Randomness #17

Surprisingly another week is already over and even though I have the shelves where my music collection will be stored for the next few years in place I have yet to actually add anything to them. It was only Friday that I finally got around to writing the 2014 Penta Super Rookies post I had planned to do already the week before and I really wanted to finish it before starting arranging the collection so that I can immediately take to writing anything I will be inspired to when rediscovering hidden gems.

Since the CDs still didn’t happen, my proudest achievement this week is laying down 16sqm duckboard for the balcony. It didn’t really require much effort (though it was harder on my knees than I had expected), but I felt very satisfied when it was complete and I’m also surprisingly happy about the new saw I had to get to complete the work. It’s still very much summer in Sweden, but I doubt that it will continue for much longer so it’ll be next year before I do any more balcony stuff.

 
The biggest news on my radar this week was the debut of SM Entertainment’s new girl group Red Velvet. I first realized they were coming out after an indie band with the same name asked for support in claiming their name. The female duo released its first and so far only single 헤어진 다음날 in November 2013 and it’s an enjoyable enough track in the café oriented vein of Korean indie music. A day later the two parties came to a compromise and it seems the first Red Velvet has been gaining a lot of exposure (relatively) as a consequence of the naming issue, so hopefully they members are not too unhappy about it anymore.

Even though it’s so easy to look such things as artist names up even when they haven’t been registered–especially if there is already a single–it’s much too common with this sort of confusion. For the SM Red Velvet, however, this appears to have been the least of the problems. Many are upset that Red Velvet’s debut happened so soon after f(x) had to seize their promotion activities. Additionally the music video, which has now been edited, had some problematic imagery and it appears the group’s logo was also copied. It’s a shame that four girls that have trained so hard for so long in a company like SM does not get off to a better start, but hopefully it’ll all work out for them in the end. Personally I didn’t care for the song at first (except a slight annoyance that the Korean song-title, “행복”, was recycled from H.O.T.), but after a few listens it has grown on me.

 
Changing the subject to music that I could otherwise be considered more likely to listen to, I’m very excited that after 13 years Busan grunge band Unchained will finally release a full-length album. The title is 가시 and the release date is set to August 7th. It’s been 9.5 years since debut EP Push Me and with that ample time to perform most of the album songs live. Check out the playlist below to hear them, but first have a look at the music video for album track “호저”, that was released as a digital single already in August last year.

 
Another interesting looking release for August 7th is compilation 산 들 바다의 노래 : 제주 4.3 헌정 앨범, with old songs interpreted by new artists and recorded for the Jeju MBC music documentary with the same name (watch it all on YouTube!). There’s Yozoh, Garion, 3rd Line Butterfly, South Carnival, Baik Hyunjhin & Leo Bang, Galaxy Express, Goonam, Kim Dae Jung and Gate Flowers.

 
Whenever I have a look at the new music that’s coming out I feel like I have to revive and update my “releases” modification of Modern Tribe’s The Event Calendar, but right now I anyway wouldn’t be able to post any new releases to it so it’ll have to stay put on hold another while. Another thing I should do is start watching Show Me The Money 3, but for now I’m enjoying it through Sangha’s & Ranya’s recaps instead. So much to do, so little time…

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