Hot Potato
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| 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
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
