Love + Addiction = Loveholic

Loveholic

L-R: Jae-hak Lee, Ji-seon, Hyeon-min Kang

Who are they?

     In April of 2002, guitarist Hyeon-min Kang and bassist Jae-hak Lee joined together to form the Korean indie-rock band Loveholic.  The duo later held an audition for a lead vocalist and eventually recruited Ji-seon as their front woman.

     Unfortunately, there isn’t much information on each single member, unless you have a solid comprehension of Hangul (which I don’t).  From what I could find, guitarist Hyeon-min Kang is the composer for the band and is also the ‘second’ vocalist.  He used to part of a, now defunct, male duo called Ilgiyebo (which means weather forecast).  Back in 2001, he attempted a solo album.  Outside of Loveholic, Hyeon-min Kang has produced music for various K-pop artists.  He has also lent his musical expertise for many film scores. 

     And it seems like writing film scores is a popular pastime in Loveholic.  Bassist Jae-hak Lee is the main songwriter and used to be part of a band called The Elephant.  He has also composed many songs for movie soundtracks such as the 2009 film "National Team" aka "Take-Off". 

     Regrettably, I could not find much information on Ji-seon.  She had been singing at clubs in Hongdae, Seoul before joining Loveholic.

     Since then, Loveholic has come to produce four full lengths albums.  Many of their songs have been included in the “official soundtracks of many popular dramas and movies, including Boys Over Flowers, 200 Pounds of Beauty, Coffee Prince, My Name Is Kim Sam Soon, and Spring Waltz with the song ”One Love”.  Lead singer, Ji-seon, has also been featured in the songs of many other artists including Epik High.

     Unfortunately, Loveholic came to an end in 2007 when the lead singer, Ji-seon, parted ways with the band.  Since then, Ji-seon has pursued her own solo career while the guitar duo has decided to keep the Loveholic project alive.  The band has since remained a duo and has been renamed to Loveholics.  They released their first full length album, In the Air, under the Loveholics name in September 2009.

The Music

Loveholic’s music covers a wide range of styles "from the fun and easy going to the serious, and lyrically emotional". It's not hard to see why Loveholic was a popular band, despite being in the indie scene. Hyun-min and Jae-hak are exceptional guitarists with a great talent for music composition and Ji Sun’s voice is "well toned and powerful at times–her vocals compliment the smooth musical compositions of the much of Loveholic’s work". 

     This song is called Superstar.  It's a very mellow yet cheery song.  The harmonious timbre of the guitars compliments nicely with Ji Sun's airy voice.  The song was actually used for the movie, 200 Pound Beauty. It's a pretty interesting Korean comedy about "an overweight girl who undergoes extreme plastic surgeries to become a pop sensation".

    This next song is my favourite one by Loveholic; it's called Shinkirou (meaning Mirage).  In contrast with the first song, it's much slower and very melancholic.  But it exemplifies Loveholic's ability to craft beautiful and emotional songs without any need for extravagance.

Sources

http://seoulbeats.com/2012/01/k-pop-indie-gem-loveholic/

http://blogminor.blogspot.ca/2012/03/loveholic-band-albums-skorea.html

http://asianwiki.com/Loveholic_%28South_Korea%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loveholic

Hot Potato, Pass it On ~

Hot Potato

L-R: Kim C,  Koh Beom-jun

 

Who are they?

     Hot Potato is a unique band just like their usual name.  The band is comprised of Kim C, on vocal and guitar, and Koh Beom-jun, on bass.  As well as another “revolving number of [other] members on drums and guitar”, but for now Hot Potato only consists as a duo.

     Hot Potato has been a relatively underground (and highly underrated, in my opinion) indie band.  Just recently they have gained much more popularity with Kim C appearing in variety shows. It was a “calculated move to advertise his music”.   As a result, their fourth and fifth albums have reached commercial success.  

     Unlike other musicians, Kim C never actually wanted to be a singer at first.  As a child, he was passionately drawn to baseball and aimed to be a professional baseball player.  Unfortunately, he had to give up his dream of being in the pro league (I’m not exactly sure why).  Eventually his friends persuaded Kim C to pursue music.  Even though it was a difficult journey at first, Kim C continues to “compose and produce songs while studying music”.  He had never played an instrument before so he had to learn.  At first he began learning to play the guitar at a small studio in his neighborhood.  Regrettably he had a terrible instructor that “only showed interest in girls who came for lessons”. Kim C then “decided to learn how to play the guitar by himself, and got a book of pop songs and practiced by himself”.

     Even though he has a successful career as a musician, Kim C’s passion for baseball is still there.  In his spare time he joins a “celebrity baseball team.

     Unfortunately, I couldn't find much information on their bassist, Koh Beom-jun.  He did graduate from the Seoul Arts College, so he is an educated person for sure.

The Music

     So, this first song is called Something and it's off of their album Seesaw IST.  IST standing for imaginary sound track, which was the concept for the album.  The concept being to create a soundtrack for an imagined film.  The video below are some of the scenes that may have been in this imagined film.  Anyway, the song is nice and soothing with Kim C's "very sweet yet deep-toned and slightly husky voice".

     This song is called Pillow and its one of their more recent releases.  It's a very slow and anguish driven song.  Even if you didn't know the lyrics, the song expresses those feelings of someone troubled by life.  An interesting fact to note.  The music video for this song was actually banned in Korea, and it's not for the reasons you think.  The censor board banned it because he walks down the wrong way on the moving sidewalk and commits littering.  It's quite tragic seeing that this video has such deep and symbolic meaning that most pop tunes seem to disregard these days.

     So, did you like Hot Potato?

Sources

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_C
 http://www.allkpop.com/2012/10/kim-cs-band-hot-potato-releases-their-5th-album-who-doesnt-like-sweet-things
 http://rataning.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/kim-c-korean-indie-band-hot-potato/
 http://seoulbeats.com/2011/12/k-pop-indie-gem-hot-potato/
 http://seoulbeats.com/2010/12/hot-potato-live/
 http://mydearkorea.blogspot.ca/2012/11/korean-music-kbs-bans-hot-potatos-music.html
 http://www.soompi.com/2010/05/24/artist-of-the-week-hot-potato/
 http://rki.kbs.co.kr/english/program/program_artist_detail.htm?No=106809

No need to be Fancy~

Shugo Tokumaru

Who is he?

     Shugo Tokumaru is a Japanese singer-songwriter.  He is an indie artist that is not afraid to create experimental music.  A notable trait in his music is his use of instruments.  He takes being a mulch-instrumentalist to a whole new level.  For his recordings, Tokumaru uses “over 100 different traditional and non-traditional instruments”.

     So, a little bit about Shugo Tokumaru himself.  He was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan.  By the time he was 5 years old, he started learning to play the piano.  Later on in high school, Tokumaru started the electric guitar, playing only songs by The Clash.  He then started a rock band with his childhood friends called Gellers.  He then started dabbling with multi-instrumentation since he thought the default guitars, bass and drums configuration of a band wasn’t enough.

     After graduating, Tokumaru spent 2 and a half years traveling overseas.  Mostly residing in Los Angeles, he joined a jazz band and recorded a couple of songs.  When he returned to Japan, Tokumaru recorded a demo album and managed to give it to Trevor Sias, who is an “owner of US independent record label Music Related”.  They were so impressed with his work that the label wanted to release the demo as is.  This was the start of Tokumaru’s successful career as a musician.

     He has since released 6 albums, many of which are available in various countries such as Canada (Yeah!).  Tokumaru’s music has also been used in commercials for big airline companies and other companies such as Sony.  His music is even included in a soundtrack for a Canadian movie called Year of the Carnivore.  This is especially impressive considering the fact that his music is solely in Japanese.

The Music

    

     All of Tokumaru's music videos are pieces of artwork themselves.  One of my personal favourites is "Katachi", which means shape.  Just like the song's name, the music video consists of over 2000 plastic pieces that are painstakingly placed by hand to create a stop motion masterpiece.  It's really mind-blowing.  Check it out:

     So, I'll leave this post of with one last song.  It's called "Linne" and it's pretty simple song and music video.  Just Tokumaru and a few other musicians walking down the streets of Japan.  The song is soothing, almost like a lullaby. 

Sources

http://www.shugotokumaru.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shugo_Tokumaru
http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/25/3914210/shugo-tokumaru-katachi-stop-motion-music-video