving 90 miles an hour and the way to said same rock show, Our Nation 5 is perfect for a dance party. And inspite of my inability to dance (ask about my drunken trip to a goth dance club) I have to give this album 3 thumbs up…er a rating of 6.5.
December 29, 2004
Run Carrot - Oi!
Rating: 6.5
Label: Cujo Entertainment
Release Date: April 2001
Relevant Links: Run Carrot Info (in English).
BALIFF: Case 6823-7A: The People verses Run Carrot. All rise for the honorable judge.
JUDGE: You may be seated. Run Carrot, you are charged with false advertising and decieving the public. How do you plead? Not guilty eh? Alright then, let’s proceed…prosecution you may begin.
PROSECUTOR: Thank you your honor. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, today I will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Run Carrot are guilty if deliberately decieving the general public with the title of their album, Oi! Over the course of this trial, I will demonstrate how this band is nothing like an oi-band, therefore making this album’s title the biggest deception in titling since The Never Ending Story.
I present exibit 37-B, the album cover. Just look at that grainy black and white photo. One of the defendants is sporting a leopard print dye job, and the title and band name is scrawled across the front in what forensics has to determined to be spray paint. This album clearly looks like any other street punk album, but if we were to put it in the first groove and let it wail, we would quickly learn that this album is anything but another street punk album.
I present exhibits 103A-103G, the songs of Run Carrot. The bassline and frantic guitars are pure Green Day and Blink 182, not the Damned, and the lyrical delivery are bordering on emo, not oi, particularly the plantive crys of “Blue sky! Blue sky!” at the close of the song.
“내게 무얼 마라니,” and, “말보로 인생,” continue the band’s foray into the realm of punk, but again, these songs are more melody than mohawks. They are fast songs, with moments that would be opportune for shouting “Oi! Oi!” yet Run Carrot, do not do so.
“시발놈아,” comes the closest to using the word…syllabel…phrase, “oi,” but after careful analysis, it is clear that they are saying, “ah!” not “oi!” While the two are close and “ah” is almost “oi,” a wise man once said, “Almost only counts in horseshoes and handgernades.” That being said this song is the most drunk punk song on the entire album. The lyrics are comprised of Korean profanity (the title alone could be translated to something like, “Fucking Bastard,”) something like “Fucking Bastard! Fucking Bastard! Fuck off!”
“Oh Got You,” is back into the realm of punk pop, with harmonies for God’s sake! You have the nerve to name an album Oi! and then put Beach Boys-esque harmonies on it as opposed to vocals that sound like Cookie Monster vomiting razor blades…for shame Run Carrot!
“I Got No Pay,” and “20살까지만 실고 싶어요,” and both some 3 minute punk pop tunes. Again they owe a debt of gratitude to the Offspring, most certainly not the Exploited. The songs are catchy as hell, and anthemic, but again lack any use of “oi!”
In closing, Run Carrot are not an oi band. This makes them guilty of not only false advertising, but of crafting seven upbeat, catchy punk-pop tunes that are dangerously infectious. I rest my case!
JUDGE: Council.
DEFENSE: I’ve go nothing.
JUDGE: Then jury you most deliberate.
JUROR 7: No need, your honor. We find the defendants guilty of the crimes of creating catchy skate punk tunes.
JUDGE: Then I have no choice but to throw the book at you, Run Carrot. I sentence you to a leg of the Warped Tour!
Editor’s Note: This court case in addition to be incredibly poorly written is completely fictious. Run Carrot are a real band with an album named Oi!, which sounds like Blink 182 or Green Day, most certainly not an oi band. Aside from that, everything else was a figment of the author’s imagination.
December 24, 2004
Various Artists - Queen Teenage Visual
Rating: 5.0
Label: Queen
Release Date:
Relevant Links:
Mediocracy is really difficult to write about. A really outstanding or terrible work invokes some sort of feelings and is therefore much easier to write about. That being said, it is with a sense of indifference I present this review.
Before I get started, it is critical that you understand the premiss of this album. Queen Teenage Visual is a compilation of visual rock, better known by it’s Japanese title, visual kei. Prior to my discovery of this album, I was under the impression that visual kei was only popular among teenage Japanese girls, and Japanese pop culture obsessed westerners. Much to my surprise, there are enough Korean fans of this music that a handfull of Korean bands doing visual kei exist.
So you are still wondering what visual kei is exactly. I’m not going to pretend to be an expert, but, like the title suggests it is music that relies heavily on theatrics and (big surprise here) visuals. Some of the bigger names in this genre are Gackt and Dir en Gray, both Japanese. Please bear in mind that I am only assuming that they are big since I, who could give two craps about this style music, have heard of them.
As a point of compairison, these bands look like a cross between Marilyn Manson, Shout at the Devil era Motley Crue, and that goth / vampire kid in your 11th grade English class. But this only speaks of their look. What does it sound like you ask? In general visual kei takes 80’s glam metal to use as the basis of their sound. Onto this they graft on orchestral and opera elements. The end results come out sounding like some kind of final boss video game music. But the sound is pretty much irrelevant, since as we have already discussed, this genre is refered to as “visual” rock. Perhaps a better moniker for visual kei would be, “beautiful asexual men that teenage Asian girls (and chunky western Japanophiles) can have crushes on and swoon over,” rock, since that is pretty much the premise behind these bands. Get a bunch of asexual pretty boys in spandex and cloaks and the girls will just go ape shit. It often seems that the music takes a backseat to the kabuki theatrics, big hair, and oddly shaped guitars.
That being said, here’s a review of Korean bands, doing visual kei…such a pointless review begins…NOW!
The album offers up 10 tunes by 6 different bands, so in most cases we get to sample a couple tunes from each band. The band Kloud offer up the most dramatic songs on the album. They’re all synthesizer string sections and 80’s hard rock “meedley meedley” guitar solos. And, one of their songs has a harpsicord in it…I’m not even joking! For those of you in Japan who know who or what Gackt is, Kloud sound a lot like him.
Ray offer up two songs as well. In “High,” the singer’s inflection is really strange (the first time I heard it, I wondered if he was singing in Japanese). Musically that track is more over the top visual rock (though not as extreme as Kloud). I actually liked the other Ray song, “Get Your Mind.” It is a lot more straight forward in it’s rock and stays clear of the faux orchestras.
Lluvia are not so courteous. They provide a pair of tracks, a good 80% of which sound like they were made using a Casio keyboard and a laptop.
Guyz (yes, with a Z) vere into the realm of techno metal. The riffs in “Come on Back,” sound like they could have been a Judas Priest song, but on top of these riffs are all sorts of weird keyboard space noises and electronic drums. Their other track, “Virus,” mixes quasi nu-metal with more space noise, and a really 80’s sounding rock chorus. The singer goes from sounding like Adrenaline-era Chino (singer from Deftones) to Sebastian Bach (singer from Skid Row) at the drop of a hat.
The band Skinship offer up some quasi rap-rock nonsense (Kid Rock not Rage Against the Machine) with 80’s guitar solos. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this band us their name. Skinship (스킨십) is such a Konglish word! Like Voltron, it combines two lesser words: “skin” and “relation(ship)” to form the mighty skinship. At first I understood this term to refer to sexual intercourse, but apparently it refers to any and all touching (holding hands, kissing, hugging, ect.) regardless of gender or age. So when 5 year old boys in my class run up and grab my arm, they are demonstrating skinship…whatever.
The Mad Fret song sounded so much like Metallica, I half-expected James Hetfield’s mustachioed growl to kick in. It did not. Instead I was treated to some eunuch sounding dude (it might have actually been a woman) that would have made Geddy Lee (from Rush) proud.
I’ve listened to a lot of contemporary Korean music (rock, rap, pop, metal, and everything in between), and out of everything, this was the first album that sounded really foreign. Pop a Korean indie CD in and you’ll hear Nirvana and Radiohead’s fingerprints all over it. Listen to Korean pop music and you’ll hear similarities to the top 40 nonsense on the radio in America. This CD was unlike anything I’ve previously heard, but perhaps that is because these guys are borrowing Japan as opposed to the West.
December 13, 2004
Various Artists - Smells Like Nirvana
Rating: 6.0
Label: YBM
Release Date: September 1997
Relevant Links:
With the recent release of the Nirvana box set, I decided it was high time I review some Nirvana related Korean music…for this reason I bring you a hastily assembled review of Smells Like Nirvana, so come on and party like it’s 1992!
Tribute albums are incredibly risky business. More often than not they are filled with a bunch of unknown bands butchering your favorite band’s tunes. This album keeps both the unknown bands and the butchering to a minimum.
The album begins with Weeper (no, not Weezer) doing a pretty straight forward cover of “In Bloom.” Weeper’s own material pretty much sounds like Nevermind era Nirvana, so I didn’t expect anything too bizare, and figured they wouldn’t do too poorly covering this.
Next up on the docket is Crying Nut. Crying Nut is the big name in the Korean indie / punk scene (Crying Nut were the ones who got big and went on game shows, were played on MTV, ect.) Crying Nut offer up an extremely upbeat version of “Verse Chorus Verse (aka Sappy)” here labeled as “Everything and Nothing.” The Crying Nut version adds a lot of energy to the downbeat (albeit poppy) original version, and save for some heavy accents (”raundry room” verse “laundry room”), the song is outstanding.
Bad Boy’s Circle cover “Polly,” and again it’s a fairly straight forward affair. This is the rock version of “Polly,” not the solo acoustic version found on Nevermind (which is fine with me). Bad Boy’s Circle do take a couple of liberties with the song, giving the verses kind of a ska feel, and tacking on some funky, rock outro onto the song, neither of which really detract from the song.
Bad Taste are saddled with the duty of covering “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” and they kind of drop the ball. The song is kind of hollow, and overall not very impressive. After the first time I listened to the album, I thought to myself, “That was odd, a Nirvana tribute without ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit?’” When I looked at the track listing I discovered there had infact been a cover of it, but said cover was just not that memorable. That being said, the song isn’t really that bad, it’s just kind of mediocre.
The same can not be said of Rainy Sun and their version of “Dumb.” This song is just god awful. To start with, they abandoned all the elements that made up the original version (melody, rhythm, instrumentation, and most of the lyrics) and replaced them with crap. The music is trying way too hard to sound creepy and mysterious, and the singer sounds like the aborted love child of Marilyn Manson and Layne Staley. Avoid!
No Brain bring us back to name brand punk rock, and give us a sneering, vaguely ska cover of “Lithium.” It’s a decent cover, but it’s also clear the singer didn’t pay attention in English class…the dude’s pronunciation is terrible (datsu ok mai wirrr is gud).
Cocore’s cover of “Spank Thru” is dead on. I actually checked the production info to see if the singing was a sample (sort of a reverse karaoke…taped singing, with a band providing the jams) or if the singer was a westerner…neither were the case. Anyhow it was kind of spooky how much like the original this version is.
언니네 이발관 transform “Come As You Are” into a really mellow, laid back pop tune. I could personally invision this version as the soundtrack to some teen drama on the WB about beautiful teenagers with problems.
허벅지 밴드 take the quasi-metal tune “School” and transform it into some crappy funk-rock with wah guitars and some guy who whispers the lyrics. The original version of “School,” if memory serves me correctly, had but 14 different words, and this clown used none of them as far as I can tell. Additionally there’s some Tom Morello guitar scratching bullshit and some equally shitty wrapping. Avoid this track too.
갈매기 wrap things up with a cover of “Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through The Strip.” Inspite of the largely improvised nature of the original, 갈매기 offer up a pretty spot on cover (though they seemed to have done away with the Guitar Institute of Technology spoken word bit).
All in all the album is pretty decent, though some of the song choices are pretty odd. Three of the ten songs that appear were never on any domestic Nirvana albums (though “Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through The Strip” appeared on the import version of In Utero), and In Utero aside from the horrific cover of “Dumb,” (and the afore mentioned “Gallons…” if you want to get technical). The one complaint I have (aside from the lack of In Utero tracks, and the two crappy songs), was the lack of bands. Most of the compilations and tributes I’ve heard in the past have a lot more bands, therefore in theory you are getting more bang for your buck, here with only 10 songs (2 of which were god awful, and several more that were just kind of mediocre) I felt like I was owed more.
December 12, 2004
Various Artists - We Are The Punx In Korea
Rating: 6.5
Label: Skunk
Release Date: July 2003
Relevant Links: Buy it here.
With 30 bands rocking out on 30 different tunes, this compilation a through look at the Korean punk scene. After giving this disc a listen, it is pretty safe to say that there are roughly four schools of punk in Korea: street punk, ska, skate punk, and hardcore.
Street punk dominates this album (and the punk scene in general), which means the album as a whole suffers from a lack of diversity. I mean one street punk band (in any language) doesn’t sound that different from the next, so without the other non-street punk bands, the album would be boring pretty quickly.
On the street punk side of things, only a couple tracks stand out from the rest. Captain Bootbois song, “We’ll Kick You Down,” is extremely catchy in addition to having an outstanding title. The Spiky Brats, “Together Moshing,” is memorable solely for the fact that the singer sounds like a Muppet. That song is pretty annoying though, so once the novelty of a Muppet yelling “Fuck you! (and/or “Pogo!”)” wears off, the song doesn’t really have a lot going for it. Nonstop Body get points for being the only female band in Korea (save for the illusive Supermarket, a band I have read about, but never actually heard or seen). Suck Stuff, inspite of their band name, actually rock out quite well. The minute and a half “D.D.Y.” is nearly prefect.
However, when it comes to street punk, Rux are where it’s at. Rux have their shit together! While a lot of the other tracks on this compilation are a blur of “Pogo! Pogo! Pogo!” and super fast snare rolls, “우리는 한마음” has melody, riffs, and a singer that can be understood.
When it comes to the ska, I have never been a fan. It always seemed like a regional thing. Ska seems like music for the beach and warm weather. If you live in Orange County and play ska fine, but if you live in New York or Seoul and play ska, you are boardering on being a wanker. That being said, I’m giving thumbs down to Beach Valley and Swell Mob’s. Lazybone mix it up a little bit diluting their ska with some bongos and rediculous keyboards, which somehow makes them more tolerable to me. The worst of the ska bands would be Brassman. Their tune “Summertime,” may or may not have been a Sublime cover, which is just a horrible thing.
This being a punk compilation there are, much to my chagrin, a couple of hardcore bands. Hardcore bands have always pissed me off. Back in the states, hardcore bands were usually comprised of stupid jocks with tattoos, and guys who would be bouncers at bars playing shitty metal riffs and screaming about drinking (or not drinking if they were straight edge), unity, and “bros.” Hardcore in Korea is not all that different. 13steps offer up the track, “Brotherhood,” which is fast as shit for about half the song, until the “bro choir” kicks in about 90 guys (who probably have neck tattoos) bellow either “We’ll fight for changes! Brotherhood!” or “We’ll fight the changes! Brotherhood!” (they are either extremely liberal or extremely conservative…I’m not sure). The other hardcore band, Samchung, offer up some Cookie Monster ‘roids rage tune, that is so over the top it’s comedic….wait a second these guys could probably kick my ass…삼청형들, 동신의 노래는 좆나 좋아! Anyhow, the vocals are what make this song, the thing is no one I’ve played this song for can tell what language it is. I’m pretty sure it’s not English, and my girlfriend (who is more fluent than I am in Korean and Russian for that matter) says she doesn’t think it is Korean, so I’m going to say the dude was bellowing in Mongolian (since they had mad warlords and seem like they would want to form hardcore bands).
With hardcore, street punk, and ska out of the way, the rest of the album is assorted other punk…which pretty much means it’s some suburban skate punk and pop punk. These songs and bands are my personal favorites of the entire compilation. Propeller21’s one minute and seventeen second song, “My Heart’s LOFI” is worth the price of admission on it’s own. Skrew Attack, Stuning Down, and Half Brother also offer up some upbeat numbers you can hum along with, or grind the half-pipe to.
So what’s my take on the whole thing? With 30 bands for the price of a regular CD, you’re really getting your money’s worth. Additionally, this album serves as a really good introduction to a large percentage of Korean punk bands. Check it out!
99anger - Who Comes First?
Rating: 7.0
Label: Skunk
Release Date: November 8, 2002
Relevant Links: 99anger MP3s, Buy it here.
Talk about internationalism. I first heard 99anger when I was still living in America. They are a Korean band who sing in English. Apparently they now live in Canada, but the still play here in Korea from time to time and are on a Korean record label, so here they are.
While most of the other underground bands in Korea are either Rancid/Sex Pistols/Clash inspired street punk (mohawks and leather jackets) or indie rock (Built to Spill and Guided By Voices), neither one really describes 99anger. The band’s sound is more punk than indie, but where most of the other Korean punks are rockin’ out like it’s 1977 in London, 99anger’s punk is more late 80s or early 90s California. The band sounds a lot like Green Day or Bad Religion, and the singer borrows heavily from these two bands in his delivery, alternating between the sneering fake British accent of Billie Joe Armstrong and the vocal stylings of Bad Religion’s Greg Graffin. Outside of the poppy skate punk, the band has some emo elements, though not the “I’m crying into my cardigan sleeve” kind, more the “I’ll scream until my vocal chords bleed,” (”Without You”). And like most modern rock bands, you can’t help but hear Nirvana in a few of the tracks.
As I mentioned above, the songs are entirely in English. This is a common thing in Korean punk and indie, but when compared to some of their countrymen, 99anger are much more natural sounding in English. Granted there are some strange expressions dropped, and the word “fuck” appears in virtually every song, but the pronunciated is much better than a good 90% of the other bands.
Aside from their decent English skill, 99anger differ from other punk bands in Korea, in that they actually write some memorable songs. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s fun as hell to jump around to street punk, but I really would be hard pressed to recall how any of the songs went. 99anger on the other hand have songs that I will get stuck in my head after listening to the album (”Stay Far Away,” and “Watch as We Fall,” come to mind).
This is not to say the album is without misteps. These are most obvious when the band tries to be a street punk band. “Liar,” is the best example of this, with it’s fast guitars and screaming chorus of “Liar, you fuckin’ lying motherfucker!” The only thing separating it from the bulk of the other Korean punk bands is the lack of a red mohawk and dudes yelling “Oi! Oi! Oi!”
December 8, 2004
Star Vol. 1 - GhettoBombs / Schizo
Rating: 8.5
Label: Ssam net
Release Date: April 15, 2003
Relevant Links: GhettoBombs Homepage, Schizo Homepage, Buy it here.
Ah the split album! There are but three things in this world that rank higher than a split album in terms of indie rock-dom: the split EP, the 7″ single, and of course…the split 7″ single (interestingly enough, the less work one puts into a project, the more indie it is). Anyhow, as an indie rock fan, this alvum was not my first, nor will it be the last, split album I’ve purchased. Split albums are often kind of risky business. More often than not, you know of and like one of the bands, but chances are you haven’t ever heard of the other artist. With things like split singles or EPs, you are not paying for a full album, so your risk factor is decreased. That being said, it was with caution that I purchased this album.
The first half of the album is made up of the GhettoBombs tracks. The GhettoBombs were not the reason I purchased this album. That being said, they are not a bad band, but they aren’t particularly outstanding band either. GhettoBombs are just really generic sounding punk rock, which here in Korea means they pretty much sound like Rancid. Like Rancid, they try to mix things up on a few tracks by injecting some reggae (most noteably on the track “Reggae Music”). Unlike Rancid, but not unlike other punks before them (Rev. Horton Heat, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion I’m looking in your general direction), the GhettoBombs also look toward old school rock n’ roll and rockabilly when things start getting a little too punk. The song “Cheers” has some nice Stray Cats guitar work in it, and manic Jerry Lee Lewis style piano going for it, and I swear to God when the song, “우리여기모여,” kicked off I thought they were going a cover of “Hound Dog,” that is until the ska guitars and reggae organs came in. These elements aside, the GhettoBombs sound exactly like Rancid, if Rancid were to hail from South Korea. Nowhere is this more obvious then on the track “Radio.” This track sounds exactly like “Ruby Soho” and “Journey to the End of East Bay.” Anyhow, enough with GhettoBombs, and on to Schizo!
I saw Schizo play and was throughly impressed, so I headed over to my local indie record shop and picked up the disc I am currently reviewing. While GhettoBombs could be described as a fairly generic punk band, Schizo are a little harder to pidgeon-hole. They aren’t punk for damn sure. If anything, they are closer to being a metal band. They use, “JUN! JUN! JUN!” guitars, and the singer growls like Danzig fighting Cookie Monster. But that’s not all! They have keyboards, and drum machines, and samplers, and guitars that sound like UFOs, and a really hot rocker chick/princess looking bass player. So to summarize, Schizo is a techno-space metal band…with a wicked hot bass player!
Schizo’s sound is a lot more distinct than the GhettoBombs. In the Korean indie scene, only Schizo sounds like Schizo, while there are a ton of bands who do the GhettoBombs, and many of those bands do it better than the GhettoBombs. Schizo (in the isolated world of Korean music) have a distinct sound, yet a lot of their tunes kind of sound the same: crazy disco drum machines, live drums being pummeled, heavy as fuck guitars, and the cookie monster guy grunting and growling in broken English. Perhaps the most interesting track is Schizo’s cover of The Guess Who’s “American Woman,” which maintains the badass bar band swagger of the original for roughly one verse and one chorus before the drum machines and out of control metal guitars kick in. Personally I enjoyed, but they have very little crossover appeal. While other rock bands mellow out once in awhile, Schizo have but one mode: FUCKIN’ HEAVY!
