Classic Korean Pop Music Archive: Deulgukhwa / Deulgukhwa 1st Album (1985)

Quality classic rock in the inimitable Korean style.

Classic Korean Pop Music Archive: Deulgukhwa / Deulgukhwa 1st Album (1985): Deulgukhwa 들국화 Deulgukhwa 1st Album 들국화 1집 1985. 09. 10 Side A 1. 행진 / Parade 2. 그것만이 내 세상 / That's Only My World 3. 세계로 가는 기차 / ...

RIP Allen Lanier of BÖC

Rhythm guitarist and keyboard player for the band Lester Bangs called "America's answer to Black Sabbath" Blue Öyster Cult, Allen Lanier, has left us. In his memory, here are some of my favorite tracks from his work with the group:

"Before the Kiss, A Redcap"

"Transmaniacon MC" (Listen for the Altamont reference!)

Both tracks from their debut LP in 1972.

"The Red and The Black"

"7 Screaming Diz-busters"

Both tracks come from their second album Tyranny and Mutation.

"Boorman the Chauffeur" (An outtake. Listen to that barreling rhythm...)

"Dominance and Submission" (Radio Birdman named their album Radios Appear after a line in this song)

The angry and brooding "Flaming Telepaths"

All three tracks come from their third album, Secret Treaties.

Notice that "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" doesn't appear here. I didn't link it because even though I love the song and its dark repeating A G F G riff, I wanted to post some songs from before they exploded onto the scene.

Enjoy...

K-rock review: Crying Nut - Flaming Nuts

Bought this in Daejeon because the cover art's hilarious:



They're called a punk band, but they like to party more than they like to damn the man. Flaming Nuts, their 7th LP, is jammed with big singalong choruses, hard-hitting drums, and songs that make you want to get up and move. They follow up the "serious" song of "Unknown Universe" with the Green Day bounce-punk of "Five Minute Wash."

Flaming Nuts reminds me most of Sum 41 and Dropkick Murphys. A good time record from a good time band.

I'll be buying more from them! They're probably even better live.

Listen here:

"레고 [Lego]"

"5분 세탁 [Five Minute Wash]

Rock on, guys.

Notes:

http://www.cryingnut.kr/
http://www.koreanindie.com/tag/crying-nut/
http://www.koreanindie.com/2013/06/24/crying-nut-flaming-nuts/ The review
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crying_Nut

Thoughts from spin #1...

1. Pirate Song - Dropkick Murphys with Korean vocals. Yeah!
2. The "Wild Thing" riff takes a ride down to the Caribbean and they jam it up.
3. Fun vocals, loud guitars. 90s-style.
4. Minor key bass, swirling guitars.
5. Green Day/Sum 41, palm mutes and rhymes. "Five Minute Wash" = Cool title.
6. Party thrash about peanuts?!
7. An upbeat acoustic number about new shoes? Folk-esque--with accordion!
8. Slap-happy Dropkick Murphys action.
9. 90s pop-punk Christmas singalong.
10. Mariachi with distortion and Spanish vocals--or is it Korean that sounds Spanish? Either way, 'tis a happy little number.

Call for the Priest...Judas Priest

Sometimes albums and songs slam their way into my head and the sounds get stuck there, crying out, "Play me!" In Daejeon as well as for the last couple of weeks, it's been AC/DC; now it's Judas Priest. They're my favorite metal band and I've had the privilege of seeing them live twice. Rob Halford can belt it and the I'm always in thrall of Glenn Tipton and KK Downing's dueling guitars. To me, they exemplify everything excellent about metal: the driving tempos, the fantastic imagery, and the spectacle of the live show. I blame an old friend from back home for getting me into them. He was always talking about them and playing their riffs on his guitar, so I learned some of them. To this day, "Living After Midnight" ranks as a favorite to play along with.

Despite having listened them for a decade, I've yet to hear everything they've done--I started with Unleashed in the East and Screaming for Vengeance and jammed everything up until Turbo. I played those first two for a long time as a teenager before moving on to the classic British Steel, the underrated Point of Entry, and the earlier works of Sad Wings of Destiny, Sin After Sin, and (the exellent) Hell Bent for Leather. 

Unleashed in the East is one of the best live albums out there and has all the best songs from before they exploded in popularity. It's a snapshot of what they sounded like before 1980's British Steel. 

So, which of those LPs have graced the headphones? Screaming, Unleashed, and Hell Bent For Leather.

Catch up on Kpop?

Maybe.

I haven't had much motivation to listen to it lately. Even my favorites 2NE1 haven't graced the stereo in months. Until this morning, that is. Listening to their disappointing new single "Falling in Love" brought to mind that no, they weren't always this obvious, this American, this nasal, and this club-baiting. CL's earlier single "The Baddest Female," should have been warning enough, but actually, the last track on their (excellent) second EP, "Don't Stop The Music" was the harbinger of change. On the EP, it was a not-so-good final track, so it got skipped more often than not because it sounded too much like an obvious club song.

2NE1 still stands as the best of the Kpop groups, and while it's foolish to expect them to remain the same, these changes don't bode well for them. Their rock and roll-style hard driving attitude of yore has shifted to cloying "ghetto fabulous" platitudes.* Whereas it used to be "We're badass because we do what we want," now it's "We're badass because we're rich and we're in the club." Well, great. They must've been clamoring for those fake 80s drum beats and shots of them looking rich and bored.

"Falling in Love"

CL - "나쁜 기집애" / "The Baddest Female"

"Don't Stop The Music"

"내가 제일 잘 나가" / "I am the Best"

Hard driving. A mission statement.

*R noted this point.

Song of the day - "Superman Lover"

I came down to the cafe and heard this while ordering: "Superman Lover" by Johnny Guitar Watson. Dig that laid back and soulful groove. I thought I'd throw it up here since I saw that new Superman movie and enjoyed it quite a bit. I've always been more partial to Batman, but the movie puts the "man" back in Superman. He's still super, but he has his weaknesses like any other man.

Enjoy that cover art...

The power of Hawkwind

The 2nd half of the seminal Space Ritual double LP from 1973.

Hawkwind's LPs have been in heavy rotation for weeks now. I should've heard them sooner. Despite a decade of blasting Motorhead, I've never listened to Lemmy's work with Hawkwind. His playing on Space Ritual's something else.

Doremi Fasol Latido

beardedmenace: Can You Imagine? (#023) / Pentagram

Another quality mix from Bearded Menance. I haven't gotten past the first few tracks and it's already sounding like another winner. Thanks to him, I now know of the doom-metal legends Pentagram, for despising having known of them for ages, I'd never listened to them until now. Such is the case with plenty of bands, but Pentagram's one that should've been there from the beginning. Their story's a peculiar one, for despite doing singles and a couple albums worth of material in the 1970s, they didn't actually release their first album until 1985. By then members had come and gone and their sound had evolved from their early material. That's the impression I get anyway, as I've only focused on the early stuff found on First Daze Here and First Daze Here Too this week. 

The 70s-era Pentagram songs stack up against their big brothers BÖC, Black Sabbath, and Captain Beyond. There's plenty of Rod Evans in Bobby Liebling's voice. They do a hard driving cover of "Under My Thumb" that straddles the line between hard rock that I quite like, too. Can You Imagine? features the foreboding, brooding track "Be Forewarned," an early single. Dig it!

beardedmenace: Can You Imagine? (#023): [ ZS] Here's this week's over-analysis. It's a special one. File it under dense, and worthy of exploration. Recommended l...

"Forever My Queen"

"Be Forewarned"

"Last Days Here"

"Under My Thumb" (Rolling Stones)

Reblog: beardedmenace: Smiling Through The Tears (#021)

beardedmenace: Smiling Through The Tears (#021): [ ZS ] Virtually no punk. Still awesome. 1. TUBEWAY ARMY - YOU ARE IN MY VISION pulled from "Replicas" 2. DAVID BOW...

Forays in Kpop/Playlist #2

An email to a friend back home spurred this one. He'd written in to ask about new Kpop tunes he'd heard about and wanted to know what I thought of them.

I've been edging away from Kpop lately because there doesn't seem to be as much interesting songs coming out and Krock and rock in general have reasserted themselves in the musical diet. Pop's a genre that comes in fits and starts for me. Much as I love Phil Spector's Wall of Sound work from the '60s, I can only take 40 minutes of that stuff at a time. It simply doesn't satisfy me the way rock and roll does. 

Even so, here are some good ones to play.

1. Psy - "Gangnam Style"

You know it, I know it--it's a classic. Some people have called it "stupid" and "corny," but oh well. It's bouncy and funny--two key ingredients of good tuneage. Those karaoke tour buses really do exist, too. As a point of information, having spent some time in Gangnam, the areas off of the main streets look like the aftermath of a house party during the day. Bottles and trash everywhere.

2. Psy feat. Hyun-a - "Oppa Is Just My Style"

Hyeon-a (or Hyuna, depending on the romanization) seems like, from what I've seen so far, the Korean version of Fergie. Her song "Ice Cream" is as craptacular as "My Humps." 

3.  Girls' Generation - "Gee"
4. Girls' Generation - "Mr. Taxi"

Yes indeed. Hooee can the Girls dance their way into your ears here. Both are packed with hooks and are fun to listen to. "Gee" is an early single for them and it's the song that made them famous. "Mr Taxi" is a more recent single of off the The Boys album.

5. Girls' Generation - "The Boys"

This one marks where they started slipping. It was a hit here, but it's the Girls trying too hard to be American and boisterous. The song's all posturing and no melody. I once read an interview where one of the Girls gushed over it because she thought doing a song without a hook would be an interesting departure for them. Yes, you read that right: She thought a song without a hook would be fun, so that should tell you something. "The Boys" came from the album of the same name and I've mixed thoughts on it: On the one hand, I don't remember much of it being any good, but on the other, it came in a cool tin box with postcards and two excellent posters. The packaging makes up for the lackluster tunes.

6. Big Bang - "Fantastic Baby"

It's a good one, not least because it taught every Korean teenager the word fantastic.

7. 2NE1 - "I Am the Best"

One of my all time favorite songs. 2NE1's 2nd EP (2nd Mini Album) is my favorite Kpop record and "I Am The Best" kicks it off with an electric swagger. If one group can claim Girl Power, it's these girls. They've got the attitude and the songs to back it up.

See also:
My review of 2NE1's concert last summer. It became an album in its own right. I haven't bought it yet, but I will be getting it soon.

Gangwon Dispatches: 11 months in music - Kpop edition

8. Girls' Generation - "Oh!"

Decent number.

9. Super Junior - "Mr. Simple"

Yes. Good electro number. I've the CD. It came in a full color LP sized package, which meant I had to buy it. The cover has one of the dudes looking like a cross between Jimi Hendrix and Willy Wonka.

10. Wonder Girls - "Nobody"

HELL YES. The kids consider it ancient history, but this song's what put the Wonder Girls on the map. It brought Kpop outside of Korea with a '60s melody and hook. You can get this one in Korean and in English. The music's the same, but the vocal tracks are different. This is one of the few pop songs that delivers the lyrical goods. They're economical and clever. 

Bonus Wonder girls tracks:

"Two Different Tears" (English version)

"Like Money"

A single from last summer. I meant to write something about this, but I only got so far as a journal entry and never got around to typing it up. Musically, it's another excellent and hook-filled pop number makes me want to move. Unlike many other Kpop tunes, the lyrics stood out on this one because they're about how the girls want to be loved like money or another precious commodity. The old line about being careful what you wish for came to mind here, for commodities get bought and sold all the time. Loving a human being like a diamond or a vintage muscle car's not that deep of a love because things are replaceable and people aren't.

The video's cinematography's straight out of Tron. Some might call it a ripoff, but I'll just call it an a homage because I like that imagery.

Also, the "bionic girl" trope can get unsettling. It doesn't work in their favor because it paints them as oversexed money hungry robots hell bent on taking a man's love.

[Note: I may revisit this topic later.]

Reblog: beardedmenace: The Lights Grow Dim (#020)

beardedmenace: The Lights Grow Dim (#020): [ ZS ] Another solid hour of great music. This one a more upbeat affair than the last. Download and enjoy. 1. THE DIODES - MERCEN...

Reblog: beardedmenace: Then There Was You (#019)

beardedmenace: Then There Was You (#019): [ ZS ] With ten of its fifteen tracks breaking the four minute mark, this week's compilation represents a marked pace shift from ...

Reblog: beardedmenace: A Time And A Place To Die (#018)

beardedmenace: A Time And A Place To Die (#018): [ ZS ] I hesitate to call it a theme, but this week's tracks are pretty much exclusive to the fast and loud variety. I'm usua...

Reblog: beardedmenace: No Time For Dreams (#017)

beardedmenace: No Time For Dreams (#017): [ DS ] Download this compilation. I made it from scratch, just for you, with twenty songs that don't suck.   1. TONES ON TAIL...

Reblog: beardedmenace: The Real Junk (#016)

beardedmenace: The Real Junk (#016): [ DS ] Motto of the moment: fewer words, more music. Bunch of punk, bunch of post-punk, dash of new wave. Some standards and classics...

Reblog: beardedmenace: Doomed From The Start (#015)

beardedmenace: Doomed From The Start (#015): [ DS ] [ FC ] Note: I've had reports of trouble downloading this file from FileCloud, so I've added a DivShare link. If you ...

Reblog: beardedmenace: Null And Void (#014)

beardedmenace: Null And Void (#014): [ DS ] [ FC ] This week's compilation is an intentionally odd selection of punk and post-punk. Although we generally don't st...

Reblog: beardedmenace: Another Man's Law: 1982 (#013)

beardedmenace: Another Man's Law: 1982 (#013): [ DS ] [ FC ] I had a lot of fun making this one. As it turns out, 1982 was a pretty great year for music. This is a punk and hardcor...

Reblog: beardedmenace: Game Set Match (#012)

beardedmenace: Game Set Match (#012): [ DS ] [ FC ] What can I say about edition number twelve? A little bit of hard rock to compliment your punk and post-punk, and even ...

Reblog: beardedmenace: Bend My Ear Twist My Arm (#011)

beardedmenace: Bend My Ear Twist My Arm (#011): [ DS ] [ FC ] I feel like I'm getting into quite a groove with these things. So far it's been almost standard procedure that t...