thepenguin

Summer's Not Over: It's refreshing to have a veteran k-pop artist come back with something other than a sitting-in-fuzzy-sweaters-ballad. It's been nearly 7 years since Tiffany Young's last release, and while this doesn't come close to her earlier work it's really just nice to hear a new track from her. Hopefully the first of many. [RATING: 7/10]

TL;DR: Forget the title track and go listen to B'yond me. The best B-side Billlie have ever released.

For the third time in their six major releases, Mystic Story have crafted a fantastic album for Billlie, albeit with one terrible song. Then they've decided to promote said terrible song as the lead single. Over five years and counting they have carved out the best discography in all of K-pop. Then they have hidden away the majority in the back-alleys as unpromoted B-sides and ... read more

Catch Catch: The classic case of a fantastic sound but lacklustre songwriting. I still maintain that we're at the beginning of the second golden age for k-pop, because just listen to those T-ARA and Orange Caramel influences, both in the instrumentation and the song structure. No-one has gone this direction in forever. I'll just continue to await someone who knows what they're doing on the melody front as well. It'll happen eventually. [RATING: 7/10]

Spring Fever (Feat. DIN ... read more

This is a fantastic debut EP, no two ways about it. Great indie rock song-writing throughout. Looks like I have another band to check out when I'm next in Korea... that list is growing ever longer.

Welcome to chocholand: It's rare that drumming takes my attention but wow, the drummer single-handedly steals the limelight here. The talent and dynamics on display here are exemplary. Single-handedly controlling the energy of the track. Excellent instrumental track to kick off the EP. ... read more