Hong’s Cave

o. “Diary” by Lee, Sora

This is her 5th solo album. I think she wanted to write down and sing about what she felt for the past couple of years. All the tracks are slow-paced and moody. Ms. Lee hasn’t been known for her bright personality and voices, but it seems her recent emotional paths have taken that route.

I liked the songs on it although my recent preference seems to be leaning toward lighter pop/rock. Most of the tracks were arranged with “acoustic” feel with unison strings in the background.

I still adore her deep and coarse voice, but her breathing still bothers me. Some seems to still think of her as starting as a “Jazz” singer, but she never was. From an interview she did some time ago, it seems Jazz was never her “thing.”

o. “Funk” by Bulldog Mansion

They had a CD out before, but they call that a “debut EP.” And they are calling this the first album. This is a 4-piece band led by Lee, Hanchul (used to lead a lot of other bands including Zipper which I quite liked) on vocal and some guitar. The other members include Seo, Chang Seok on guitars, Lee, Hanju on bass, and Jo, Jungbum on drums.

I’ve always thought of Lee, Hanchul as a guy with plenty of musical sense and talent that doesn’t seem to get it quite right (just like Jinu whose solo albums I thought came quite short of his musical potentials, until he met Cho, Won Sun to form Roller Coaster). His band ventures quite rather successful (did I mentioned that I really liked Zipper? :p), but for some reason, he can’t keep them together for long.

Anyway, this album, backed by a home-grown (that is, “not imported”) brass section (this seems to be a trend among independent bands, which I welcome wholeheartedly), seems to work well. Some tracks can make you move to the music.

Some gripes. The arrangement for the brass section seems a bit weak although it sounds pretty good, and they were trying to promote “Funk” as their headline, but I think only a handful of them were “funk”-y. And I sometimes liked the idea of several 30-second aural interludes, but I am beginning to get annoyed by them.

o. “Ride on Live” by Roller Coaster

Well, actually, I was quite disappointed by this “Live” album by one of my favorite songwriter, Cho, Won Sun. This album does not convey the “live” concert feel at all. Although the songs are familiar, the whole thing is quite dull. I mean, you can’t avoid being less than perfect acoustically in a live concert, but I could not detect the crowd presence nor much enthusiasm.

o. The 4th Album by Jaurim

This is a bit of a disappointment as well. I am not sure I like the direction they are taking. I mean, I do understand that they would want to try “new” things as artists, but I think they have lost most of their charms from their first album. They seem to be going toward the direction that Kim, Yun-A took with her solo efforts.

I don’t know… I really liked this band. I am just hoping that this is just an experimental stage where they are trying to find something to settle into.

o. “Sae, Byeok” by Boo Hwal

This is their 8th album, I think. The interesting thing is they took Lee, Seung Chul back as the vocal, who used to sing for their first couple of albums. The songs themselves are nothing special, a very typical collection of their ballad rock. I just thought having Mr. Lee back (although it seems he didn’t sing too much on the CD) was quite amusing.

o. “The Portrait of Your Funeral” by Vassline

Thrash-metal? I guess I am out of this type of music these days.

o. “gemini” by t (Tasha)

Baby T is back! Well, I think this album does much better justice to her than her first junk. I thought she (and whoever is managing her) would know better after all that with Uptown to know that you just have to do your thing and worry about “marketing” later.

Tasha (aka. Yun, Mirae) is at her best when she’s showing off her “lyrical prowess”. She might have some difficulty in delivering the stories that the U.S. audience can related to, but given her rhyming skill itself, I think she’s there with just about any other female rappers in the U.S. When I first heard her rap in the Uptown’s debut album, I knew she was born to rap.

But then, the amazing marketing machine was trying to turn her into an “R&B” singer. I mean, she can sing, but that’s not what she was born to. The effort to market her as such fell short big time, I think.

Anyway, I wish she continues in this path and maybe get some more “meaningful” stories and messages into her rhymes.