Jang Woo Hyuk new video teaser!! Yay!

As a fan of old school kpop and H.O.T. I'm excited to see yet another member making a comeback!! (read Tony An review <=). I really like the retro robot/ space explorer theme pretty unique in the world of kpop. I love the use of the green lights and his glowing eyes those effects were well done. Music wise it has more of light rock sound very different than his last too harder hip hip albums. So hopefully this music change will be a good one? However from this well done teaser I am looking forward to it!!

Moon Hee Jun 1st solo album - Alone

   Here is the now belated review of Moon Hee Jun's first solo Album. It was to be posted in March because his birthday is in March but alas....
     Alone caused quite a bit of controversy when released due to MHJ's drastic change from pop idol to "rock" artist. It seemed that despite the fact the MHJ was no longer in H.O.T. (as H.O.T. was no more) the music public expected him to do the same type of music. Hearing the criticisms of MHJ's rock music may lead others believe that the album would be "not up to standards" musically. Well below is my review of the album and I suggest you hear it for yourself.
The first thing I always look at is the packaging, its the first thing that you see and gets you ready for the album.
    The packaging of Alone very  detail orientated. On first look you see a picture of MHJ holding a young boy with the title Alone written faintly through the photo in cursive. Upon sliding the outer cover off I realize the photo is on the cover and the word alone is written on the cd case itself.

       The cd case by itself  if I may say is luxurious in its simplicity. The world alone is written in gold foil on a rich black paper ,very classy. However the CD was not so pretty  kinda plain but alas….. there was also a photo of MHJ with the young boy he was hold on a cardboard piece I think was meant to act a buffer between the cd booklet and cd.

    The booklet was very nice and dark but poses a problem as fingerprints show up easily on it!!! I’m not really sure about the theme of the photos in the booklet. The booklet features  a few potrait shots of MHJ  there are also a few photos of MHJ holding a young boy or watching him sleep on the floor. Not sure what this has to do with “Alone” but the photos are of good quality.

     Now on the the album...... Electric H.I.T. World  the introduction  to the album is a even mix of electronic (not dance) music with bits of rock. Music you would hear in a dystopian movie.  The song fades outs in the end beginning you on the journey to the album.

   Muse Over the Sunset picks off as H.I.T world fades off it gradually builds up into a soft and ethereal  melody. MHJ’s soft voice fits perfectly with this type of music. As soon as you think "wow this is a nice soft song” the bridge gets a little “harder” and MHJ uses his "rock voice”.  I appreciate how the guitars are used it this song as a “soft” element as certain points.  The pace of the song picks up near the end and despite opening on such a soft note it ends quite harshly.

Our Story opens with an orchestral interlude setting a romantic tone very fitting for the only duet on the album. The female vocals surprisingly par well with MHJ’s soft voice.

   The title track Alone begins with a robotic voice followed by a morphed  a sample from NWA which is weird but prepares us for the mixture of genres that make this title track stand out the rest of the album. Alone makes great uses of electric guitars and drums, orchestral music and a slight hip hop drum loop. This song also has a “ballad break” a section in the song when the music changes and he sings ballad style a pattern which he will repeat in the future. I appreciate how the song doesn't end simply after the dramatic note like a lot of songs but has a minute long orchestrated prelude to end the song giving the song a more dramatic feel (like a movie soundtrack).

    Following is another more mainstream pop oriented song The Loss of sadness. The soft chimes and melody at the start of this song make it stand out along with Alone. The music is very 90’s R&B , This song would be the type of music I supposed his anti’s expected him to come out with in his whole album. 

 After the slow and slightly calming loss of sadness TNT flips the script,  its high energy tempo very reminiscent of 90s Euro beat dance music. It was quite interesting with MHJ’s light voice and slightly mournful voice layered over such a throbbing beat (euro beat songs usually have power singers over such tracks).

  Jumping genres again we land on Red & White, which opens with a twangy guitar tune  with MHJ’s   staticy (morphed of course) voice  soon this little stanza ends and we are introduced to “rock” MHJ. A welcome contrast to MHJ “rock MHJ’s" voice is very strong and gravelly when needed and works very well. I have heard many artists (even some rock artist) try to sound more "rock" by adding rasp and gravel to their voice and it doesn't work to say the least. Love the end of this song as well.

  Aria of the Will starts off as an instrumental that may remind someone of an action movie. The second rock song on the album MHJ adds more of the orchestral instrumentation as well as choral vocals which amps up the dramatic effect of the song. Once again his “rock” voice is spot on. But this time he also uses his “singing voice” at the end of the song.

   The very next song is that's right you guessed it, another rock influenced song Persia Black Hole is actually most fans introduction to “Rock Heejun”. The music itself is very guitar heavy  and is more nu-metal/hip-rock (hip-hop rock hybrid) than rock. MHJ raps through out the song as well as using his “rock voice”. This time there is “headbanging breaks” within the song (moments of heavy guitar solos to which everyone headbangs or whips their hair around together). I know from seeing recordings that this song is great live.

Continuing the pattern Devil of an Angel welcomes us with a “dirty” gutair rift. Again orchestral music is layered with the guitars for dramatic effect. MHJ alternates between shouting and his slightly creepy talk/singing. At one point his “death voice” is very convincing adding to the slight creepiness of the song. I once again like the unexpected ending with  sorrowful violin solo a very different way to end such a rough song.

   Coming out of nowhere is I still believe this is my wth song from this album ( the one song that makes you say why is this here?). The song itsself is not a bad song  its placement is a bit defeating of  the three “heavy” rock songs before it. I still believe is pretty much  a pop song with some staticy vocals and guitars compared to its processors. It probably would have been better to put this song before the “heavy three” to showcase MHJ’s ability to do pop rock to “heavier rock”. On a positive note the slight echo and fade out of the melody was a great way to end the song. 

   Expected Farewell Sung to the tune of Auld Lang Lyne (a favorite of mine that always moves me)  even though his lyrics are different it still fits the theme of the song remembering old friends and people of times past and moving on but never forgetting . On the last stanza his voice sounds so sorrowful i thought he was crying which added to the overall feel to the song.

 One of the best endings of an album I ever heard ...........

But we’re not done yet there is a bonus song!! MHJ comes back with a old school korean pop (trot) “ rock style song”  entitled strangely Button Hole. MHJ’s voice much more deep and husky adds to the slightly dramatic song ( the tune reminds me of Gerudo valley in the legend of Zelda ocarina of time). 
check out these MVs/  from Alone 

 

Is Alone worth buying? I say a definte yes... But since Moon Hee Jun is no longer with SM the CD is hard to come by  as of now there is one still for sale on Ebay or you can purchase it here at
http://www.asiandb.com/custom/affiliate.php?aid=jewelrose&item=4515

 

coming soon!!

A review of an 1st generation Idol's 1st album coming soon, his birthday was this month, can you guess who it is? ^_^

Songs that could make it in the U.S V.I.- Magic

 Big Bang Member Seung -Ri also known as V.I. released his first solo debut mini album entitled V.V.I.P at the beginning of  this year . Though the mini album had a few tracks that really seem geared to the overseas market ( V.I.P., what do you want me to do?) this particular track stood out to me as having potential as a U.S.  radio/ club hit.

Why it may succeed in the U.S

The song starts off with a conversation in English, there a few bits of English sprinkled in the lyrics as well as the background vocals. The most important part the chorus is in English and it’s pretty simple and easy to remember (and yeah, yeah, yeah goes across language barriers). The Music is very reminiscent of electro R&B of the late 90s and 00’s (think Omarion ”Touch” and Justin Timberlake) a sound that seems to be coming back.

 Who it may succeed with

While this group may not be the desired demographic, 23 -30 R&B fans.  The laid back tone of the music, the conversations placed throughout song and the melody are very 90s R&B elements. Though the song is obviously electronic, I can see old school fans giving this song a try just like they did with Omarion and Justin Timberlake. Also older fans also tend to actually buy the music a big plus.

Where should it be played?  Given its laid back feel and electronic sound a lounge would be a good place to get the song out there. Even retail stores that play electro pop music like Sephora would be a good idea.

Radio or Video? Since there was no video made for this song radio would be the answer. The key would be the type of radio station, a lot of times songs like these are sent to hip hop stations not a good idea, probably not even a station that plays R&B, a station that plays a mix of music ranging from pop to rock would be a better bet as it would reach a more diverse crowd.

What do you think? Could it be successful in the U.S. if the song was completely in English?

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GD &Top Vol.1

   I received the package a lot sooner than the date yesasia gave me so I was pretty happy about that. After removing all the bubble wrap I was glad to see the album was not dented  in any way. As a visual artist  I really appreciate the creativity of the packaging for the cds I get from kpop artists. It gets pretty boring getting a plain cd case no matter how nice the photos in the booklet are.  The case is book like with a faux leather cover with GD & T.O.P’s logo in the middle. I didn’t get gold or sliver (like I deserved lol) but blue. I liked the aspect that the logos came in different colors as it gave me a surprise to look forward to.The photo book is glued onto the front cover , the photos in the book have a retro feel from old school hip hop to funk (in one photo GD  seems to have a morris day influenced style ). With all the details in the case I thought the cd design would be quite plain but I was incorrect the not only does it have a psychedelic floral design the cd finish has a metallic sheen.

     Despite the retro-techno look and feel of the packaging the album contains a diverse collection of music (though mostly in the electronic genre).

The opening track appropriately titled Intro invokes the feel of an old school hip hop song (by old school I mean 80’s and early 90s). I really like GD’s lines of self demeaning but then talking him self up. “My voice may be thin but my zipper won’t stay up” this line is so awesome lol another example “I may be short but my girlfriend is tall”.  The best thing about this song is that it isn’t too long it gets right to the point and ends no useless filler dragging the song on. Following Intro is the huge youtube hit High High.  The song sounds perfect for a commercial hit (which it was) and I tend to not like commercial hits and did not particularly enjoy this track. The most interesting part of the song was the G-H-E-T-T-O

E-L-E-C-T-R-O sing song part.

Next Oh yeah continues with the recent trendy “Electro” sound.  However it is done very well and its simple synthesized melody is catchy. The addition of Bom’s voice in the chorus helps set the song apart from the others on the album especially since its not auto tuned.

Taking a totally different turn is Don’t Go Home Tonight. It’s a very refreshing track to hear right after Oh yeah. It carries on the “old school” theme slightly present in the packaging with its 80’s esque  electro drum beats and bright melody. Its lyrics are slightly sweet (and naughty ) which blends perfectly with the feel of the music. This a song I would choose to promote first. Most definitely on of the better tracks on the album.       
 Keeping the old school feel going is Baby Goodnight. This time instead of channeling the 80’s this song has more of a 90’s R&B groove. As Don’t Go Home is bright and sweet, Baby good night is dark and mellow. T.O.P. particularly shines on this with his deep voice. Deep voices tend to work well on slow groove songs.  This track I would have also promoted first along with Baby don’t go home (the perfect contrasting songs).

            Breaking the old school feel is Knock Out.  Once again I’m not really a fan of the commercial hits (which this was as well) while the rapping flow was good I did not feel that the minimalist beat was a good fit. The music video however was a very good fit!!

     Introducing "rock" music on the album is T.O.P’s solo song Oh Mom.  It’s a huge disconnect when the guitar enters the track but a welcome break from the electronic filled cd. However only the chorus really features the guitar, T.O.P’s singing parts mostly have a slight electro backing melody, with a few quips of synthesizer and a few guitar strums.  T.O.P’s strength is when he sings less auto tuned in the chorus  his deep slightly gravelly voice goes well with  the rock sound.  A very good track off the album but I don’t think it do well as commercial hit (sadly).

            Following behind is G- Dragon’s solo song Obsession. From the beginning the song takes on a creepy tone with its slightly off tune electronic melody (and the guy mumbling in the background) it’s a pretty straight to the point song and a slightly scary one at that. In this case G Dragon’s extremely auto tuned voice added to the eerie feel making him sound almost not human. I appreciated the little extras in the song that gave it its cold, hollow feel, like how when GD is singing you can hear voices in the background breathing (or saying yeah). At the bridge the guitar is brought back, this guitar solo reminds me of an 80’s slasher film (think of the song “maniac”) which is very fitting for the theme of this song. I was very impressed with the ending the guitar note just floating into the air gives of the promotion that there was not a happy ending for either party at the end of the song. The only downfall of the song is when GD goes "uno.. dos.. tres.. quarto… braaaaap!" It really takes away from the mood of the song. Despite that I believe this song should have been promoted (along with a MV) just like She’s gone I think it would have made a good MV.

            T.O.P. greets us again with some more “singing” with Of All Days .  The auto tune is a bit much as its very noticeable when he switches from singing to rapping. Once again he sounds great in the chorus. Also the chorus is a bit unique (in the album) with the call and response segment.

            Up next is the albums “what the?” song. Almost all albums have one a song that is so drastically different from every song on the cd you say what the? What do you want me to do? Is that song. What makes it so different is its genre, which is old school Rock and Roll (think Little Richard, Bo Diddley) which is not a genre many pop or hip hop artist tread into. However since I’m a big fan of old school rock and roll I was positively surprised. The way GD chose the music and his nasal vocals made me recall another Asian artist  Miyavi. That said while not the best song it was a good attempt at a great but under appreciated genre.

             Closing out the album is the already released commercial hit by T.O.P. the song  was decent  as T.O.P’s rapping was good and the beat was ok but not spectacular. As with Knock Out this song seems much better with the MV.

             That concludes this (very long) review the best tracks in my opinion is Don’t go home, Baby Goodnight, Obsession, Oh Yyeah and Of all days.  That said for a first album Vol.1 gives listeners a variety (which is good) of tunes to choose from which is a high mark in my book.



                       



Metallic finish on cd





inside booklet with member card









1st contest winner!!

Congrats! To the winner of Kandy pop's first contest! Karen  guessed the correct song which was by the way GD &TOP'S "Don't go home".
She won a sparkly T.O.P. phone charm!!!
Stay tuned for more contests coming soon!