May 2003 Archives

o. "STAR vol.1" by GhettoBombs & Schizo

This single CD contains 8 tracks from GhettoBombs and 7 tracks from Schizo, which they are calling a split album.

GhettoBombs are PJ Maeng (guitar, vocal), "Suck" (bass, vocal), Gong (drums, vocal), and Mino (guitar, vocal). They are, I guess, a typical underground punk/ska rock band. Not bad, I guess. It's just that I got fed up with ska-types.

Schizo are Cha MyeongJun (drums), Heo JeHun (vocals), Ju SeongMin (guitars), HaYaSi (sampling, keyboards), and Yu MyeongHan (guitars). They have more "industrial" sound, but not that fast (I know very little about the genre). They have heavy metallic guitar grooves mixed with elements of electronica. I liked them.

o. "The Massive Crush" by Crash

Their 5th album. I don't think Mr. Ahhn's style has changed that much. Their music is still characterized by his vocal and very fast double bass drum beats. They are Ahhn HeungChan (vocal, bass, programming), Lim SangMuk (lead & rhythm guitars), Ha JaeYong (lead & rhythm guitars), and Jung YongWuk (drums & percussions).

o. "Butterfly Effect" by NaBiHyoGwa

I've always wondered about whatever happen to the lead vocal for Sinawe's 6th album. And this is what he was up to. This is more of a modern pop/rock band although Mr. Kim's vocal quality is still reminiscent of the hard rock past. They are Kim Vada (vocal), Jung Hanjong (bass), Seo Sangeun (guitars), and Sin In (drums).

I don't know about their cartoon character marketing thingy, but the music is pretty good, if not a bit raw.

o. "GgumGguNeun SeSang" by Jang Sa-Ik

His fourth album. This is something rare. I am wondering if they are even trying to make money. Mr. Jang's work is mostly based on actual poems by (fairly, I assume) well-known Korean poets. He then add a mixture of western folk music with tradition Korean folk music elements.

I highly doubt the current generation would be enthusiastic about this type of music, but I think of it as an extended form of traditional Korean folk music. Besides, it's not bad.

o. "PyeonJiHam" by Analozik

A hip-hop collection produced by Analozik. It is more of a groovy kind of, softer hip-hop. There is not much information on who this team is, though. The album has a nice feel to it, but still not much of attraction for me.

o. "Florist" by Loveholic

Someone told me that they were the next Roller Coaster. Not really. This is a three-member pop/rock band started by Kang Hyun Min (electric & nylon guitars), who used to be a member of IlGiYeBo. He recruited Lee Jae Hak (bass) and Jisun (vocal & percussions).

The music is not bad and Jisun definitely has some mesmerizing effects, but I don't think they can change my feeling toward Roller Coaster. :p

I just read an interesting article, "The New Gender Gap" by Michelle Conlin in BusinessWeek (May 26, 2003, pp.74-82). The article has a "provocative" subtitle, "From kindergarten to grad school, boys are becoming the second sex."

Somehow I am not that surprised about the female excelling in school. Even for less "macho"/"aggressive" society such as Korea, I've often heard that girls are better at school work than boys. I guess the difference between two societies is that, in Korea, everyone (I mean everyone) knows, from very early on, that a diploma from a good college is a must for your future. Also, in Korea, being good at academics isn't a liability for boys (actually, often quite an opposite).

However, what surprised me was that Ritalin was prescribed to so many boys and that it is sometimes forced.

He is four times as likely to be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. That often leads to being forced to take Ritalin or risk being expelled, sent to special ed, or having parents accused of negligence. One study of public schools in Fairfax County, Va., found that more than 20% of upper-middle-class white boys were taking Ritalin-like drugs by fifth grade.

I just don't get the notion that most Americans seem to have that you can take an easy way out by "fixing" things by medication, especially with mood or personality altering stuff. Physical violence is bad, but this is?

o. "the first snow" by Yim KyungA

I guess this is a rare album for Korea. It's a jazz vocal album all written by Ms. Yim. She is accompanied by Marco Panascia on bass, Scott Frdrick [sic] on drums, Song Young Joo on piano, and Gianni Chiarello on guitar.

It's encouraging that a jazz album (and original at that) is being produced in Korea. However, her music is a bit too generic and I didn't particularly feel much attraction from listening to it. But still, I hope to see more original efforts on jazz in Korea.

o. "like the bible" by Big Mama

Big Mama are Lee YeongHyeon, Shin, YeonA, Lee, JiYeong, and Park MinHye. It's mostly an R&B album. They have beautiful voices, but still nothing special.

Actually, what's most interesting about this group of ladies is the fact that they are consciously not advertising their faces and looks. You know, these days in Korean pop music scene like any other fields, the looks or the images are the utmost marketing point. What I read was that these four ladies had beautiful voices and great musical talents, but their looks were what most music management/promotion companies wanted. So, this is what they tried. Isn't it sad? I have seen their pictures, and I thought they didn't look that bad.

Anyway, as far as the album goes, it just felt that it was a collection of works from four individual artists, rather than a group (which might not be that surprising). I hope they would have better luck next time.

o. "Native Place" by Counter Reset

For some reasons, I think of Blink 182 while listening to them. All the regular tracks on the CD are in English (two bonus tracks are in Korean). This is not too rare for underground bands, it seems. I think it might be that some portion of musicians that populate the underground scene, has lived in the U.S. at one time or other (if you look at how many U.S. Ph.D.'s Korea have). Actually, the lyrics don't make sense mostly, but that doesn't seem to matter that much, I guess.

Anyway, they are Choi Ji Hoon (vocal, guitars), Lee Hyung Suk (guitars, vocal), Jung Woo Yong (bass), and Kim Sang Won (drums).

o. "bluedawn" by PuReunSaeByeok

From the website, I get the feeling that they started out on the web by publishing their demo tracks on their site. That atmosphere carries over to their somewhat anonymous identities. They are sorrow (electric guitars, etc.) and dawn (vocal, acoustic guitars, etc.). It seems they usually have a guest drummer. Also, interestingly, their website contents are hosted under the website of The The.

I really like their style. They are slow, dreamy songs, in a folk style. However, they also bring in a lot of electronic elements into it as many other contemporaries do. The lyrics are short and simple, but the music and the voices seem to carry most of the emotions.