[May 7, 2011] MBC Music Core Highlights + Commentary

I don't know if this is just me, but I'm rather disturbed that the likes of After School, f(x) and 4Minute are the most senior performers on today's show. All 3 groups debuted in 2009. OK, I'm VERY disturbed. If U-kiss were on I might've been a bit less disturbed, but disturbed nevertheless. Mmmm. But anyway.


Video credit goes to CrazyCarrot270@YT. Some things never change.

B1A4 - "OK"
The song is SO JoBros/Disney sitcom opening song. I just had to say it sorry. Mimed performance today, so it's an instant no, but the performance itself was pretty good. I noticed something in the way they move though - they move like a less practiced, more chaotic Infinite. And I like the way Infinite move on stage - it's very clean and sharp. So not bad, guys. Scrap the miming and you're good to go.

A Pink - "Don't Know"
Stop acting like 10 year-olds, A Pink. You're a lot older, even if you guys ARE pretty young. I'm your age and I would never be caught dead singing like that. Never. Ever. Actually, some of them have gorgeous vocals, it's just that like a lot of other groups it's getting masked by a crap song and an order from their agency to act like a bunch of kids.

Block B - "Wanna B"
I now realize that the reason why I don't like this song, never have, is because majority of the song is rapping, mock rapping, talking, or the hook. When people actually sing, it's not bad, it's actually pretty strong, but it's not my cup of tea. And is it just me or are their performances a little too chaotic? Or is it the stupid cameraman trying out new angles again? A little of both maybe.

Rania - "Dr. Feel Good"
If you want manufactured girl groups at their best, Rania is it. Their live vocals are rather interesting, to the point where I don't know how to accurately describe them. The melody is correct, and I believe they're singing in key, and you hear the timbre of their vocals, but it's as if they're singing to you behind a thin paper wall. BINGO - the vocals are muffled. You know they're singing, and you know they have strong vocals, but this could be more of a technical problem than anything else - their vocals are muffled, they're not crisp.

Dal Shabet - "Pink Rocket"
There comes a time when a crap song just fades into the background and my brain just automatically shuts off when I hear it. This is that time.

SISTAR 19 - "My boy"
Now I gotta hand it to them for being consistent in their performances so far, and it's a lot better than them getting worse, but being consistent means being consistently boring. To the point where it's actually painful seeing vocals like that wasted on a lifeless performance. Now I know the song is laid-back and cool and all that, but apart from the vocals, everything else lacks urgency and/or grace.

Rainbow - "To Me"
Miming? Just when you were getting good, you pull this. And I was just about to say how much I liked blonde girl with long hair's voice. Hmph. I'm starting to like the song a lot more though. I just need Rainbow to convince me.

f(x) - "Danger"
Really not used to the fact that f(x) closed the show today. And I'm kinda disturbed by how clean their vocals are today. Partially because there was no live audience, but was this performance pre-recorded and overdubbed or the vocals mixed before broadcasting? Because it's not identical to the recording, but it's far too clean to be an actual live performance, no matter how good a singer you are - the levels are too even and it's freaking me out. Either they tinkered with the recording, or the girls are neither tired, nor do they have fans disturbing them. I really don't know what to think, to be honest, but I'm leaning more towards the overdubbing theory.

4Minute - "Heart to Heart"
Hyun A sounds a lot less annoying today, but she still annoys me. Magnae is getting better, and her hair helps too. Jiyoon. Oh Jiyoon - can't you just sing the entire song yourself please? PLEASE?!? Melodic really doesn't work for 4Minute - can't we turn back time and have "HuH" again please? But I gotta admit, that little twist towards the end was sneaky and kinda cool. And leader girl reminds me a lot of Victoria f(x) during early 'Danger' promo in terms of vocals.

After School - "Shampoo"
Sorry, I'm really not used to After School being the most senior group of all the performers today. Usually the last performance on my commentaries are reserved for the outstanding - the likes of Rain, DBSK/HoMin, Big Bang, BoA. You know, people who have been around? That's not to say that After School haven't been around, but you know what I mean - they still have a long way to go. Anyway. Their vocals have really improved, and by the end of the performance today I wasn't cringing like I usually do. Of course UEE should just go back to standing there and looking pretty (kinda) and Jooyeon is such an uninteresting and weak singer, but Jung Ah and Raina were on top-form today. Even Gahee and Bekah. New girl is really shaping up as well - she needs more lines.

[April 23, 2011] MBC Music Core Highlights + Commentary

Yes, I will be returning with the regular three music shows a week - this is serious, until I once again get too busy to keep up. Today's MuCore had a pretty good line up, and surprisingly, MuCore sound has greatly improved! A lot of debuts today, as well as f(x)'s comeback and HoMin's farewell stage.

Let's get right into it! Read on for the recap.


Video credit goes to CrazyCarrot270@YT. Brilliance, I tell you, brilliance!

B1A4 -"OK"
You know what this song reminds me of? The theme song for a Disney-type teenage sitcom by someone like McFly, or the JoBros in their early days. Or the theme song for something like "God of Study". It's not bad, in fact since it's the kind of music I was surrounded by growing up, I'm kinda feeling it. But to be honest with you their vocals, their presence and their over-all performance is over this type of songs that I honestly just want them to get over this phase and give me brilliance. Did I hear fanchants? And loud cheers? For a debuting group? And did you see how they just prance around stage like it's nothing to them - but end up putting out pretty strong vocals? Right now, it's between them and X-5 for new boyband supremacy, and the competition is pretty damn fierce, if you ask me.

A Pink - "Don't Know"
Ugh. Them. Once again, everyone is trying to out sing, out dance and out cute each other. It's like this is a competition between members for them and the one who has the cutest expression or the sharpest hand movements wins - it's not. And because everyone is still trying to outdo everyone else, I cannot pinpoint an effortlessly amazing voice yet. Today's performance was very robotic - no feeling, no spark. Boring.

Block B - "Freeze"
I know a lot of people have been gushing about Block B, but to be honest with you I don't see the hype. The song is generic and they're not the best singers I've seen either. The guy with the hand mic, who I assume is their lead vocalist, can belt notes alright but there's something off about the way he sings. It's like he's trying to be Taeyang, Seulong, and Jay Park all rolled in one - he's not any of them. And is it just me is one of the rappers trying to look, and rap, like TOP? Give me a better song and work on singing before I take notice of you, please?

Rania -"Dr. Feel Good"
To be honest with you, I don't really get why they're being criticized. I mean OK the choreography is rather suggestive, but for heaven's sake it's not like we haven't seen something like this before. And my god are these girls talented - they can sing like THAT while dancing themselves into oblivion? I'm impressed. Yeah sure majority of the performance was the hook(s), but their solo lines were near-perfectly delivered. With handsfree mics. While dancing like that and lying down on the floor and everything. If it's between X-5 and B1A4 for the boybands, it's definitely a war between Rania and the Brave Girls. Oh dear why is this generation of new groups so damn good.

Dal Shabet -"Pink Rocket"
You know Dal Shabet, you didn't need to come back so quickly after "Supa Dupa Diva". That's code for "I don't want to see you on music shows. preferably never again, but I'll bargain for a few months". But nooooooooo, they just HAD to come back with this disaster of a single that they obviously cannot sing. Their vocals today were an absolute pain to hear, I'm sorry.

Rainbow - "To Me"
Rainbow are the perfect example to girl groups starting out that if you really want it and you really try, you can turn out pretty decent. From what I've seen, I really like the girl who's in the middle for majority of the choruses - the one singing "na reul bulreo bwa"? Yeah, her. Nice voice. And around 3 others have nice voices, but not enough technique to carry them live. Today's performance wasn't as good as yesterday's, but it's definitely a lot better than majority of the performances of their previous singles. I wouldn't willingly watch this again, but I won't cringe to death if I watched it again. We're making progress, Rainbow, let's hope DSP lets you stick around long enough.

Orange Caramel -"Bangkok City"
I refuse to talk about the song again, and subject myself to anger and annoyance LOL. But to be honest with you the vocals weren't bad, if you take in consideration how the verses fit none of them and the chorus is 90% backing track. Next song, please? My ears hurt.

CN Blue -"Intuition"
The only difference this has from yesterday's performance is that Yonghwa isn't wearing shades, he has a guitar, and the song's shorter. That's basically it. Vocally strong, as always, unplugged guitars, as always, and an alienated drummer. Although we're making progress - maybe 2 feet closer to Yonghwa and I'll be happy.

f(x) - "Danger"
Oh wow. Where do I start. Well, considering that SM refuses to give up on the "NU ABO"/"Chu~" vocal treatment that I would like them to set on fire for the world to forget, I think this song is a good compromise. It's not that cutesy anymore, it has a bit more epic-ness to it, AND YOU CAN ACTUALLY SING THE SONG NOW! SME I'm so proud of you! LOL. And another thing - it fits all their vocals perfectly. Luna's vocals are degraded here and there's no epic high note to make up for it, but I now realize that they could've done worse. The gap between the better and the worse in f(x) is getting closer and closer - Sulli and Victoria's vocals are much much stronger now, and are catching up to Luna and Krystal. And may I say that I'm beginning to like Sulli's voice. Whether or not they're all using handsfree mics today, it was a strong performance.

4Minute - "Mirror Mirror"
I like the outfits today! Jiyoon was good today, although her vocals still a bit too throaty, but I'd take her over Gayoon any day. Now if only we can get Gayoon's fluidity and Jiyoon's technique and put it in one voice - that would be perfect. Although, Jihyun wasn't half bad today. And their presence is slowly, but surely, getting stronger and stronger - if before they owned the stage, now it looks like home of them. They're still really bringing it, but it's slowly getting effortless. Now just work on your vocals and BAM.

Big Bang -"Stupid Liar"
Performers in every sense of the word. Not a big fan of the song, but I can't help but watch - they're having SO MUCH FUN and you can't keep your eyes off of them. It's like, screw caring about our vocals, screw trying to hold the audience in the palms of our hands - we can do that like clockwork now - we are going to prance around this stage and have fun and no one can stop us. And my god what a show that makes - it makes you just want to prance around like they are. I'd watch this at least a dozen more times.

DBSK/HoMin - "Before You Go" & "Keep Your Head Down"
If Big Bang went the "screw everything we're having fun here" route, which perfectly matches who they are, HoMin went with the "we're gods, we know - keep worshipping us" way, which also perfectly matches the songs. They know they're good, they know they're practically immortal in k-pop, and they know the fans will go to ends of the earth for them - they're turning that into a performance. The result? A spectacle - a feast to all your senses. Everything about this performance was formulated, calculated, painstakingly practiced, but they're so good, so experienced, that they make it look like all you have to do on stage is stand there and look pretty. And maybe that's why so many new idol groups are so lazy and lack effort - because when they see people like DBSK and Big Bang on stage it looks so easy. It's not, they just make it look like it os. EXCUSE ME WHILE I ABUSE THE REPLAY BUTTON.

[April 22, 2011] KBS Music Bank Highlights + Commentary

Can't believe your eyes? Well, believe them because YES, my music show recaps are back! This is one of numerous attempts to get me back in the zone and writing, so if I do anything crazy or out of the ordinary on this, forgive me - it's been months since I last wrote one of these, and almost a year since my first recap!

A number of things sparked my comeback, but the main thing was MuBank's setlist today. It's their 600th episode (O.O), so everyone promoting was out in full-force. The performances I was holding my breath for all day? 3 members of G.O.D. doing "Lie" after a gazillion years, and HOMIN DOING "RISING SUN", as well as X-5's debut.

You ready? Well, whether or not you are, read on for a recap of today's MuBank episode!


Video credits go to DBSKgirl1994 for the U-Kiss performance, and UnknownCarrot170 for everything else.

X-5 - "Fantasy" & "The Show Is Over"

"Fantasy" is a pretty good song, but they shouldn't have mimed it, for heaven's sake - it's too obvious and it's their debut performance of all things! However, I believe they redeemed themselves with "The Show Is Over". Shaky start, but things just got better from there - for their first performance, that wasn't half bad. The chorus was spot-on, the verses a lot better when I watched it on TV (now I understand what McRoth was telling me the other day about how the amazing will sound stunning, but the bad will sound horrid on amazing headphones), but the entire package well-done and thought of. You can see they made an effort, but you can also see that they're actually really good, so the natural just creeps up on you. I'll be watching them.

A Pink - "Wishlist" & "Don't Know"

These girls don't know how to sing as a group. They're not bad on their own (albeit not really that good), but you can see that individually they want the stage to themselves and it's as if when they have solos the other members don't exist. They want to be noticed when it's not they're time to shine - they're all trying to out sing and out dance each other. It's not a bad thing to try to be noticed, but they have to remember that they're not solo singers right now - they're a group, and a group sings, dances and performs together. They have to have a spark - a dynamic as a group. They have to work together. Their vocals are fine, bar the first 2 girls who sang on "I Don't Know" because they're trying to sound like 6 year-olds when they're all 15 and up (and that pisses me off), the song isn't that bad and individually they can perform, but their lack of group dynamic turns me off.

Block B - "Freeze"

Block B? I don't see the hype - their vocals aren't that hot. I mean they're there and they can sing, but over-all they're weak - there's no power to their vocals, no matter how punchy and edgy the song is. They're performers, it's obvious with how they move on stage, so all they have to do is get a less generic song, and work on making their vocals stronger and more consistent. Will I be watching? Maybe.

Brave Girls - "Do You know"

One of the best new girl groups I've seen in a long time, and my god does this song show that. Long-haired girl in the middle is obviously the one being pushed as the good one, and she's pretty good too, but personally girl in the pony tail (not the bun) is better (even if she doesn't know how to hold a mic). But long-haired girl is definitely consistent, and that counts a lot. Compared to the two, short-haired girl and blonde girl are average, but comparisons aside they're good too. Short-haired girl wasn't that good at the beginning, but she got better towards the end. The performance as a whole was ever to slightly breath-taking - you can see that they know what they're doing. It's one of those performances I'd gladly watch again.

Infinite - "Nothing's Over" & "T.O.P"

Infinite are getting a lot of attention from Cassies lately, because Jaejoong tweeted a few days ago that he likes "Nothing's Over". And why wouldn't he? In all honesty, not just because Jaejoong likes it (I believe I gave them a good review!), it's a well-developed song. It has its flaws, but they can easily be cleaned up in their next release. And the song is catchy without being annoying. Their performance today was a lot better than the last one I saw (a good few weeks ago), and everyone seemed a lot more confident singing the song, especially the guys belting out high notes. Which is good. Their Shinhwa cover? Strong. I didn't think they'd do as good as they have, but they've proven me wrong. See, this is why I liked Infinite from the very beginning - they weren't that good, but the potential was there, and look at them now, pulling off Shinhwa pretty well. And it's not easy to pull Shinhwa off. Live.

Rainbow - "To Me" & "Sweety"

That wasn't half bad (even if they mimed that S#arp cover). I mean a good third of them still can't sing, but I can point out at least 4 good voices now that are actually pretty strong live. And they can perform a lot better now - they may not be 100% in sync with each other, that's extremely hard, but there's unity to the performance. Give me a song with a better hook, Rainbow, then we'll talk. For now, you're on my "to watch" list. We'll see what happens after this.

CN Blue - "Promise" & "Intuition"

They remixed "Intuition" today. Or rather, piled on extra electric guitar lines and this and that then made Yonghwa wear shades. Guitars not plugged in, check. Excessive Yonghwa close-ups, check. The drummer still not close enough to the other 3, check. Yonghwa's vocals strong, check. Jonghyun sounding amazing, check. Just another CN Blue performance, then. Their Jo Sung Mo cover was a bit shaky at the beginning because it seemed like Yonghwa couldn't catch up to the tempo on his first line, but Jonghyun came in and saved it yay.

f(x) - "Gangster Boy" & "Danger"

I liked "Gangster Boy" for a while, but Amber talking just made me cringe. The verses are perfectly fine - everyone's vocals are strong as hell - the chorus is cutesy but not nauseating thank god, Luna's middle 8 was epic, and the hook really hits you over the head without being obvious. It's a strong performance though. And "Danger" was done well, considering that the song isn't really something you can sing live. VICTORIA'S VOICE IS GETTING LOUDERRRR! Krystal sounds like herself, keep it up and Sulli is finally slowly getting over the cutesy phase. But WHO the hell decided that Luna needed to sound like a little girl from majority of the song? SHE DOESN'T. SHE'S BETTER THAN THAT. Krystal isn't the amazing singer in f(x) - LUNA IS. But if I didn't know that and I only heard their verses, I'd say Krystal was the better one, when in reality it's Luna. Just when SME got everyone else right, they just HAD to go and ruin Luna. Her high note, even if it was pretty short (wouldn't have it any other way though), was well-done though. The performance was strong, the vocals worked with that they had, and over-all it was strong. Still not completely sold on the song though.

4Minute - "No. 1" & "Mirror Mirror"

Lesson learned, never let 4 out of 5 of 4Minute sing a BoA song. Ever. Hyun A, Jihyun, Sohyun and even Gayoon, should never be let near a BoA song. Jiyoon can do all the singing for all I care, because she actually sounds decent, just not the other 4. Please. I beg you. That said, 4Minute sound best doing what they really do - and that comes in the form of "Mirror Mirror". I'm not saying that they're suited to inferior songs, I'm saying that they've found what suits them, so they should stick with that - who they really are. Today's performance was strong, and my god Jiyoon those vocals were amazing. Can Jiyoon be lead instead of Gayoon, pretty pretty please? I have a Filipino term for Gayoon's vocals again - "bukaka". If you know what it means in this context yay, but it's hard to explain and it translates to something else literally, so yeah.

U-Kiss - "0330"

Strong performance today, even if the first guy who sang sounded really tired and strained. High note guy sounded strained today too, come to think of it. This is one of the songs that sounds better recorded, and I think it'll stay like that no matter how consistently strong their vocals get, and they're improving at a much faster rate than I expected. We'll see. Prove me otherwise, U-Kiss.

DBSK/HoMin - "Rising Sun" & "Keep Your Head Down"

Let me begin this by saying HOLY MOTHER OF HEAVEN AND HELL AND EARTH AND EVERYTHING ELSE THERE IS, THAT WAS AMAZING I HAVEN'T SEEN RISING SUN PERFORMED IN AGES. AND OH MY GOD MIN PUSHED HO SO HARD THEN HE WAS SMIRKING AFTER I APPROVE OF VOLDEMIN (and I was hung over from the jaw-dropping G.O.D. performance when I watched this so that explains a lot) Okay. Fangirling out of the way.

KYHD was done spot-on, as always. They sound a bit tired, but nothing too obvious. Now, RISING SUN, on the other hand, was amazing. I was expecting them to do the whole song, but to be honest with you I'm thankful they didn't. It's not that HoMin can't sing good enough, it's not that they can't dance good enough - for crap's sake they can sing their heads off while dancing their feet to oblivion without batting an eyelash, they just did with KYHD - it's that the song is so damn tiring to perform, whoever's performing it, with all the jumping through hoops and fire (LITERALLY! YAY! lol). Did you see the SHINee performance? They were sweating by the end of it, and they only did the chorus. Like I said on Twitter this morning, the song is hard enough to do with 5 members, and was a pain to do with 4 (when Jaejoong was injured in 2005, and when Yunho was injured in 2006), what more with 2 or 3? I would like HoMin to survive this performance, thank you very much. That said, the vocals were strong, Yunho changed Yoochun's rap verse a bit (just a rephrasing, nothing big) and sang Jaejoong's lines (YunJaeeeeee!!), Changmin sang Junsu's part but didn't scream, and the performance was over in the blink of an eye. The simple fact that they got through it is worthy of praise, and they did it - they pulled it off, damn well. It made my heart race and flutter and whatnot - it should make yours too.

G.O.D. (3 members) - "Lie"

If you don't know who G.O.D. are I will personally hunt you down and MAKE SURE you die a slow and painful death, because you deserve it. They, along with the likes of H.O.T. and Shinhwa, are the epitome of the word "LEGEND" - you cannot NOT know them because they made the industry the way it is today, and it took much, much more than just a pretty voice or a nice face to do that. Even 1 member short, the performance today was EPIC - the vocals were perfect. Not just stunning, not just amazing - perfect. The timbres of their voices have gone from gorgeous to stunning, and the technique they've learned over the years has given their vocals dimension and emotion. They didn't have to command the audience or hold them in the palms of their hands - the audience willingly let themselves be mesmerized and the sight of it was almost surreal to be honest. The screaming, the chanting, the singing, the performing - perfection. I hope the newer idol groups, and their fans, understand that you have to have more than a catchy hook and a few members who can sing to make your music as immortal as G.O.D.'s.