Hong’s Cave

Actually purchased last month, but it was a very disappointing bunch…

o. “Stare Toward Sunset” by Jacob’s Ladder

They are LEE DongWuk (electric, acoustic, slide guitars), KIM JuIl (lead vocal), KIM YeongSu (drums), JEONG SeongHun (bass), and PARK Il (slide guitar).

Some sites said they play “Southern Rock”. I am not sure what that mean. They somehow reminded me of John Cougar… Maybe it means slower rock numbers with organs. I can’t say that they are bad, but not my cup of tea.

o. “staccato green” by sweater

This is their first album. I got the second one before and wanted to see what they were like the first time.

The members were a bit different, the core people were there. They are LEE ARip (lead vocals), SONG JunWu (guitars), JEONG Hyeon (bass), IM YeJin (keyboards), and SHIN SeCheol (drums, percussion & vocals).

I find it interesting that the album was produced by LEE HanCheol. I guess he has some good tastes. However, I liked the second one better. Ms. Lee’s vocal seems more overworked in this (she indeed sounds a lot like KIM YunA of JAURIM). I hope they continue evolve their style that they showed in the second album.

o. “Map of the Human Soul” by epik high

They got some Korean public media coverage because one of the members happened to received his B.S. and M.A. in English from Stanford in 3 years or something. Not that it guarantees the musical talent. Anyway, they are Tablo, Mithra Jin, and DJ Tu:kutz.

Maybe I should stop buying hip-hop albums. I am curious, but at the end of the day, there aren’t that many hip-hop albums that I like…

o. “Jr 1st” by EOM YeongIn

Some sites claimed this was a young genius who played guitar like God (okay, maybe I exaggerate a bit). However, when I actually looked inside the information sheet in the CD, this was totally false.

The album was produced by HAM ChunHo, who also played almost all guitars. I really like Mr. Ham’s guitar playing ever since I first heard him in one of KIM HyeonCheol’s project album more than a decade ago. I think Mr. Eom was someone he knew, or he tried to start a management company or something.

I think this is a total waste.

o. “as leeds” by LEEDS

She has a very nice voice and sings mostly ballads in somewhat shaky Korean. This is her second album, and she seems to have participated in a lot of other people’s projects. I think she could compete with Lena PARK JeongHyeon.

o. “new nature of sounds” by Pudding

This is another rare Korean issue, I guess. It’s purely instrumental Jazz album. They are KIM JeongBeom (piano and keyboards), YEOM SeungJe (acoustic and electric guitars), LEE DongGeun (bass), KIM JinHwan (percussions), and YUN JaeHyeon (drums).

KIM JeongBeom seems to be the musical leader and they mostly plays light melodic latin Jazz pieces that somehow reminds me of French stuff or some European movies…

I hope in time, I’ll actually get to see a Korean bebop/post-bebop album…

o. “StonySkunk 1st Best seller” by StonySkunk

They are Skul1 and SoRaeNun Boy. They play “Jamaican” hip-hop. Their Jamaican accent seems fake (what a surprise). However, the effort was interesting, but as I said above, I should stop buying hip-hop albums.