Top Band 2 Auditions: Exit no.4, Tal Band, Hologram Party

With only three bands presented in this post we’ve reached the end of our 25 day marathon introducing all the bands that made it through the first round of auditions for KBS band survival show Top Band 2. Joining me for this final band post are Dahee of Dahee’s Plastic Castle and Lightinthemind of Korean rock is real. All three of these bands are unique in their own right and we’d love hear what you have to say about them in the comments.


 

Exit no.4

On the road towards blindness Exit no.4 formed in 2006 among retinitis pigmentosa patients and their music therapist. They’ve been playing various caregiver establishments sharing their music and stories since.

Exit no.4 – “Amazing Lady”

Dahee: Really interesting and heartwarming story behind the band. Setting that aside, the audition song is decent, if not really to my taste. I like the use of rap – the execution of it, not as much. Listening to other songs of theirs, especially on record, their flaws became much more apparent, which was a little disappointing. But I still think they’re decent, and with the right training and practice, could really improve. I don’t think they’re at a stage where they could make it to the next round right now, though, especially with the kind of competition they’re facing.

Anna: I don’t like the rap all that much, but other than that I find the song quite sweet. I would love to see more of them, though I’d have to agree with all of those well established bands in the competition they probably won’t make it any farther than this.

Lightinthemind: I always felt like music is the best medicine. And I’m truly happy to see guys making this despite illness, despite the cruelty of life and everything else. I like the colour of the vocalist’s voice but adding rap isn’t the best thing for this song. If they got rid of it the music could be much better. I also wish for them to find their audience and want to see what the judges will tell them. Will they be able to find encouraging words or not?  But making it so far to the show for this band is already great.

 

Tal Band

Workers band Tal Band formed in 2008. They got a price in the National Company Band Competition the same year and have participated in the same competition two years more since Last year Tal Band auditioned for the first season of Top Band, but only made it to the second round.

Tal Band – “Love Song”

Dahee: I totally remember them from the first season. At least I think it was them. And I totally remember not being very impressed. (I really hope it was them. The wine tells me it was them, and we all know that wine never lies.) Anyway, I love how at the beginning of the audition video the vocalist just stands there awkwardly, not knowing what to do with his hands and feet. And I love how they didn’t know how to edit the last part out, so they just left it in, including the part where they talk about how they think the performance was “fine.” Tee hee. They’re cute and all, but I remain unimpressed. If they want to make it past the second audition, they’ll have to really amp up their game.

Anna: They are adorable, but I’m not all that impressed either. I like their song choice though. It’s unexpected. Judging by the daily viewers of their audition video over the last week they are mighty popular (a peek at 839 when most bands we’ve covered have had 30-50), but I agree they would’ve had to step up their game a lot to stand a chance in the second round.

Lightinthemind: Ajusshi! Oh, I really would like to live next door to these neighbours to hear them practicing and quarrelling and performing and drinking and everything else. Really they are best suited for some small town or condominium parties, which I’d definitely visit if ever had the possibility. But while enjoying this band on small stage I don’t see them going big. I feel a lack of showing off which is common for this sort of band but not enough for the TV show.

Hologram Party

Electronic rock band Hologram Party started out as a duo between DJ Dong-Q and former Super Kidd guitarist Jonny Kim in 2009. They’ve been primarily playing nightclubs since they formed but sometimes also act as a band with vocalist in KaYoung and drummer Shin Jong Won, that has a history in both Cool Age and Repair Shop. For the audition they’ve chosen a Blur song that they covered for the latest of their two EPs.

Hologram Party – “Last Night”

Dahee: Hmm, I like the audition video. I wish the vocalist had a tad more energy, though, and I didn’t like their other songs as much. This may be attributed to the fact that while I generally like electronic rock, I’m not a huge fan of the way Hologram Party seems to be approaching the genre. They’re fun, though, and at least they’ll bring something a little different from the rest of the bands.

Anna: I’ve been streaming Hologram Party’s official YouTube channel all day because I do want to like them but (to put it mildly) it hasn’t been going very well. Maybe it’s that it’s been ten years since I last went to a nightclub and actually enjoyed being there, but I just cannot seem to get into them.

Lightinthemind: What’s wrong with the imagination of koreans recently? Why so many similar names? Vanilla Unity and Vanila City, The Mu and The Mu, Zebon Brothers and Four Brothers and now Hologram Party that I mixed up with Hologram Film.  Ah, my mind is gonna blow.  About the music. I watched this video on Youtube with both DJ and band performances of over 15 minutes. What I can say… so little rock and so many electronic sounds. But as for club music it really goes with success as I see. I’m just pretty curious about their covers that they should do already in the first task within contest. If everything will be the same like this Blur song, then I don’t see any positive outcome since to perform tracks like each other usually is the way to nowhere.

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