Midweek Music List!! Yay!!

[Managed to get it out in time for the Wednesday lunch break! Yes!]

Hey everyone! I'm back again with a short music playlist for you guys. Last week was kinda dull music-wise, so I decided to wait until I found some good stuff before posting. So here it is! All Korean music this week - I only have a couple of songs to review, but each one has a related song which is equally awesome. So I've reviewed one track in each pair and posted the other track as a follow-up on the playlist. Enjoy!




1. Bye Bye Sea - 내 맘이 말을 해 (My Mind Talks/ My Heart Speaks)

This band is fast becoming my favorite k-indie band. I discovered the awesomeness that is "The Starlight Falls" on Dramabeans where they had a feature on the band (they've been in two k-dramas this year). That song comes from their first EP, Boy's Universe, which also features this song, "My Heart Speaks". With the release of their first ever album, City Complex, they decided to rework "My Heart Speaks" and re-release it as their lead single, complete with video. I didn't like the original version all that much, but the reworked version hits all the right notes. I get a Coldplay vibe from it, with the frantic piano and the wail of the electric guitar, and all the melodies layered on top of each other. The rest of City Complex> is equally good, and solidified my love for this band. Go support them by buying the album!

2. Baek Ji Young - "That Woman" from Secret Garden OST

Okay, so I didn't think I would like this new k-drama, but I was hooked on the first episode. The other thing that slayed me at first sight (listen?) was this track by Baek Ji Young. I'd always known that Baek Ji Young had been a good ballad singer, but I'd never bothered to listen to any of her stuff other than "My Ear's Candy" (kind of a guilty pleasure for me, but it never fails to make me dance). However, that is going to change. Even without Google Translate's awful translation of the lyrics, I could tell this was a sad love song - Baek puts all her emotion into her performance, and the melancholy strings and piano in the background help set the mood just so. It's a song that really fits the drama: it's evocative of the deep greens and blues that we see in so many shots (like the one in the header photo for this post), and that just adds to its appeal. It also reminds me as I watch that the story has deep emotional undercurrents despite being lighthearted at times. I can't wait to see how it goes.

Make sure you also check out these other OST tracks: 4men & Mi's gorgeous duet/collabo "Here I Am", and the surprisingly good "Watching" by Yoon Sang Hyun, who plays an older idol singer in the drama. Best drama (and OST) of the year? I wouldn't be surprised.

3. BEAST - Lights Go On Again

This song makes me swoon every time, but I then get so mad when it ends at barely two minutes long. I did say that BEAST should do R&B, and boy, did they ever kill it. Dongwoon is quickly surpassing Doojoon in the running for Mellowyel's Favorite BEAST Member, and he totally deserves it - I love his voice. Yoseob continues to expand his range, and while his falsetto is impressive, he's more appealling in lower octaves - Hyunseung as well. Also, AJ sounds like a little kid here. He's adorable though, so I can't hate on him. Junhyung's mellow rap really suits the song, for once. And all of these come together over a great instrumental to produce probably my favorite two minutes of k-pop this year that wasn't from 2NE1, Se7en or BoA. Good job, boys - keep up the good work.

The lead single off of this mini-album/part two album, "Beautiful", is actually my least favorite track off the EP, but it's cute, and the video's not bad either (though their outfits need to be burned immediately. Donated as firewood to the poor or something.) I particularly fell for the story of Junhyung's heartbreak. It would be awesome if "Lightless" was the follow-up track, with the video being an awesome abstraction of that dark place you go to when you have your heart broken. *Sigh. In another life, I was a music video director...

Apologies for the long reviews today - I won't be offended if you don't read them, so long as you like the music :) Happy Hump Day everyone!

P.S. Sorry if the layout is weird - working on fixing it, and learning some code so that I can make this site look less sucky.