History ‘What Am I To You’, 2013 (Blue Spring EP)

Okay I am doing this, I’ve been thinking about a song for two days straight and it’s eating my brain, I shan’t know peace until I inflict it on you too:

HISTORY(히스토리) _ What am I to you(난 너한테 뭐야), 2013

(actually released on 26 Nov, I just missed its 9th anniversary)

First up, it’s filmed in Berlin with German extras, all the kudos for that, LOEN. I know we like to fake these things, but most Berliners would recognise those places. The “Photoautomat” looks like the one at Warschauer Str., for example. Ciclope Festival is a real thing.

When it drops to just that Casio Rock-1 beat?

Casio VL 1 / VL-Tone

which made me think of this, naturally:

Trio ‘Da Da Da’, 1982

History themselves said the song had a “Latin” vibe – in this video:

Let’s Dance: HISTORY(히스토리)_What am I to you interview

The keyboard riff is familiar to me, I just can’t quite name it. To make matters worse, although I have some basic music theory, I’m mostly a dancer.

And what a dancer means by “beat” or “rhythm” is not quite what a drummer or keyboard player means. Let’s say I recognise a “pattern” instead: “slow-fast-fast”. Rumba.

Compare and contrast: the WAITY instrumental.

On the other hand – it could be a Bossa Nova, because listen to this:

Mattel Optigan Bossa Nova Style

This is the kind of very basic keyboard riff I was hunting for.

(side note, OMG the Optigan ad!!!)

Or this kind of thing:

Brazilian Bossa Nova

Both fit the “Latin” mould: Rhumba (in the ballroom sense) is broadly Cuban, while musically you have things like Congolese rumba. Bossa Nova has a Cuban and a Brazilian type.

So who fell into the Latin vibes? Yoon Sang and East4A, with lyrics by Kim Eana.

Yoon Sang has been around for a minute, writing music for Lovelyz and IU (also at LOEN at the time) and Ga In.

And ‘Crush U’ by EXO-CBX:

EXO-CBX ‘Crush U’

Now he’s apparently at Sungshin Women’s University, claims Genius.

And East4A aka Kim Yang Woo? He’s worked for Twice and Sunmi and IU (ofc) and Brown Eyed Girls and, oh, everyone.

He also has a credit on History’s ‘Psycho’, shared with Lee Minsu.

History ‘Psycho’

But where it becomes really funny is that the rest of the Blue Spring album is like this too – but composed by completely different people!

‘Tomorrow‘ is by KZ (words by D’DAY) – dude is BUSY these days, check him out!

And ‘Torn Apart‘ is by 삼박자 (Sam Bak Ja) or SAM BAG JA, about whom I can’t find out anything – apart from this JeA song:

JeA

So someone at LOEN fell into a box of Bossa Nova samples or attended a rhumba class and made an album about it – but what I’m curious about is who allowed ‘Hello‘?

Was Dean already that big in 2013? 😁

He only debuted as a singer in 2015, and ‘Instagram’ was 2017. That said, he does have ‘Voodoo Doll’ _and_ ‘Eternity’ to his name:

VIXX ‘Voodoo Doll’ (clean ver.)

(witness the Jaehwan Throw!)

ANDDD Uniq’s ‘EOEO’ 🤯

That said, the other composers on ‘Hello’ are no slouches either: idk much about Kim Hyung Kyu, but Hyuk Shin (EXO, CLC, NCT, MX, TXT) and Jordan Kyle (SHINee, Oh My Girl, WSJN, Uniq, EXO) also made songs for A.C.E: 5TAR, Take Me Higher, Black & Blue?

A.C.E ‘5TAR’ Live (Complete ver.)

(You know who else has a composer credit on 5TAR? Taemin!)

Okay back to History. A very curious thing I found is that Wiki claims Blue Spring was “produced by Cho Young-chul and with lyrics by Kim Eana“. KE I found on other sites too, but not Cho – crucially, he’s not on KOMCA.

So who is he? Well. He is a producer! Or he was – these days, he’s the CEO of Mystic Ent / Mystic Story, which manages Billlie and Lucy, and also owns Apop (Brown Eyed Girls). And, ummm, SME is its largest shareholder…

Look there’s Kim Eana! And Lee Minsu!

No idea who associated Cho with Blue Spring. He might be! I just can’t find a second source on that, and nor have I figured out how KOMCA chooses to spell his name, so I can’t see what he produced.

All I have is this Allkpop article that asserts he did.

Further proof that History really did go to Germany: Vulkan-Stern Automaten-Casino is a chain of arcades, though they lost their Berlin licences in 2019.

Heh, while looking for more pictures, I found this Soompi article: Boy group History to make comeback as bad boys with Blue Spring. This might be the source of the Wiki entry – but the producer is spelled “Jo Young Chul” here.

So. For all that ‘What Am I To You’ starts off as this simple retro Casio beat and kind of a cheesy riff, it’s sunk its teeth in me for days now – and as you can see, picking apart the who and what of it proves rather complex.

This is me now:

Anyway last word to History, here’s the dance practice:

History ‘What Am I To You’ dance practice

And on that note (boom!) I am out.

10 songs: A.C.E

Here’s a collection of (some of) my favourite A.C.E tracks.

By way of an intro, one of the many reasons I love A.C.E so much: they performed a Skrillex piece? and it’s this good? They did it in 2016, i.e. pre-debut by about 6 months. At the time, they were 19-23 years old.

Onwards to my list:

1. For their 2017 debut song Cactus, A.C.E incorporated Hardstyle in the chorus. And wore shorts for all their stage shows and busking in this era, which I think is super cool.

A.C.E – Cactus MV

2. Their second single was Callin’, also EDM released in 2017. I love and play both of these tracks a lot, they give me energy and make me feel good. The dance choreographies are insanely good btw. There is also an MV.

A.C.E – Callin’ MV Dance version

3. Fast fwd to 2019 for completely different sound – still EDM/trap but with more heat: Do It Like Me. I understand A.C.E made the choreo themselves and it’s straight-up fire IMO. And the song gets me bopping along.

A.C.E – Do It Like Me

4. ‘Do It Like Me’ wasn’t the title track for that era, though, that was Under Cover. I love everything about it: the song (hi @madflexing), the choreography, the MV and especially the outfits. They go so hard!

A.C.E – Under Cover

A.C.E performed Under Cover this year with a live band, which really brings out the rock elements of the song. This may be their signature / best-known song, yet they rework it rather than phone it in, and I love that.

A.C.E – Under Cover live / band version

5. 2020 brought us Goblin/Favorite Boys, which combines old/new, East/West elements in an interesting way. I love the MV (all versions).

A.C.E – Favorite Boys

6. Same era, different song: Golden Goose. My favourite bit is the jazzy breakdown in the bridge.

A.C.E – Golden Goose stage version

A.C.E – Golden Goose performance (moving version)

7. A.C.E have done some OSTs, the latest and IMO best is Spark for a new series called Light On Me. I haven’t seen it yet but apparently it’s streaming now.

A.C.E – Spark

8. Covers. There are SO MANY and it’s honestly hard to pick just one – sticking with what’s on the official YT channel, here’s one vocal cover: James Arthur – Empty Space (A.C.E ver)
   (I love singing their version of Lewis Capaldi – Before You Go)

A.C.E cover of Empty Space by James Arthur

9. And one dance cover: let’s go with NCT here. They’ve also done VIXX and EXO and BTS and many others. No, you know what, two dance covers. I can’t pick.

A.C.E dance cover of NCT 127 – Kick It

A.C.E dance cover of Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J. Balvin – I Like It

10. The first CB in 2021 was the album Siren:Dawn and its title track, Higher. New sound, new concept, 100% beautiful.

A.C.E – Higher

The visuals for Siren era are truly outstanding. And they made SO MUCH – 3 album concepts (Sun, Eclipse, Moon) with 2 versions each (on and under the water, veils), plus all the stages and the concert!

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  Sun

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  Eclipse

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  Moon

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A.C.E teaser images for Siren:Dawn

There’s loads more to love but hopefully this is a start.

How did I get from Skinny Puppy to K-pop and what did I learn on the way?

First, this is what it looks like when indie artists put on a gig, either on their own dime or with limited record label support.

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Skinny Puppy on stage

Skinny Puppy formed in 1982, self-producing tapes until they signed with Nettwerk, then American Recordings. By the end of the 90s, they had sold some two million records and two releases were certified gold. For more, check Wiki.

Then, a “record label” could be a guy with a landline phone who had the time to mail out tapes. Marketing relied on radio play and music journalism, there was no social media. No money for stages, outfits, photoshoots; budget went into printing tapes/LPs/CDs and sleeves.

Gigs brought in money and new fans; festivals were good for outreach but not income. Merch was a headache. Yet they somehow survived, sometimes by working part-time.

So when I hear stans demand their preferred entertainers also produce music, this is what I think of.

Skinny Puppy and an interviewer

The way digital music is produced now is miles away from how these guys did it but studio time still costs money. The contrast between the agency/company/ trainee/audition model and the DIY route is stark: bands like SP had to basically re-invent the wheel and innovate, with no training and no support beyond what they already had or could afford to pay for. Vocal/dance lessons? Management? Tech support? Nope.

Skinny Puppy

Why would you wish this on any performer? I don’t think companies should be beyond reproach, but it’s not like they do nothing.

Second, aesthetics and talent. Look, SP are not ugly people – here’s their vocalist, OhGr. Although he uses distorted and ugly vocals, the guy can act and sing: he was in Repo! The Genetic Opera and a few other films.

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OhGr / Kevin Ogilvie

If SP show up on stage looking like this, it’s an aesthetic choice in line with what they’re trying to communicate with their music and performance. It’s intended to horrify, cf. my post about “noise music”, which industrial is an offshoot of.

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OhGr on stage

To me, a group like VIXX is the other side of the same coin: they’re more into beauty with horror, while SP point to the ugliness of the world with occasional flashes of beauty.
I mean this purely aesthetically, not musically.

VIXX

Musically, you cannot compare punk cut-up media collage techniques, early synthesisers, and sampling horror films with trained singers and performers armed with pop songs. They’re different skills with different purposes.

Skinny Puppy

Where industrial music intends to communicate a specific perception of the world and express horror/angst/fear/rage, pop music is made for entertainment and evoking joy/desire/admiration. There can be overlap, I don’t mean these as absolutes. Desire comes in dark flavours.

A.C.E performing a cover of VIXX’s On and ON

A.C.E

Technology has come a long way, yes. But compare these photos and the difference in production quality is obvious. The way performers can now interact with fans, the way they can reach new fans so easily, was unimaginable in 1982.

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  Skinny Puppy

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  A.C.E

Veil concept

There is also no way that even @official_ACE7 or @RealVIXX would produce music as dark, gritty, or horrific as Skinny Puppy, put on stages ft. blood or be arrested for their shows.

I can’t say I prefer one over the other – while Skinny Puppy were formative for me as a person and aesthetically, I also LOVE the sheer craft that K-pop groups bring to their performances. My god, are they hard workers, it’s the vibe I need right now.

Thanks if you read this thread/essay. I hope I’ve shown a bit why SP are still one of my ults and where there is maybe a little overlap with the Korean groups I like.

On “noise music”

So K-pop fandom can be a slightly strange place at times: not only is there a lot of new language, or new meanings for existing words, that you have to learn if you want to understand online discourse; there are also some really weird ideas that proliferate through the space. Quite often, these gain traction because people don’t know their (music) history in the slightest and are merely repeating ideas or text they’ve read and like.

One such strange idea is that 4th Generation K-pop groups make “noise music” and that it sucks compared to whatever 3rd gen groups and older had going on. I can understand a point being made that some of the up-and-comers produce tracks that are superficially similar, that there is a trendy sound being released by groups like Stray Kids, The Boyz, Ateez, and others.

But this is not what “noise music” is, not even slightly, and it’s a strange label to apply to any kind of pop music in the first place. Here’s what Wiki has to say about the term. Summarising: its origins are in modernism, futurism and Dada, early 20th C, Italy (and others). Its derivatives are Industrial, Dark Ambient, No Wave, Witch House, Glitch.

“It may incorporate live machine sounds, non-musical vocal techniques, physically manipulated audio media, processed sound recordings, field recording, computer-generated noise, stochastic process, and other randomly produced electronic signals”

“More generally noise music may contain aspects such as improvisation, extended technique, cacophony and indeterminacy. In many instances, conventional use of melody, harmony, rhythm or pulse is dispensed with.”

“Contemporary noise music is often associated with extreme volume and distortion. Notable genres that exploit such techniques include noise rock and no wave, industrial music, Japanoise, and postdigital music such as glitch. In the domain of experimental rock, examples include Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music, and Sonic Youth.”

Stockhausen, Whitehouse, Coil, Merzbow, Cabaret Voltaire, Psychic TV, NON, La Monte Young. “it is John Cage’s composition 4’33”, in which an audience sits through four and a half minutes of “silence” (Cage 1973), that represents the beginning of noise music proper.”

“Like much of modern and contemporary art, noise music takes characteristics of the perceived negative traits of noise mentioned below and uses them in aesthetic and imaginative ways.”

The Mothers of Invention, The Velvet Underground (Warhol), The Beatles (Stockhausen). Merzbow: Schwitters + Lou Reed in Japan.

So don’t be coming at me with the term “noise” when the kids are making their tracks a bit louder and more distorted. It’s a whole art movement.

TL;DR: if idol groups want to engage with 100+ years worth of a musical and art movement, that would be amazing and I’d want to hear it. But fans equating music they don’t like with an art form they know nothing about is where I go a bit 😡😠🤬

A love letter to K-Pop

A few days ago, Kate wrote An unexpected love letter to K-Pop. Here is my version:

I grew up dancing – meaning that I started early, about age 5(?), and continued through school, university and adulthood. I’ve been taught ballet, rhythmic gymnastics, jazz dance, ballroom, Lindy Hop, 5Rhythms, blues, bellydance, and tango (plus fencing, yoga, strength/cardio conditioning, tai chi/qi gong, and making music) – ranging from one or two classes to years of training. At uni, I regularly went out dancing once or twice a week, every week. In my 20s and 30s, I spent my free time clubbing and attending gigs, dancing all the while, often in ridiculous outfits and platform boots. I’ve danced to nothing but a drum around a camp fire and in converted factories in front of giant stacks of speakers, barefoot in church, attached to my laptop with headphones, on stages, and in my kitchen.

I don’t think of myself as an athletic person – I don’t especially look like one, for starters, and other things always seemed more important. Although I’m passionate about music and dancing, I’m from a solidly middle-class family that valued academic achievement, career/vocation, art/culture and maybe relationships, in roughly that order, above physical accomplishment. None of us play any team sports, exercise is kinda optional, and dance is only one skill in many for a well-rounded, cultured person: that’s the overall vibe, to situate myself. My dancing bucked those expectations, and I remember being told off for the amount of music I bought. I’m sure my parents would not have been pleased with the time and money I spent moving to music, had I ever admitted it to them; but while I’m quite intelligent and articulate, I’m not actually much of an academic, and so three years of uni would have been even more hellish if I hadn’t had my weekly outlet. I had a tough time in my 20s, because I was quite poor and lacked direction, so dancing until I was exhausted and then ecstatic was my salvation, and meant I didn’t have to get blind drunk or high either.

Between one thing and another, like running a business, getting married and divorced, moving countries, being diagnosed with “hypermobility” and told to stop doing yoga, and falling into a pit of grief, I stopped moving and got frozen in place: quite literally, I spent 6 months last year rarely leaving the room and indeed the bed. I’m still not totally out of the woods, but I’m on the right path at least.

This year, re-engaging with music by getting into Korean pop has given me back my
Hope
Energy
Dreams
Singing
and now Dance

I cried the first time I danced again. Other dancers may understand this: if we ever stop dancing, the day we start again is momentous, a mode of expression available again. Release happens all by itself, energy that got stuck in the body coming out. I know I was avoiding it, at least until I was more stable emotionally. Like, it’s been a year, and I’m only slowly coming to terms with death. I can only feel so much in one go.

It may not seem so obvious why young men from a small country in Asia would be the key to this particular transformation: could I be more different from them?! But if I think about my childhood, it’s not so dissimilar – it’s just that they kept going when I side-lined my dancing. K-Pop seems to have some of the hardest-working entertainers anywhere, which is inspiring when I feel lazy or hopeless. Although many of the lyrics are in Korean, there is more and more English in them (and I don’t mind digging for translations), and the music takes influences from European and American music since the 80s and 90s, so it’s quite accessible to me on that level. Also, K-Pop ignores genre boundaries while Western bands get stuck in them, which suits my taste and love of mash-ups. But really, I think it’s the dancing: not that Western pop singers don’t dance, but there aren’t a lot of groups dancing in formation, which is what I have experience with and relate to. Not to mention the level of accomplishment that K-Pop dancers have! Some of the world’s best choreographers (and producers) are now working for Korean agencies…

I’m establishing a daily dance practice, which was an intention I set myself at the end of last year, and it’s made a lot easier by having easy access to stacks of K-Pop that makes me want to dance, along with amazing dance routines in music videos and live performances, should I be short of inspiration. Has there ever been a better time than this, when artists and performers are endlessly accessible on websites and social media, no matter where on the planet you are?

Here are some things I’ve been dancing and singing to lately:
‘What I Said’ by Victon, plus the album
‘Fame’ by Han Seungwoo with the title track ‘Sacrifice’
‘Criminal’ by Taemin
‘Don’t Call Me’ by SHINee, along with the album
‘Knock’ by Astro
‘Feel Like’ by Woodz, plus a mix / playlist inspired by it
‘Paranoia’ by Kang Daniel, plus ‘Who U Are’

Kate’s mixes – lots of K-Pop and some other genres, plus my YouTube playlists.
My K-Pop Hype playlist on YouTube, older version on Spotify

Collected thoughts on Victon

[YouTube comment] WHY ISN’T THIS GROUP MASSIVE is the exact question that’s been keeping me up this past fortnight. I was an instant fan after seeing What I Said, I’m bowled over by the quality of everything they do and how hard they work. Let’s hope they get recognised and keep going! I’m very hopeful for them.

The album is great btw, and Han Seungwoo did a solo EP (6 tracks, largely self-penned: YouTube, Spotify) that’s been on constant rotation over here as well. The two previous Victon title tracks (Howling, Mayday) are good, btw: great MVs, so you can see they’re not one-hit. I believe they’re working their way out of the “teen Kpop” niche into a top league group and I’m totally excited to watch.

[reply to another comment] yes! I totally see the ambition and grit! Since posting that, I’ve also learned that their company seems to be improving as well – I don’t know the ins and outs of that, beyond that the agency got renamed to Play M (after a merger of Plan A and FAVE in 2019), but it looks to me like they are finally putting the investment into Victon. They are backed by Kakao, so there’s that! I’m noticing higher quality song-writers / video people / stylists and so on (although IMO their style has been great since at least Nightmare), and there’s a lot of Behind the Scenes material and other stuff they’re doing to raise their profile.

[different YouTube comment] So I’m a new fan as well – discovered them right after they released What I Said and have been obsessed ever since. This album has been on daily rotation, it’s that good! So it’s nice to get a full album reaction.

Lots of people have already pointed out the info you weren’t aware of before: I recommend checking out the credits on Genius, they have got some great talent writing songs AND contributions from the members, such as Hanse writing all of his raps and Seungwoo writing lyrics and composing.

Chan wrote and co-composed his solo and there’s a choreography he made as well. For Seungsik’s solo, that was written by the other 6 based on their letters to encourage their new leader (when Seungwoo was away with Produce X 101 / X1), and there is indeed a solo performance. There aren’t solos by Subin or Byungchan, but they’ve both been acting in dramas and Byungchan is also on an entertainment show IIRC. Maybe we’ll get solos later, who knows?

No solo by Seungwoo on the album, but check out his 6-track EP “Fame” from Aug 2020. There’s are 2 MVs for Sacrifice that are ASTONISHING (MV, Performance), as well as performance videos for Fever, Reply, I just want love and Forest. The EP is on constant repeat in my house. His VOICE, man! (and his performance / emotion, and his visual / modelling, and and and…)

While he was making Fame, he kept a video diary that shows the process of writing, practicing, planning, shoots, and all the rest. I find that insanely motivating for my own life, which is also the vibe I get from VOICE: TFIN. Just a whole bunch of talent PLUS hard work and perseverance and ambition.

Others have said that “We Stay” (and “All Day”) are for the fans: they made a video for it too. I love how much they LOVE their fans and live to perform for them again! They say this but you can also see it in every vlog and behind-the-scenes, they are just aching to get to concerts and fan meetings again. So sweet! As a European fan, this is the most unusual aspect of Korean groups for me – most Anglo bands are “too cool for school” and almost arrogant towards their fans, I feel like.

I don’t have a source on this but IIRC, Circle is about the fears and anxiety the group feel sometimes, wanting to run away. I’m not 100% clear on the “circle” motif – I guess it doesn’t translate well? – whether it’s that running away only brings you back to your starting point or whether it’s the wheel image, or even “running in circles” out of anxiety? Anyway they’ve performed this on music shows (M2, The K-Pop, M-Net) and the choreography is really nice, too.

I like that, as well as the “hype” songs and the ballads, there are personal reflections and more vulnerable sides. This group really have been through the wringer, from their debut in 2016 and releasing various singles/EPs after that with quite a boyish image, to nearly disbanding and the “fallow” period of about 18 months when Seungwoo and Byungchan went off to Produce X 101 to represent their company and raise the group profile, to Seungwoo being the leader in X1 and then caught in the vote fixing scandal before returning full-time to Victon… then Continuous and Mayday and his solo EP over the summer of 2020 (all with a darker and more mature image) before finally getting to come out with the album… man, it’s a journey!!

I’ve loved seeing all the promotional effort from Play M for the album, the videos and performances, and the guys really delivering every time. I’ve been thinking about how age-wise, Victon are roughly the same ages as BTS! Or to put them in context – they’re about 10 years younger than Big Bang, BoA, and TVXQ, about 5 years younger than EXO, VIXX, and SHINee, and roughly the same age as Monsta X, SF9, Golden Child, NCT, and Got7. RM (BTS’ leader, but not their oldest) is 3 months older than Seungwoo, while BTS maknae Jung Kook was born the same month as Hanse. I say this for two reasons, 1) I’m aware that in Korean/Asian cultures, your birth year is significant and influences the respect culture, so the group will be very aware of where they “fit” chronologically and this could create some pressure on them to make it; and 2) alongside the obsession with youth in Kpop, there’s also the military draft looming which will disrupt the group for years: with birth years from 1994 to 1999 and draft lasting 18 months (I believe), you can imagine – this really is their one chance to make it! So I really hope that, like you, people will discover their album and enjoy it and support them going forward. Although everyone’s on Lunar New Year break right now, it looks like they will be straight back to work almost immediately and hopefully we will get to see much more of them soon. Thank you 💙💛

SHINee Don’t Call Me + one-line reviews

So in 2009, SHINee did a song called Ring Ding Dong
which… I can’t really tell what it’s about, apart from a girl? who is hot?
is it even about a phone?
anyway they use the “ring ding dong” in an onomatopoeic way
(and distort the vocal with autotune in a really fun way)

and in 2021
in Don’t Call Me
listen to what is happening musically in the verse
there is dead-ass a synthesised “ding ding ding” making up the rhythm section
until we hit the pre-chorus.
then it comes back! but with extra strings, and drama, and continues through the second verse
(you can hear it clearest in the red scenes)
and then the mad piano over the final part of the song!
and the dancing! outfits! freaking TAEMIN!

WTF even is this magic
SHINee are magicians

Wonho — Lose: cool MV, his body is just intimidating now, but looks like he wouldn’t be out of place in a gay club with that cap
Rhys Fulber is Rhys Fulber, nothing wrong with that, props for continuing to hire female singers
Body Beat Ritual: the name = the method? I could be into that, again with the gay club vibes