Today it is something a bit different to what you might be used to me posting. After seeing a program about TV in South Korea last night I decided that it would be interesting to have a look about South Korean music today. Wow. I have spent all day looking so far and I've barely eaten, just been sitting here clicking and getting frustrated at my slow laptop (yes when you need more than one tab on a browser open a fast laptop is preferable) and some of the music I've found is really nice. One thing I discovered was this song. A lot of places are classing it as K-pop and I suppose that's right: it's pop (basically) and it's K - Korean. Makes sense.
On the other hand, some people are saying it's K-indie. Korean indie. Who knows. Given that she's an independent artist, I'd say the latter to be honest. It's by a girl who goes by the name of Neon Bunny (real name: Lim Yoo-jin) and it's called 왕자님 ('Oh My Prince' ... I think). She's had to my knowledge only one album out, Seoulight, released in 2011 and a mini-album or closer to an EP last year called Happy Ending. She used to be in indie band The Black Skirts and recently, like this month, collaborated with electro artist Smells on the recent-ish song 'Listen To Your Heart'. Anyway that's all a whirlwind of information that probably doesn't mean very much to you.
So once you've listened to the song, you can see what I mean about it being pop. It sounds poppy, that's for sure. However it's more the retro-style kinda 80s pop that people like College are making - yes indeed, this song is kind of an upbeat version of the kinds of songs you'd find on the soundtrack for Drive. It's all there: the beefy drums whose snares I very much like, the soft analogue synth arpeggios, palm muted reverbed 'n' chorused guitars even make an appearance. What's different is the stuttering screech of synth chords in the verse and the ornamentation of the beat, lavished as it is with open hi-hats and the occasional clap. Neon Bunny's vocals are perfect, too, spreading a catchy melody veiled ever-so-slightly with far-off reverb.
It might not be totally "out there", but things don't need to be "out there" to be good. And this I do believe is good. It's really nice to listen to, has a catchy melody and a thumper of a beat supported by saw-wave bass synth that judders your brain. It's all pleasant though, a brightly coloured ride through a sunny sky. I'd be very happy to hear more from this artist. For the moment, though, this is just right for summer - and so it should be, it was released around this time last year. But this summer's better cause it's actually nice weather.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Neon Bunny on Facebook
Follow Neon Bunny on Twitter
No comments:
Post a Comment