The Downward spiral into K-pop

While out in he actual world I came across a music genre called K-pop, the first time was through a K-drama called Boys Over Flowers back in 2011, while the drama was really entertaining and kind of fresh to watch, I was really interested in the OST, a few clicks later I was in K-pop world.

I'm actually one to like Asian cultures specially the Japanese, I've read my fair share of mangas, watched a ton of anime and all that so the transition from Japan to Korea was fairly easy, two more K-dramas and that was it, I was a fan!

My first approach was a girl group named Kara, I like them because they are very bright and energetic, very similar to what I was used to listening to Japanese artists, I particularly enjoyed the dances they are very fun and very good exercise, from Kara I went to SHINee and from them I learned that there are 3 big entertainment agencies in South Korea, SM, JYP and YG, I ended up listening to all their artist and I found my favorite among them, which is Big Bang.

Then Psy came with Gangnam Style and the whole thing exploded, at first I actually wasn't a fan of the song alone I found it very repetitive and plain, but after watching the music video and I found that I kept murmuring the melody all day long. I loved the music video specially because of the cameos.

After that a lot of new groups debuted, I became a fan of B.A.P, Beast, Orange Caramel, Teen Top, EXO and more recently GOT7 and WINNER.

What I find very interesting is that I can actually understand like 40% of what they say in a show, I can sing along to my favorite songs, it's a very fresh feeling actually, it kind of reminds me my way into English, being a native Spanish speaker my favorite groups were all English artists, like Radiohead, Oasis, Muse, Linking Park, NIN, so I learned English through music, movies and eventually books, I sometimes catch myself thinking Korean responses, it was very weird at first but after Gangnam Style it's all more accepted, even though my family still thinks I watch "Chinese people".

Looking back, I think this was all a downward spiral, at first is interesting then is fun then is like I can't past a day without watching something in Korean. specially the K-dramas but that's another subject.

So, if you are curious about K-pop just be aware that it's very addictive and a very expensive hobby,  they have ton of merch that is actually good, before K-pop the last album I bought was Muse's live album H.A.A.R.P. a very common double CD-DVD case, but these K-pop albums are a piece of art, the first thing you notice is the format, I have not seen a classic CD case in K-pop and that's saying a lot, they know their audience and the love to please the fans, so that's always very welcomed and one of the reasons they still sell a good amount of physical music, compared to the rest of the world.

Photo Source: http://24hrkpop.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/kpop-logos.jpg

Music Review: 2010, Linkin Park, A Thousand Suns

A Thousand Suns

Just let me say it clear, Linkin Park was one of my favorite bands ever since I ever listened to "Crawling" in fact "Hybrid Theory" was the first CD I've ever collected money to buy back in 2001, so Linkin Park is a BIG DEAL to me, I even remember the first time I push play on the CD and how the more I heard it the more it grew in me.

So... "A Thousand Suns", I downloaded it because I have no money to pay for it right now (besides my "go to" music store is closed for whatever reason) but I promise I will buy it first chance I get (maybe I'll get if as a Christmas present) and I have all their albums so I may as well complete the collection.

Now to review it, (actually more like "first Impressions") I must start by saying that this is totally different from what they have done before, it's almost a experimental (in the concept art category maybe?) sound and I say almost, because I think that by the time I play this for the 5th or 6th time I would totally think this totally normal for Linkin Park, so may as well state that for future reference (first impressions tend to change, especially with me).


So far, the 8 tracks I've heard are kind of the same, I mean, they are connected in a way that I can't really tell when one track finishes and the other starts, not that this is bad, they kinda do this in their albums, but this time the songs have kinda the same "undertone", sort of melodic and dark, nothing really hype, like "Bleed it out" or "Runaway" or "Faint", which by the way, these 3 songs are the more like powerful and aggressive to me and they are all the number 7 of their respective album, funny right? (maybe it is intended) anyways I'll wait to see if this changes or not, I'll be back later.

So, I've listened to the whole album now, it totally changes, the second half of it it's more of what I'm used to hear from them, "Wretches and Kings" is really cool and must be awesome live, also it is totally more easy to tell the end of one song and the start of the other, so there it is, I really think they'll get mixed reviews on this one, but I'm cool with it, like I said, you can divide this in two the more experimental part and the more normal part or whatever you wanna call it, I don't want to think that this is kinda of a tendency (to go experimental) but they are kind of influenced by war and human nature so it is kinda natural that they would do this, personally I liked the album, but I don't think that it is my favorite (which is a mix between Hybrid Theory and Minutes to Midnight).

About rating?, I'm not much of a grade girl, so let's say that if your a fan, you can be a fan of this one, but if you just stumble upon this you may not get it yet, "yet" being important.


PS: I'm so totally bumped that they will be playing near me but I don't have the money to go!!!!! and with good reason the tickets are insanely pricey!!!

10-09-2010 Update! in the end I went to see them live, it was great! a real show I mean I was with people that didn't honestly like Linkin Park but they all had the same opinion, "It was a great show" personally I enjoyed every song and I was very glad that I got the chance to go (half-price tickets!!!) definitely my favorites were Given Up from the older albums and from the new one Wretches and Kings. It was soooooo cool I'm still all hyper about it.

The Scientist By Colplay

(Obviously this is not the music video, the embed is disable for that one, so just do me a favor and look it up on youtube for me)

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I would like to start with one of the most amazing video I've ever watched, the reverse chronology story telling works wonderfully with the lyrics about
powerlessness about things you can't control or can't take back. Good lyrics are a must have for me to listen to a song and Coldplay always delivers.

The first time I've ever watched this video I thought that they made it like that in post-production but by the time the song finished I realized that it was pretty obvious it wasn't, so being a big fan of all art and creativity myself, my respect for Coldplay and for Chris Martin increased a lot (like, heaps), the fact that he learned the song backwards is amazing, I read somewhere that it took him two months to learn it, it looks like they wanted to do real good videos for their fans and not settle for the easy-normal-boy-meets-girl-boy-screw-up story telling and go wild with creativity that, and lets be honest, always works great with the audiences, what I want to say really is that it shows a drive and a motivation to just make good things and this video for sure will live forever.

Although I love Coldplay now I must admit that, back in the year 2000 I could not stand listening to Coldplay's Yellow, now I guess it must have grown in me, like Muse, Coldplay is definitively better the more you listen to them, so by the time their second album "A Rush of Blood to the Head" came out I was a fan.

Their songs are my favorites to read, especially the drama genre, because I can just put them on repeat and apart from the fact that every song is a different story, every album is display in a way that the album itself it's a story of stories, it has consistency.

So, and to end this post, this song, this band specially is one of the "must listen before you die", and if this is not a good way to start a blog I don't know what else to do.

Another thing a really like about Coldplay is that they put their space in service of their fans, the "Exhibition Room" is a place that features art of fans from all over the world, whether is animation, photography, short films, or whatever (really whatever, they even listed home videos, you just gotta love it!), they select one every week and place it on the homepage, talking about connecting with fans, right? (seriously now, check the exhibition room there some really cool stuff).

Cecilia