DBSK - Darkness Eyes

I don't know if you guys have noticed, but I don't usually write single/song/album reviews of my favorite boyband of the year/moment for the simple reason that most of the time my fandom takes over my train of thought and I end up gushing throughout the entire song - it was like that with Westlife, it still is with DBSK. Have you noticed? Even if I know practically everything about DBSK and more the stuff I write about DBSK are either not reviews or basically me gushing over performances or songs, which I don't wanna do too often.

But I guess I'll have to make an exception for this song.

Darkness Eyes was released in 2008 on DBSK's third Japanese album T - the same album that had Purple Line, their very first Oricon/Japanese #1 single. It was never a single, but they performed it live for the accompanying arena tour in the same year and when I saw the performance I was speechless.

The song is so. damn. EPIC. in every way possible. DBSK's vocals don't explode, but the instrumental does - the contrast between this intense, epic instrumental and DBSK's almost float-y vocals just makes me go ballistic. In a damn good way. The instrumental screams girl in a black dress running in an old, deserted mansion - the piano loop, the HOMG I THINK I'M GONNA FAINT 'COZ IT'S SO DAMN GORGEOUS string section and all the little bells and whistles throughout the song. I already established that Japanese production pays attention to the little details, so that isn't a big surprise.

It's as if Avex asked for an 'epic' song and DBSK said "You want epic? Here - knock yourselves out." I personally don't think it's single material for the simple reason that the hook doesn't stick as much as those of singles do, but damn is this a good song or what? No matter how much I think it's a brilliant song, it should stay the way it is - an album track performed on tour.

But again, all these observations were done while listening to the recorded version and knowing that DBSK went on tour with a live band for the first time that year, I should've been ready for the live version above. I wasn't. Aish.

I said this before when I gushed over the O performance but I'll say it again - I. LOVE. LIVE. BANDS. Recorded versions are great and all, they're clean and controlled, but you don't feel the music anymore after all that processing. You know why you don't feel it? 'Coz the drums aren't real.

On most pop recordings, with the exception of a few I've heard, the drums are always computerized or rendered. I know this because my dad's a drummer - I grew up hearing him play a REAL set of drums AND hearing him rant about fake drums. Drums/percussion parts are the very foundations of songs - all the instruments take cues, tempo and feel from the drummer. You have a good drummer, everything will fall into place.

Music is half heard and half felt. I'm not talking about lyrical meaning or any of that crap, I'm talking about how your body reacts when you hear a song, even if you don't understand a thing. Your heart starts beating faster and you get excited in the different way - everything just feels different live. For the simple reason that your foundations and even the other instruments are real, FELT and not computer-processed, live performances sound and feel different. I sure as hell wouldn't mind paying a fortune to watch an artist live if they have a live band.

That said, the song reminds me a lot of the Jaejoong-composed 9095 - how you want the chorus to just explode and the song to turn into this anthemic thing but it doesn't, it stays the same. The contrasting instrumental and vocal parts, the haunting piano loop, how it feels so different live, but all in different ways compared to 9095 - I haven't heard it all before.

Does this need a rating? Fine, for formality.

5/5

Japanese vs. Korean production

I start this post with a long, heavy *sigh*. Why, you ask? Because this post has been on my mind for ages now and I've had the theory constantly circling my mind but I've only actually sat down to write it now. Oh well, here we go.


For the longest time, well ever since I got into DBSK, I've noticed a very distinct difference in Japanese and Korean production - to the point where I was pulling my hair out last year trying to figure out why. I haven't figured it out yet, but I do have an analogy that has gotten a few friends of mine (including Mel) laughing their heads off. Was it really that bad? Aish.

Well anyway, my theory/analogy is that Japanese production is like a cheesecake, and Korean production's like a chocolate chip cookie, or whatever crisp, thin cookie you can think of. DON'T LAUGH! lol.

Japanese production is like a cheesecake because it's rich, it's packed, but it's smooth and very, very clean. Like, clean to the point of sanitary but for some reason it's got punch. Like a cheesecake. It also has attention to detail - like in a cheesecake how the toppings and the graham at the bottom make a big difference, it's the little effects/techniques that make a difference in Japanese production.

Korean production is like a cookie because it's crisp, it's thin and what you see, in this case what you hear, is what you get. It's not that smooth either, it's a bit rocky at certain places - like a chocolate chip cookie you have the chocolate chips in the way. You can say that Korean production is a bit rough compared to Japanese production.

I've had a few comparisons in mind, including Mirotic and Purple Line, but there was one song where the difference was unmistakeable. It's not just because of the language or the change in vocals (Although that plays a part too. We'll get to that later.), the over-all sound of the song changed. The song? Beautiful Life - first found in their second Korean album, Rising Sun, and later in their third Japanese album, T.

But before I start rattling off, why don't I just show you guys the difference? Time to get technical, people. OK not really, but I have sound waves to show you and even without them, you guys think I get super technical. Aish. The track on top is the Japanese-produced one, and the track below is the Korean-produced version. Click to enlarge.

So zoom in to the wave at around 0:55 until just before 1:40 and you see that more of the waves in the track above (that's the Japanese one) reach the extremes (top and bottom) than the ones in the track below (Korean) and that the waves are more concentrated on the Japanese version. This pattern repeats throughout several other parts of the song. That proves my point that Japanese production is richer and more packed than Korean production, which is thinner and crisper.

SO what does this mean? I rattle on and on about how Japanese have a focus on the music, while Koreans have a focus on selling, but production-wise I don't think that applies as much as it does with the former because in both countries, there are well-produced songs and badly-produced ones - it's all a matter of taste really.

Take SNSD's Genie - that song has some of the best production I've heard in ages. BUT, it's very Korean - it's crisp and a bit rough around the edges if you compare it to a Japanese song.

Then you have DBSK's Summer Dream and it sounds so damn Japanese. It's rich but once again, it's got punch. And throughout the song you hear these little bells and whistles that aren't that prominent if you don't listen to the song but if they aren't there, the song would sound really different.

So there you go. Comments, violent reactions? Whether you agree with me or not I don't really care, since these are based on my observations.