[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.

Horn's Black Metal Anthology! (Dragged Into Sunlight and Ogen)

Dragged Into Sunlight: King Diamond become more black metal, with D-beat groove, baby... they're sludgy detuned black metal, with basement (dungeon?)-esque production to boot... they're lovers of lots of overdubbed excerpts from sinister-sounding soundbytes/ movies, not unlike White/Rob Zombie, or bits of Exodus' Pleasures of the Flesh....

They've trebly-yet-low tunings, blast beats that segue well into lurching riffs, vocals so buried they're like a meth addict screaming from the apartment next door in your tenement in the Dis section of Hell....

They require some degree of desensitization to appreciate (like black metal)-- Tracks?

"Boiled Angel," lurches fro and to... "Buried With Leeches," (at 1:43 becomes noticeably louder; highlights cheap --tr00?-- production), and at 4:44 drops into a lurching two-chord riff with tribal drumming slowly emerging from underneath... then sounds like a thrash band's breakdown (but all while sounding like the same band, not a hodge-podge of styles), nicely blended....

Final track "Totem of Skulls," is purely ambient, studded with audio tracks of... excerpted psychotic manifesto talking points... Manson ready for CNN....

Severely-abused-child-with-psychotic-disorder's-drawing cover art aside, much more put together and worth hearing than you might think....





Ogen: Black Metal Unbound:

Nice production (i.e., bass), very cool chord changes (in tracks --"traccias"-- one and two), blast beats used sparingly, but well when so used....

Track two, "Black Tusk Retaliation," [Italian Black Metal etymology?] seemingly taps directly into the Archetypal Fear of Man, when Mankind was of caves and cookfires....

Evocative soundscapes/ almost soundtracks for a wilderness-- each track drops into rhythmic, almost "breakdown"-type parts to invoke the savage prehistorical dances of men around a fire at night, ecstatic with their however-temporary transcendence in appeal to God....

"Crest of the Forgotten" has cool 6/8 time choral section;

"As a leaden Sun shineth upon," shows you what you've been suspecting about the music so far: it's not the blast beats, or the open-chord over choral vocals, or the occasional gallops at 300 bpm (all the black metal staples, basically) that sets this album apart: it's the chord voicings, plus the odd, dissonant chord progressions that stick with you: initially they can be very disconcerting to the ear (and so the brain)-- the chords crash up against each other, sounding odd and eerie; however, after getting used to the alien beauty of the chords, "normal" chord progressions like you hear in every pop song, sound so bland so as to barely register as sound, let alone music: it's almost like Ogen is so heavy that even their chord progressions, not the Black Metal parts, but the so-called "relaxing" ambient/drone parts (without lyrics, usually) are desensitizing in and of themselves.

A heavier Alcest?

Songs nicely economical; short....

Not Winter music, like the cover would suggest, but late Autumn music: music pregnant with the sadness of the coming loss, the things to die, the fear that they may not return, the fear that you've angered the sun, that the dark may not go away, that your best days are behind you... a very primitive fear, embodied in these chord changes....

Dragged Into Sunlight is immediately gratifying; Ogen will grow on you.


--Horn


Buy here: Hatred for Mankind 

Bossa Nova & The Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s

Many find it hard to believe but I often need to take a break from high volume, head banging rock, punk and metal. The fact is staying away from what you love makes you love and crave it even more. And when I need to rest my battered ears I do not turn to mellow singer-songwriter crap, electronic “chill out” garbage or, even worse, Wilco. There are many other musical avenues I like to travel but one of my favorites is the high energy and rhythmically exciting realm of Brazilian music. I have many Bossa Nova compilations but when I saw that the well respected UK label Soul Jazz was putting out a double CD (also available on double LP) I picked it up without hesitation.

I’m far from an expert on the topic of Bossa Nova and its origins so I won’t bother to try and explain its evolution. Once you hear it, you’re hooked and there’s no turning back. Bossa Nova demands your attention and involvement. It is impossible to listen to this music and not start stomping your foot and banging on the table or nearest bottle. At first you may drive those around you nuts but before too long, they too, are tapping their pencil on the side of their coffee mug and a massive percussion discussion is happening all around you.

Like most compilations on Soul Jazz, there’s an excellent mix of well known and obscure artists. Big names like Joao Gilberto, Sergio Mendes, Gilberto Gil and Antonio Carlos Jobim are represented while most of the other artists were unfamiliar to me. There are 17 songs per disc and not a single one is even close to a dud. How often does that happen? As an import, it’s a little bit pricey but you get excellent value for money on this package. The 74 page book is very interesting and has lots of great photos. There’s lots more I could say about this but I’d rather listen. Loud, too.

--Woody 



buy here: Bossa Nova Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s


Buy here book: Bossa Nova

The Bell- Great Heat

This album come to me at a most ironic time as I was shivering in beanie's and other cold weather gear. There will be people going, “It snows in Australia?!” and my response will be no. It was just five degrees (Celsius) and I was freezing...

Moving on to the album...

The Heat is The Bell's second release (their first being back in 2007 with Make Some Quiet) and the Sweden based trio have been getting some attention for this one it seems.

The Heat held its appeal for me because it sounds like the 80's music I was brought up listening to- electronic and a little trippy on occasion.

It all kicks off with “Dope Makes You”, smooth riffs, electronic sounds and cool vocals.
“Dope makes you just likes like other men”

“Holiday” is more heavy on the electronics with the vocals also being shrouded with synthetics. It is also relies on the beat more.

“I Can't Change” is one of my favourites as it opens right away with really smooth, and rhythmic sounds, before going into more electronic vocals for the chorus.

“I can't change,
I can't the world”

“The Sound” isn't as heavy as “Holiday” on the synthetics but the chorus opens up and becomes really big electronic rock. The electronic sounds are back in quantity for “Tell Us You're Sorry.”

Opening with smooth sounds “Throw Me A Bone” is another stand out on the album, cool rhythms, raw vocals, catchy lyrics, it is all there.

“I knew it was over,
When you were gone.
You gained independence,
But you don’t know what from.”


“Today” takes you back to the heavy electronics of “Holiday.”

“Today,
I don't want to wait another day”


“What Ever Did You Say?” is the single of the album. It is clean and has catchy lyrics.

“Around and around
With my head in the clouds
I was just about to tell you a lie
What ever did you say?”

Grouped with neat riffs, perfectly balanced synthetics and a good rhythm it is a great song. Well chosen for the single.


“You Fell Behind” goes back onto the heavily electronic. Although it keeps up with the lyrics you would expect.

“You fell behind,
So many times”


Despite being named “23 Seconds” it actually goes for a lot longer than that. It is also much, much cleaner than the other songs. The riffs are more audible now and the vocals are sweet but icy. It is a nice end to a great album.

“The page is turning,
The bridge is burning,
And ashes keep holding on.”


The Heat is a really great album. The Bell hit all of the right notes and buttons to create something that sounds 80's and electronic. Best savoured in cold weather.


-Koala

From the last album

Legendary Acid Rockers, JPT Scare Band, Drop Hard Rocking New Single and Video “Long Day” to Celebrate National 420 Day. Exclusive World Premiere on The Obelisk

After more than 3 solid months of Acid Blues is the White Man’s Burden, holding down a top 5 spot in CD Baby.com’s Extended Jam Category, legendary acid rockers, JPT Scare Band come roaring back with a blitzing assault on their newest single, “Long Day.”  Featuring the sizzling guitar work of Terry Swope, “Long Day,” tears through more than 7 minutes of searing guitar leads, massive bass riffs, and mammoth drum jamming, all in the definitive JPT Scare Band style.

To make things even more appropriate, JPT Scare Band and Ripple Music will release the single and world-premiere of the psychedelic video on April 20, 2011, National Weed Day.  The term 420 originated from a group of teenagers at San Rafael High School in California in 1971. The teens met after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke out at the Louis Pasteur statue.  Since then, the date has become legendary in the Stoner Rock community.  An ethos JPT Scare Band embraces whole heartedly.

After years of plying their frenzied, hard-rocking, acid blues trade in near obscurity, the love and accolades keep pouring in for JPT Scare Band.  Classic Rock Magazine honored JPT by including their last single “Not My Fault” on their November cover-mounted CD.   After previously naming JPT Scare Band one of the “lost pioneers of heavy metal,” Classic Rock continued the love fest proclaiming that “JPT Scare Band plied a terrifying form of ear-bludgeoning hard rock that was so far ahead of its time, people are still trying to catch up.”

The world premiere of the hard-rocking, definitively heavy psych video for “Long Day,” will make its debut April 20^th exclusively at The Obelisk, one of stoner rock’s premiere websites and the home of The Obelisk Forum, a watering hole for thousands of fans of hard, heavy, stoner and doom rock.  You can find the video here: The Obeliskhttp://theobelisk.net/obelisk/2011/04/19/jptvid/

 “Long Day” will be available as a digital single from CD Baby and all fine digital music emporiums.   Meanwhile, Acid Blues is the White Man’s Burden is still available in limited quantities from Ripple Music in two-toned, gatefold, double-LP with two bonus tracks, Deluxe digipack CD, or digital at www.ripple-music.com

Go here to check out the world premiere video.

Honeychild - Nearer The Earth

Well, the first time that I met you, I took your cd for a spin
I couldn’t stop it, 'cause that would be a sin
You had an indie rock sense,
Your harmonies blessed,
Laptop and two mics yet recorded smooth as glass
And the sounds that you express
Are among the best
I had to write a blast.

Honeychild
Don't you know you drive me wild
Oh Honeychild
Don't you know you drive me wild
Just about to lose my mind

Well the second time that I met you, you were a group of six
All your talk with strings, keyboards and sticks
“Nearer The Earth” wails
Anthems and tales,
“The Father,” “Tijuana,” “Driving Song.” “The Owl,” “Away We Go”
“Lonesome Tiger,” “Joker’s Wild,” “Don’t Take Me Home”
Recorded at home
Reseda, Valley San Fernando

Honeychild
Don't you know you drive me wild
Oh Honeychild
Don't you know you drive me wild
Just about to lose my mind

I found out since I met you, the whole cd is free
A download well worth it indeed
A talented band
Whose time is at hand
Loose, jangly and downright bluesy
Unsigned and self-promoted
I’m real choosy
But, now I’m devoted

Honeychild
Don't you know you drive me wild
Oh Honeychild
Don't you know you drive me wild
Just about to lose my mind

Honey, honey, honey, Honeychild
Don't you know you drive me wild

- Old School (with apologies to Bad Company)

www.hellohoneychild.com/

SNSD/Girls' Generation - Mr. Taxi

I've always had doubts and/or not positive thoughts (not necessarily negative either) about SNSD advancing to Japan. Partially because I hate that they're getting everything so easy in Japan compared to BoA and DBSK and everyone before their generation. I'm not saying they're not working hard, but all they have to worry about now is succeeding - the generation that opened the door for them had to worry about a lot more.


But anyway. In my opinion they should've signed with an agency with much bigger clout in the industry, because for heaven's sake they very well could have signed with something like Avex or EMI. Nayutawave? Who the hell knows Nayutawave? I mean OK, it's a sub-label of Universal and Universal is THE label to be in internationally (they're kinda overpowered in Japan though), but couldn't they have picked a bigger label? I'm sure the bigger labels were more than excited at the prospect of signing one of Asia's most popular girl groups since forever.

The reason why they should've signed to a bigger label is so SME can't boss the label around and prance around like they know how the Japanese industry works, even if by now they should, because they don't. I've said this time and time again and I'll say it again. You cannot approach the Japanese industry like you do the Korean industry and expect to get the same respect as other Japanese acts - the two industries work differently. This is not a matter of which industry is bigger (even if the Japanese industry is much, much bigger) or better - you think Japanese acts will be able to get the same respect Korean acts do if they ever decide to break into Korea?

This is no longer the "you won't sell" argument - because they, and KARA, are sure as hell selling - this is about musical respect. In Japan they're STILL known as a group from Korea, they're still known as an act just dabbling here and there (even if SME probably has a long-term plan for them), and they're still known as part of the Hallyu wave.

Why? Because before "Mr. Taxi", all they've been releasing are Japanese versions of their Korean hits. To be honest with you I think respect, and success, would've come even faster had they released original Japanese material from the very beginning - like make "Genie" a double a-side with an original track or something to that effect.

So back to my first point. Since the past stays in the past, and I can whine all I want but nothing will change, let's focus on now. And "Mr. Taxi" is now. And I like now. A lot. I've been waiting for this - the moment when SNSD start realizing that cute and shallow only work for a short period of time, but a good song will last forever. And this is sure as hell a good song.

Cheesy, much?

"Mr. Taxi" is Japanese through and through aaaaaaaand through. The production, albeit edgy and dark, is still very rich - it's very packed. Cue my forever relevant cheesecake analogy. The dynamics gave the song not only punch but variety - there are parts that go on and on, but they're immediately balanced by little tweaks to the dynamics, additions to the instrumental, gimmicks here and there (the motorcycle-ish sounds remind me of all the bits and pieces on "8Bit Heart") that give the song character.

But one of the best parts of this song is the fact that the vocals are the exact opposite - and for once majority of SNSD's flimsy-sounding vocals (bar Taeyeon, Tiffany and Seohyun) are put to good use.

I would like to shake hands with whoever did the A&R for this.

I heard some complaints about the vocals being autotuned on the song, and personally I think it's pretty useless arguing about it, because this is what the song calls for - the contrast of the rich instrumental and their fluid vocals is what makes the song brilliant. If they hadn't smoothened and fluid-ized the parts that they did, the song would've been one-dimensional and kinda boring, to be honest with you.

I'm against autotune if it's tasteless, not called for (whether to ruin talent or hide the lack of), and just plain stupid, but the use of it on this song is none of the above - it was actually tasteful and well-done, verging on artistic. And they didn't even autotune the whole damn song. Is playing around (while doing things right) a crime? I don't think so.

But I haven't gotten to the best part yet. I haven't been in touch with my love for amazing middle-8s lately, mainly because a lot of the k-pop that's coming out now usually substitutes the middle 8 for a dance break or a rap verse, which frustrates me - but "Mr. Taxi" has reminded me of the value of a brilliant, epic, jaw-dropping middle 8.

You have these very edgy, strong, punchy verses (Taeyeon sounds amazing, if I may add), this very robotic and catchy chorus, and then right smack in the middle of it is an almost ethereal middle 8 in comparison to the rest of the song. It still has character though, albeit it being floaty and all. I like how a spunky dance break leads to this light, floaty, and rather lengthy middle 8/bridge (OK fine I'll call it a bridge because it's a hell of a lot longer than 8 beats) that's literally just waiting, begging, yearning to explode into this riot of an ending.

Even if I didn't really get my riot of an ending, I do adore how the song jumped back to the last chorus, and that it actually still had the guts to jump back and do a damn good job, considering how epic the "bridge" was.

After writing this all up, I now realize that this song is probably almost everything I ever complained about SNSD's music and lead singles, done right. Even so, at the end of the day I can still say that this sounds very much like an SNSD song.

This is what I mean when I say that Korean acts need to experience Japanese production. I don't intend to insult the Korean industry when I say this, but the Japanese pop industry is more experienced, and more sophisticated in terms of technology and thinking, for the simple reason that it's been around for much much longer - there are good and bad acts anywhere you go, but K-pop can benefit a lot from simply experiencing the variety and the rigors, of J-pop. This song is living proof of that.

Who knew the day I'd praise SNSD beyond belief would come so soon?

5/5