lyn

On my last night in Korea, I watched episode 18 of Invincible Youth. Martin had left in the morning and Ahyoung was busy shopping.

It was the last time I could watch live Korean TV for a while so I decided to switch the set on for any Starcraft or Kpop Shenanigans.

I came across a show called Sketch Book and there was an acoustic cover of a 2PM song in process. I'm not a 2PM fan but man this cover was so smooth that it kept me watching, soon they started playing this ridiculously awesome version of SHINee's Ring Ding Dong, I just had to keep watching. Keeping in mind I have a overwhelming bias against korean boy bands. The lady on stage finished her set with a cover of 2NE1's "I Don't Care".

I just had to write down her name which was apparently "Rin" or "Lin", I couldn't tell based on the Korean script. Eventually I found out it was "Lyn".

Here is the original performance.

Now last night, I decided to check if she had done anything else since, I was to be impressed.

That T-ara cover at 3:20 blew me away. If you want a taste of the original song to get a full appreciation of how good that cover is, check this out:

I acquired Lyn's albums, even though her vocals are still amazing, they were not as good as these covers. I would pay big money to see her just do these covers live.

streisand

so whilst procrastinating on facebook, a friend of mine discovered this:

http://gobarbra.com/hit/new-f02df11c0d9a4de357be322bee50ed8e

which reminded me of a question, why was this song called Barbra Streisand anyway?

(someone was kind enough to tell me "because they say it in the song" which wasn't quite the answer I was looking for nor quite the intended interpretation of my question)

my search lead me to this:

and then this:

I still don't know why its called Barbra Streisand

radwimps

Recently, I was shown a song by a Japanese band named Radwimps. I felt so strongly about the song itself that I shared it with many people over facebook and have recommended it to a few people in person.

I think this song, Oshaka Shama, speaks for itself.

After watching this video, I acquired their entire discography. I am slowly churning through their discography, having really only listened to 2 of their albums (Okazu no Gohan and Altcolony no Teiri) , but they both have been great.

When people ask me what kind of music I listen to, I usually stutter and find myself unable to answer that question. But I think once I said my favourite type of music is music made with intent and music that sounds epic and grand. Radwimps definitely satisfies those two requirements.

My only regret is being unable to understand the lyrics, which I have been told are even more epic. Oshaka Shama speaks about humanity's place in this world in regards especially to our religious beliefs.

"We kill crows because there are too many, we rid of monkeys because there are too many, we raise more pandas because there aren't enough, yet we raise more humans and there are too many"

Here's another one of my favourite songs from these guys, I am not sure what hes singing about yet, but this music is very cinematic without even understanding the lyrics. The bridge with what I assume is a new born crying, gave me chills the first time I heard it. Check it out:

jigga man

arnuld

i should start by saying i am by no means a fan of 2pm like the hordes of asian girls out there, but i saw this a while ago and oh man did i crack up.
so this is a song called "i'll be back" and yes the reference to terminator is intentional...

this is probably the worst attempt at looking...post apocalyptic bad ass, instead they look like anorexic pandas shuffling to a song a few writers wrote whilst watching terminator drunk

oh man did the choreographers get lazy with that stupid running on the spot move and that thumbs up whilst slowly sinking into the molten steel move... oh dear lord

heres something thats actually worth your time:

emi hinouchi

through my random wanderings through youtube, you discover many new and interesting things.

i love discovering new/old music that i haven't heard or wouldn't ever be put into contact with otherwise, example include:

apparently this has been a meme for a while but i've only discovered it, musical genius!!

but humour aside i discovered this japanese vocalist, whose name is in the name of this post.

i first heard her in this song with the teriyaki boyz and thought it was pretty chilled out and energetic at the same time, i thought she was cute but didn't look into it too much.

but recently, whilst going through my old favourite list, i found it again and decided to listen to it, and then decided to check out some of her other songs. i don't know if she writes her own songs but the girl knows how to sing

i decided to check out her solo stuff which reinforced my impressions of her vocal abilities.

now i know theres a lot of people who don't like to listen to music of a language they can't understand. it'd be great if i could understand what shes singing and would definitely increase my appreciation for the music, but good music transcends language and everyone should keep an open mind :)

i think i shall do more research into this young lady and acquire more of her music

hip hop lives

lets hope he stays true when he does make it