Category: Korean music (Page 7 of 11)

Well, looks like Boa is finally ready to make her big push into the United States. The teaser video for her first American song and video is online. It’s called I’ll Eat You Up.

American Version:

Asian version:

Or you can go here for the American version. Or here for the Asian version.

Certainly respect in the American market has been the Holy Grail of the Korean music industry for some time. But with the exception of the reggae singer Skull (and, back in the 1950s and 60s, the Kim Sisters), there has been very little success by Korean pop singers over there.

I cannot claim to understand the tastes and trends of hip young people anywhere in the world, so I will refrain from speculating about how Boa’s American promotion will go. But best of luck to her.

So I recently picked up an unpleasant habit… potentially more dangerous than drugs, more costly than gambling, more insidious than drinking. I bought a turntable. Worse — I started buying old records.

Over the past couple of years on this blog, I have written about classic Korean rock music a few times. There is a lot of music from the 1960s and 1970s in Korea that I really enjoy. However, not a whole lot of music from that period has been reissued on CD. Yes, a lot of the biggest names are available on CD, especially from the Shin Joong-hyun family, but there was a heck of a lot of other stuff that never made it to CD.

Then one day, I was strolling through Hoehyeon Underground Mall, near Myeongdong, when I noticed all the used record stores there. I mean, of course I have seen them before, but I never really paid much attention to them. Why would I? But one this one occasion, I decided to ask about old Korean rock and pop music.

What a happy discovery that was. Plenty of interesting stuff to be had. Sure, if you want to buy mint-condition Shin Joong-hyun, you are going to pay a lot of money. But if you go off the beaten track and try out some less famous artists, the prices are not nearly as bad.

I think my best find as far has been The Trippers. Not as psychedelic as I might like, but not bad. Plus hearing a 1971 Korean version of “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” is just too cool (RIP Isaac Hayes).

The Bunny Sisters seem to have not aged well, as wherever I went, there was plenty of their albums for pretty cheap. Sure, they are a little saccharine, but not a bad addition.

I also managed to find a He5 album. Granted, it was not in good condition (hence, I could afford it), but it still feels good to have a big album like that.

Very interesting (and more expensive) was ’71 King Hit Album, a compilation featuring songs by Kim Choo-ja, Kim Sang-hee, the Pearl Sisters and a whole bunch of other female singers.

And then there was the totally random. I also picked up some early Lee Soo-man albums, if only to get a sense of the man who would create SM Entertainment and the biggest pop music hit machine in Korea.

Once upon a time, the Daelim Sangga, running down Jongno 4-ga to Toegyero 4-ga, used to be the best place in Korea for old records. Sadly, those days are gone. I know because I took some bad advice and looked all over those concrete bunkers looking for old records. Plenty of people selling old turntables and stereo equipment, but only one person selling old records that I could find (and he was mostly selling old Journey and Judas Priest era albums).

Most of those old shops have moved, either to the Hoehyeon underground shopping arcade, or else to the Yongsan Jeonja Land mall, second floor. A great way to waste some time and money.

Anyhow, I don’t mean to bore anyone. But it is rather fun and interesting to have a whole new part of Korea to dive into. Hopefully I will not go overboard.

I wrote about some Korean music, new and old, over at the Korea Gig Guide. Some stuff about Pastel Music and the original band of Lee Soo-man’s (the guy who created SM Entertainment, Boa and Dong Bang Shin Gi). Rather than double-post, I will let you just head over there if you are interested in reading about it.

At last, this year’s PENTAPORT website has opened, with an early (and incomplete) list of the acts playing at the three-day summer festival in July. You can read about it over at the Korea Gig Guide.

What is it with RAIN (aka Jung Ji-hoon) and TIME magazine? For the third year in a row, RAIN is competing in the TIME MAGAZINE DORKY EXCUSE TO BOOST ITS HIT RATE, otherwise known as the TIME 100. Actually, as I write this, he is not just competing — he is dominating.

1. Rain – 87 avg. rating – 208,455 votes
2. Stephen Colbert – 81 rating – 43,206 votes
3. Britney Spears – 80 rating – 84,560 votes

11. Nelson Mandela – 71 rating – 6,729 votes
13. Dali Lama – 70 rating – 7,089 votes
29. Nikki Finke – 56 rating – 4,223 votes

If you want to submit questions for Rain, you can do so here.

TIME’s write up for RAIN is kind of funny:

He’s training his successor? At 25? That’s either the smartest or the saddest thing ever.

A couple of music notes…