Friday night shuffle IX

I put the ol’ iRiver on shuffle and post the first five songs that come up.

Junior Boys – In The Morning: The past few weeks, I’ve had the delight of driving my sister’s car to school which is nice because she has taken the liberty of installing a CD player that actually functions (so that obnoxious flag hanging on the rearview mirror: I have nothing to do with that). In September, Junior Boys released a new album that received nice reviews from the popular media and while I am not apt to agree with all of the stellar ratings, I am quite content playing this song over and over and over again, as I find it keeps me quite happy. My sister, however, does not agree, and as a result, I have had to make three new mix CDs with this song on it as the others have suffered “mysterious” disappearances and I refuse to submit to the idealogy that her car’s CD player only responds positively to reggaeton. In fact, we had a conversation, the CD player and I, and it consisted of us singing the wrong words to this song in carefree unison and plotting ways to destroy all of the reggaeton CDs in the dashboard with a wild conflagration. We’ve become very close.

The Decemberists – Summersong: The Decemberists are cool because um. Well. I suppose because they have written many great novels and set them to melody. So when you ignore the fact that they are pretentiouslly erudite and haven’t learned the proper term of “moderation” when it comes to acoustic guitars, I suppose this is a fantastic song.

George Harrison – Got My Mind Set on You: This song does a really good job of erasing all the credibility Harrison built in the 1960s. When I listened to Revolvor the first time, I thought to myself, wow, he was not kidding around with that sitar. This song made me think wow, he was just really not fucking kidding around now, was he?

Natsumi Abe – the stress: I am not sure why this is in my player. This is like a new discovery that is not welcome. This isn’t like discovering an obscure Depeche Mode remix, this is like discovering you had a moment of really flawed judgment. Abe was a former member of kid super group Morning Musume, and as one of the most popular graduated members, has gone on to put out many photobooks and singles, all complete crap.

Sandy Lam – Yi Ge Ren: By popular demand, I come bearing the Mandarin (Cantonese?) version of New Order’s “Bizzare Love Triangle” which adds about five extra cups of sugar to the recipe, but is as equally delicious. I once began an article that said something like “In 1994, or I guess 1986, Bernard Sumner & co. wrote my biography and titled it “Bizzare Love Triangle.” I was only seven years old but after I first heard this song on the radio, I spent a whole Saturday afternoon waiting with a recordable tape and my finger on the record button. I then proceeded to play this song endlessly to the chagrin of family members. For one brief year, my child mind moved on to overplaying hide until New Order saved me once again after they brought 80s music back for a brief hiccup in the life of Chicago radio (94.7 The Zone, I miss you).” I hope to finish writing that article this month and end it with the sentiment that yes, I still have this tape, and yes, “Bizzare Love Triangle ‘94″ is nestled in among “Rhythm is a Dancer” and “Another Night” and how once, my friend and I blasted the song driving down the freeway like it was our jam because it fucking was and it was the greatest song I had ever heard since Fancy’s “Colder Than Ice.” Actually, I’ll leave that last part out maybe.

Friday night shuffle VIII

I put the ol’ iRiver on shuffle and post the first five songs that come up: the somewhat dance/electronic special.

Assemblage 23 – You Haven’t Earned It: I’m not quite sure how to introduce Assemblage 23, except to say that they are a fairly fantastic group that produce a lot of industrial dance songs. Besides the broodingly moody “Cocoon,” this is probably my favorite of their tracks off of their latest album, 2004’s Storm.

Imperative Reaction – Giving In To The Change: While I described Assemblage 23 as industrial dance, this group probably delivers a better definition of that label. While this particular song may reflect a somewhat softer side to the band’s usual use of artificial instruments, it doesn’t detract at all from the catchy beat and somewhat pissed off attitude that sets the group aside from commercial eurodance. Love the interlude.

Pet Shop Boys – Minimal: When I bought the Pet Shop Boys’ latest album Fundamental I was more than a little disappointed. While Nightlife was a complete, though welcome, change of affect, Fundamental attempts to rehash a similar sentiment with mixed results. Gone are the days of “Domino Dancing,” come are the days of melancholy woe is me. While the album has become a rather dusty addition to my CD collection, there are still two absolutely gorgeous songs on the album which seem to imitate 1980s Pet Shop Boys better than I thought possible. “Minimal” is a surreal, synth trip through violins, catchy hooks, an impossibly good arrangement, and helpful hints for future Spelling Bees. Aside from the joy of unraveling the puzzle-box lyrics, the last section of the song provides a peek into a New Order bass section that I may possibly have listened to 5,000 times and still find as magical as the first time I heard it.

Pet Shop Boys – Integral: The last track on Fundamental and the only other brilliant song on the album. While “Minimal” took elements from the past to create a modern sound (think Madonna’s “Hung Up”), “Integral” is completely “Opportunities (Let’s make lots of money)”-influenced. The quirky lyrics remind us once again what made Pet Shop Boys so popular in the first place, except refurbished with a catchier dance break and stronger use of build-ups. There is nothing else I can say about these two absolutely great tracks that you cannot glean from listening to them with your dance pants on. Results may vary.

Cut Copy – Zap Zap: One of the greatest consternations I have about people asking me to reccommend them music is that often I am given certain parameters I am not allowed to walk outside of. The two most common (and possibly worst) barriers I have come across are a) “nothing not in English, please, I like the familiar, I don’t like to step out of my Western comfort box!” and b) “nothing instrumental, I can’t react to a song unless I know what it’s about!” Well, now that we’ve eliminated about 3/4 of the world’s music, sure, let me see what I can do. Asshole. Cut Copy, though they do contain vocals, make sure to keep it short, simple, and sparse. “Zap Zap” is one of the songs off Bright Like Neon Love, the 2004 LP that I couldn’t help falling in love with over and over again. I am even biased, yet secure, enough to say if you have good taste, you will like this song. That doesn’t mean you have bad taste if you don’t like this song. Actually, that’s exactly what it means.

Jung Hyun Lee’s “Fantastic Girl”

Jung Hyun Lee / Fantastic Girl / October 10, 2006
03. Teul / 06. Dallyeo / 11. All In

Since 1999, Jung Hyun Lee has been Korea’s leading lady when it comes to techno. In 2005, she revitalized her career by recording most of her well-known songs in Japanese and attempting a BoA-esque crossover. However, her popularity failed to match its desired reception and Lee returned in 2006 to recording in her native Korean. Best known for her DDR promoted tracks “Wa” and “Bakkwuh”, Lee first captured my attention with the release of these very singles. Her early albums reinforced her quirky, high-pitched vocals that ranged from the smooth to the staccato with use of the industrial techno of which she is now most associated.

Though her third album waned in the genre pigeon-hole, with Lee dabbling in hip hop for the first time, the crux of her work has not changed much aside from influence. Her first two albums focused heavily on Indian influence (“Nuh”), her fourth work used plenty of Native American influence and her fifth (and possibly most terrible album) used a fair share (re: ridiculously enormous amount) of Spanish influence. Although her fifth effort may very well have been her weakest, her newest album, Fantastic Girl, may be hitting rock bottom.

Fantastic Girl is an attempt to resuscitate a drowning career via Lee’s third album with zero success. Gone are the flourishing techno and dance elements and present are the pseudo-hip hop attempts (“FunFun (feat. Double K”)/”Formula”), tuneless pop (“Just Look At Me”), and lots and lots of early 90s Top 40 ballads (all of the slow songs). A look at the song titles is a look at the power of false advertisement. “Men Annoy Women” could be an idiosyncratic battle of the sexes but is one of the weakest links on the entire album and “Love Song” immediately sets itself up for disappointment and satisfies all expectations because unless a song titled “Love Song” is brilliant or fantastically unique, it fulfills its own stereotype with substandard results. The only two songs that stand out are “All In” because it’s of its Magic To Go To My Star factor and “Dallyeo,” a not so subtly “This shit is bananas” influenced pop number that takes us back in time to when Lee was catchy and knew how to use hooks to her advantage.

Although this album seems to imitate her third album most, Fantastic Girl is not a welcome and admirable attempt to criss-cross genres successively. I think if Lee stuck to what she was best at, she would have an album with a higher good-to-mediocre song ratio. Often, there is comfort in the known.

♫ Official Site
♫ Buy Fantastic Girl

Koyote’s “Koyote in London”

Koyote / Koyote in London / September 20, 2006
01. I’ll Love Rock & Roll / 02. Play / 09. Wall

It’s hard to believe that Koyote is still around after, count it, nine albums. This wouldn’t seem like such a huge deal if it wasn’t for that fact that none of their albums are very marketable, they have become progressively worse, and only one of the three original members is still around (they’ve cycled through four dropouts, one who was jailed for drug possession). And although you’d think they’ve been around for a long time because of this, they actually released their first album in 1999. They released two albums that year, and one album every consecutive year afterwards, except 2001.

I’d say the culmination of their career was the third through fifth albums, with the fourth being their most remarkable. Since then, only one or two songs per album has really caught my eye. Their first two albums were amateurish at best while their last few albums have been retro junk. The group, consisting of two males and one female member, follow a strict formula for their songs: girl trades off verses with boy, chorus is a stealthy combination of the two, and the beginning, middle solo, and end are bestowed upon the resident “street” rapper, who insists on getting the party started with shouts of his group’s name, English imperatives to jump up, jump up, and get down, and some indiscernibly quick Korean rap with interspliced English, just to show he’s a true rap guru, able to freestyle his bilingual prowess.

Since their sixth album, Koyote has made use of several retro techniques which has deviated strongly from their earlier albums, which transitioned from eurodance, to techno, to trance elements, to discotheque drivel. I’m not even sure their seventh album, Rainbow, should be called a piece of artistic merit, except for the raunchy “Ah Ja! Ah Ja!,” which is a cheesy fight song to make the fourth album’s Hangul tribute seem like a nursery rhyme. With the release of their eighth album last year, I pretty much gave up on them, as the only worthy song was the opening track and a spot-on retro romp of “The Boy Is Mine” (no affiliation to the American song). I am so glad I did not buy their ninth album.

The cheesy rap catcalls are busted out full force, layered choral vocals have been freely distributed across most, if not all, tracks. The surfer-friendly opening track has some appeal, with it’s early 80s production and catchy chorus, but the rest of the album hits a steep decline after that. “Play” harks back to their earlier days on the sixth album Line, but instead of being cutesy (which is what it seems they are going for) they fail to uphold the rest of the album with anything less than synthetic dance vibes. Coming from a group who say they didn’t mind sounding redundant, playing to a fanbase that enjoyed and expected consistancy, I wonder which group of fans said it was acceptable to continue the upbeat, europop element. What was so wrong with the fourth and fifth albums sound? Nothing. But I do have a big problem with this album.

This album is so worthless as to render Koyote’s entire career almost fruitless. Guys, it is over. It is pretty bad when you’ve gone from starting dance trends in Korea to creating your own dance version of the Beach Boys. In the most horrifying manner possible; by adding rap and hip hop to a dish best served in the trash. I wish it was still 2002.

♫ Buy Koyote in London