Music Monday #25

This week's Music Monday is a Korean Ska band called Copy Machine.  They are the other band that I did not get to see the other night at the gig I went to. I did stay for one of their songs and it sounded pretty good so I would have liked to have seen their whole set. Unfortunately I had to get a bus home so was unable to stay any longer.

They have a great lively ska sound and judging from the one song that I did see I think they would be a pretty entertaining show.

Copy Machine - Okie Dokie

Music Monday #24

This week I thought that I would introduce some New Zealand Punk, I've talked about a few New Zealand bands but not really the punk scene.

Punk was and still is pretty popular in New Zealand, there have been many bands over the years mostly on the underground scene but a few have been a bit more widely received.  It's pretty hard to make it mainstream at the best of times and if you add to that a very small country with a limited fan base and you can see the obstacles that face many alternative bands from New Zealand.

One band that did pretty well is Kitsch - (note there are a few bands in the world with this name), they are a Punk band from New Zealand and have been around for over fifteen years - on and off. They play the more melodic punk and have released a couple of albums over the years, they have also supported many international bands like NOFX and Bad Religion to name just a few.

Kitsch - Stay Right Here

Music Monday #23

Last week I totally forgot about Music Monday, I remembered on Wednesday so by then it was a bit late and I decided to just skip it for that week. We are back this week however with some more Korean music.  I just did a post about a gig that I went to in Seoul on the weekend and unfortunately I had to leave early so I did not get to see 'The Rock Tigers'.

This week I thought I would introduce them for Music Monday instead, I still still hope to be able to check them out live sometime. The Rock Tigers (더 락타이거즈) are a rock and roll band with an old school Rockabilly sound, the band includes a double bass which adds to that swinging kind of rhythm. They have had a few line up changes over the years but the lead singer has stayed the same. They have released some albums and EP's and have garnered a considerable following although they are still far from what we would consider mainstream. They regularly play live shows in Seoul so if you are living in or around Seoul keep an eye out and you might get to see them.

The Rock Tigers - Cry Baby

 

You can also check out an interview with the band and find out more information over at The Silk Road.tv. They have a great video all about the band in their 'Koreans in the Spotlight' series so be sure to check it out.



Music Monday #22

This week I thought it would be nice to visit another country to look at some music, for the most part I have stuck to America, New Zealand or Korea.

This weeks band is from Japan, but they sing in English as the lead singer is Japanese/American. It is a band that I checked out from the listings of one of the recent festivals. I did not end up going as there was not really enough bands that interested me but it's a good way to find out about new bands and give them a listen.

The genre is the so called 'post-hardcore' - (think Linkin Park or My Chemical Romance) where screaming meets melodic singing hopefully in a harmoinic fusion.  I'm not a huge fan of these bands but for some reason I really like Linkin Park, its one of those guilty pleasures that you don't let on to your die-hard punk friends about.

So the band is Coldrain and they have been around since about 2007, they have been doing pretty well in the past few years over in Japan even though their lyrics are all in English. They have couple of albums and mini albums out; they seem to have a lot more international appeal than other bands because of the English element.

Coldrain - Die Tomorrow

Music Monday #21

I have posted a few Music Mondays about punk in Korea, this week I thought I would show that Ska is also alive and well and here in Korea.  Ska is one of those love it/hate it genres - especially in the punk culture.  Many punks feel it's boring or lame for various reasons, there is also many who associate 'selling out' with ska - such bands as Reel Big Fish and Goldfinger often have the finger pointed at them for this. There is also a lot of kidding around between bands, Propaghandi produced a song called 'Ska Sucks' and NOFX have one called 'We don't play Ska anymore' which goes on to say "because it sucks". None of which should be taken too seriously.

FYI - Ska if you don't know is a music style that has it's basis in Reggie and Jazz.  It's know for it's fast up-beat tempo.  Ska punk is just that fast, furious and fun, they usually have some kind of brass instrument in the band, commonly a trumpet.

I really like Ska punk, I'm a big fan on Less than Jake and Mad Caddies.  I always think of summer, the beach and having a fun time when I listen to it.

One Korean band that I have heard talked about on some other websites and that I found on YouTube is called - Skasucks - I am guessing it's tongue-in-cheek as they seem to be one of the leading ska bands on the Korean scene. They have been around for over five years now, they do a lot of covers and apparently a really great high energy live show.  I have not seen them live, but if I get the chance I think it would be a great one to go to.

Skasucks - Swimming in the Dream

Music Monday #20

No Brain is one of the most famous indie rock bands in Korea, they are often described as Punk but they are more diverse than that - they have many influences and are probably better described as 'Alternative' if you want to put a label on it.  Their roots are in punk however, playing in small clubs in Hongdae, contributing to various punk compilations albums and covering Sex Pistols songs for one album.

They have been around since 1996 and have put out six albums, as they have grown in popularity and their line up has changed the music has inevitably changed too - it's become more mainstream with influences from Reggie to Country.  They even did a song with K-pop band Big Bang and they have made songs for the Korean teams in the Soccer World Cup over the years. The members have also appeared on a few TV shows in acting and hosting jobs.

So here is one song I have picked to showcase off YouTube, it was a bit of a random selection but there are many others so if you are interested check them out. You can also find the band on Facebook and their official site.

No Brain - 넌 내게 반했어

info from Wikipedia

Music Monday #19

I'm sorry to say I have been a bit slack with the posts lately, basically just a matter of finding the time and inspiration. Lucky that I have this Music Monday segment as it makes me post something each week at least. Because I have not posted a lot I am trying to keep to the Korean theme - this blog is supposed to be about living in Korea and all.

This week is another one I spotted on the bus - they run a lot of clips on the TVs in the buses here in Korea.  I did a post a while ago on the cartoon 'Larva' that you can see, they also have clips from Korean variety shows and various other things.  It does not have sound so I had to go and listen to this group on YouTube - I was curious to what they sounded like as the thing that I first noticed about them was that they were playing their own instruments.  Not a big deal in western music but for Korean music, dominated by K-pop groups, it's a bit of a novelty.

So another thing I noticed apart from the instruments was I thought it was cool they had a girl in their group.  There are not many mixed groups in Korea - they are either boy groups or girl groups.  I don't think I've seen any that are mixed that I can recall. After googling them yesterday however one of the first things to come up was talking about the new 'all boy group' - whoops.  You can't really blame me however - he's really pretty and has long hair he wears in a ponytail. I'm sure I'm not the only one to make that mistake.

The band is called Lunafly (루나플라이) and is most definitely k-pop but a bit different because as I said they play instruments and apparently do some of their own composing and song writing, they seem to be going for a more authentic 'band' feel.  They are a new group too so only have a few songs out and I think they have a 'mini' album, the videos that I have seen are simpler just them singing and playing instruments for example.  They don't do all the crazy outfits and dancing that is the signature of most k-pop. That being said their looks are all k-pop, and I read online that a lot of money and effort has gone into the look and style of them and their album.

They all seem to be pretty good at English, one of them is actually British-Korean so his native language is English rather than Korean.  This means that they are releasing music in both languages so I'm posting two videos today - they have released two songs to the same music.  One song is in Korean and the other in English - the music and the videos are the same but the songs have different names and different lyrics - it does not look like one is just the translation of the other.

So again not really my type of music but better than a lot of the usual k-pop.  At least they are doing some of their own work on the songs and playing their own instruments. It's a step in the right direction.

Lunafly - How Nice Would It Be? (얼마나 좋을까)

 

Lunafly - Super Hero

 

 

Music Monday #18

This Music Monday is a Korean offering, again it's a very popular one.  G-Dragon is one of the members of the hit Korean Group 'Big Bang', he also has what looks like a lucrative career in endorsements and a burgeoning solo career too.

He recently released an EP called 'One of a Kind' where one of the songs was called 'Crayon'.  Apparently this is short for 'Crazy+On' or a combination of 'Crazy+G-Dragon'.  The music video is being played on the buses at the moment which is where I saw a clip of it and thought I would show it here.  It certainly is crazy, but it seems like that was the idea for the video. It's bright and colorful and very silly.

Like his group 'Big Bang's' music, G-Dragon's sound is not really considered K-pop as such.  In Korea it is what passes as Hip Hop.  It does have a different beat to it than the more traditional K-pop sound. Anyway here for your interest or amusement - whatever the case may be is the latest music video from G-Dragon.

G-Dragon - Crayon

Music Monday #17

A long long time ago my best friends, older sisters, boyfriend (I know, I know) gave her a dubbed double sided tape that changed both of our musical tastes forever.  On one side of the tape was Pennywise and on the other side was Rancid - it was some of our first real introduction to Punk music and it lead to seeking out more bands and trying to get hold of more copies of this awesome music (it was harder to find in NZ as it was not popular when we first started getting interested in it, if you could find it in stores it was expensive because it was not imported in bulk like popular music). 

The thing I loved most about it was it was so short and energetic.  We grew up on rock, grunge and metal - while I liked that stuff the main thing I did not like about it was the instrumentals.  I like vocals, I don't know much about music so I'm not really going to wonder at someones great guitar skills in a 1 minute long interlude.  Punk was short, sharp and to the point.

In honor of that first tape today's Music Monday is a Rancid song and is one of my favourites although to be honest the whole album '...And Out Come the Wolves' is pretty good. I really liked their earlier stuff but have not really continued with them into the newer albums as I did not like the sound as much. Ruby Soho is from '...And Out Come the Wolves', which was Rancid's third album released in 1995 (the video is from this time so shows a very young looking Rancid).

Rancid - Ruby Soho

Music Monday #16

I thought I would do another Korean music one for Music Monday today.  This is a Kpop song that is doing the rounds at the moment but with a bit of a difference as this one is sung all in English. With Kpop having such a limited audience with its Korean consumers often if they want to broaden their appeal groups/singers will release albums in other languages.  Most notably in Japanese as Kpop is hugely popular in Japan but also sometimes in English.

Kim Junsu or Xia (pronounced shee-a) as he is know is a popular figure in the Korean media. He is an actor and a well know Kpop musician for groups both current and past. He has also recently branched out into solo work with his music. As you might have gathered from previous posts I'm not a fan of Kpop - it's just not my thing.  However I do live in Korea and this blog is about living in Korea so I feel that I should show some of its music along the way.  I chose this one because I wanted to show that many Kpop artists are recording in English, it's not perfect or anything but he gives it a good try and it works out fine for the song. The video for the song is pretty silly too but like I said, he gets points for singing the whole song in English.

Kim Junsu (Xia) - Uncommitted

Music Monday #15

Music Monday this week is a bit special because it's 'one plus one' as they say over here in Korea  - which means buy one get the second one free.

In my last post I talked about how one of my favourite childhood movies turned 25 last week.  In honor of that I'm going to give you a preview of some of the songs from the soundtrack. The soundtrack to 'The Lost Boys' is one of the better ones that I have heard, I'm not usually a fan of soundtracks but in this case it just fit the movie so well. It's a great reflection of the times too, with the ballards and the rock and its quintessentially 80's vibe.

I like lots of the songs on the soundtrack but the two I have chosen are probably my favourites - one is the theme song 'Cry Little Sister' by Gerard McMahon (aka. Gerard McMann or G Tom Mac) and the other is really like an unofficial theme song as it is almost as recognisable - it's by Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm and is called 'Lost in the Shadows'.

G Tom Mac - Cry Little Sister (Theme Song from the Motion Picture)


Lou Gramm - Lost In The Shadows

Music Monday #14

Another punk one this week, one of my long time favourites that is still going strong.  This song is off their latest album "Laugh Now... Laugh Later" which came out in 2011.  I've got many favourites from this band but I thought I would pick a newer one this time as I really liked their new album. I might put some of their older ones up in the future.

Please note the video here is not that great, I don't think it really goes with the song very well but it's the official video so we will go with it.  Also it has violent themes so if you are sensitive to that kind of thing please don't watch it.

Face to Face - Its Not  All About You

Music Monday #13

Music Monday today is the only one that I will be posting in August as I had a bit of a break while I was at home and then I was pretty busy with some extra classes when I got back to Korea.

Today's Music Monday is in honor of a great punk talent who recently and sadly passed away on the 31st of July.  Those of you who are into punk will know I'm talking about Tony Sly - front man for No Use for a Name.

No Use for a Name were one of my favourite bands during my teenage years, I had the album 'Making Friends' and it got it's fair share of thrashing (along with some of their other albums but that one is the one I remember the best).

If you want to know more about his passing this is the link to the YouTube coverage by ClevverMusic, there was no cause of death released and I don't think there has been any updates since then. Very sad for his family, friends and the punk world in general - he was a very talented guy.

The song I'm showcasing here is one of No Use For A Name's songs from the 1997 album 'Making Friends'.  It's called 'The Answer is Still No' but the video here is a bit of a different version  - it's from a live show and at the beginning Tony says this is how NOFX made them play it on tour with them, it's a bit faster and more upbeat.  Also please note there is some bad language in this video so if that's not your thing please don't watch it.

No Use For A Name - The Answer is Still No

Music Monday #12

A bit late -  but better late that than never.  In celebration of me being home in New Zealand for my vacation, this one is from New Zealand band Shihad.

Shihad - Home Again

Music Monday #11

Today I thought I would entertain you all with another Korean song.  This one is apparently not K-pop but is considered to be Hip Hop.  Not sure if it is exactly what I think of when I think of Hip Hop but I guess for Koreans the difference between this and K-pop is quite vast.

Psy is an American educated singer who has been around for a few years and has had considerable success. He is signed to one of the biggest record labels and although not what Koreans would consider mainstream he's not underground or independent either.  In a land where K-pop rules it's probably a bit hard to do something different.

Psy is known for his sense of humor and for imitating leading ladies of K-pop. So anyway he is back with a new album after two years of break and this is one of the main songs of it. The video itself is well worth watching, it's pretty funny.

Psy - Gangnam Style




I have also included the English Translation for this song below - just so you know what he's talking about for once.  The basis of it is from lybio.net.

FYI - Oppa is the term that girls use when referring to their older brother, however in recent times is has come to be used for boyfriend and for referring to idols. (so if you come to Korea don't be concerned if you hear a girl call someone her brother and then kiss him :D)

Oppa is Gangnam style
Gangnam style

A girl who is warm and kind during the day
A classy girl who know how to enjoy the freedom of a cup of coffee
A girl whose heart gets hotter when night comes
A girl with that kind of twist

I’m a guy
A guy who is as warm as you during the day
A guy who one-shots his coffee before it cools
A guy whose heart bursts when night comes
That kind of guy

Beautiful, lovable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Beautiful, lovable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Now let’s go until the end

Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Oppa is Gangnam style

Eh- Sexy Lady, Oppa is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady oh oh oh oh

A girl who looks quiet but knows how to play
A girl who lets her hair down when the right time comes
A girl who covers herself but is more sexy than a girl who bares it all
A sensible girl like that

I’m a guy
A guy who seems calm but knows how to play
A guy who goes completely crazy when the right time comes
A guy who has bulging ideas rather than muscles
That kind of guy

Beautiful, lovable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Beautiful, lovable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Now let’s go until the end

Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Oppa is Gangnam style

Eh- Sexy Lady, Oppa is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady oh oh oh oh

On top of the running man is the flying man, baby baby
I’m a man who knows a thing or two
On top of the running man is the flying man, baby baby
I’m a man who knows a thing or two

You know what I’m saying
Oppa is Gangnam style

Eh- Sexy Lady, Oppa is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady oh oh oh oh

Music Monday #10

Music Monday this week is another blast from the past.  It's nice to revisit songs that I have liked over the years.  This one is a bit outside of my usual fare - I never really went for the post-rock stuff but despite that Linkin Park have always intrigued me.  I think its' the energy and passion that their music seems to imbue - it always seems so lively.  I used to have one of their first Cd's in my car back home and found it great driving music.

So this is Music Monday Ten and I think it has been a great way for me to make sure that I am visiting my blog every week - I have been posting more but it's still a bit haphazard.  Hopefully I will keep thinking of things to share and hopefully people will find some of it useful.  Remember to post a comment if you like anything or just want to say hello, it's great to hear from you all and I appreciate your time.

Linkin Park - In The End

Music Monday #9

What's not to love about this one - New Zealander making good, Muppets and happiness.

Bret McKenzie (feat. Kermit the frog) - Life's a Happy Song

Music Monday #8

Just like all good boys and girls of the 90's I was a grunge fan - it was a music that defined our teenage years.  I liked Nirvana just like everyone else, even had posters of Kurt Cobain and the band all over my walls.  When I look back now I realise that I did not like them as much as I liked Alice in Chains. I thought I did but really that was just peer pressure becuase everyone loved Nirvana.  Truth be told during my teenage years I only had one Nirvana album that I bought (had a few dubbed tapes) but I had three Alice in Chains albums. 

I recently re-watched their MTV unplugged gig and was reminded of how much I loved and still love their sound, their songs and their music.

Alice in Chains - Rooster

Music Monday #7

Back to New Zealand for Music Monday #7 and this one’s an oldie but a goodie.

They broke up in 1997 but did reform in 2007 and have done some touring over the years since. This was the first live band that I ever saw so has a special place in my heart. If you are in New Zealand and any of their most popular songs come on you can guarantee you will have most of the kiwis singing along.

Although I went on to develop different musical tastes as I got older I can still appreciate that Supergroove are a classic act. They had a great sound and some catchy tunes and are still considered one of the best bands from New Zealand.

Supergroove - Sitting Inside My Head

Music Monday #6

I have to apologise because I actually almost forgot about Music Monday, that's why its a little bit late today.

So just quickly this one is by an independent artist that does all of his music through You Tube and iTunes - he does not have an agent or belong to any record labels yet he is doing unprecedentedly well. It's not really my kind of music but I can appreciate he has a nice voice and I'm really impressed with his work ethic and that he has done so well by himself.

Anyway the artist's name is Alex Day and his You Tube channel is under the name 'nerimon' and I would recommend it along with his friend 'charlieissocoollike' (which is where this video is as Charlie stars in it along with Alex).  Charlie is one of the top You Tube personalities on the web today with well over a million subscribers and Alex is not far behind.  They both do vlog type videos which are pretty funny.

Alex Day - Forever Yours



Also you can read about Alex Day in the articles below from 'Forbes' and if you like his music don't forget to check him out on You Tube and iTunes.

Forbes Articles:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanholiday/2012/06/12/is-youtube-and-chart-sensation-alex-day-the-future-of-music/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanholiday/2012/06/13/tracking-indie-musician-alex-days-next-big-move/