EZ Hyung or: 이지형

For this week's Chill Music Stash, I'm going to give you an artist I had never really heard of before.  Well, that is not true.  I saw something of his, but it didn't really register, you know?  Like, when you first start liking a genre, or you aren't really familiar with something, and the images/videos you see at first don't really mean anything to you because you don't have the knowledge base to help you out?  Yeah, like that.

Anyway, EZ 형 is quickly growing on me.  I haven't heard a lot, but he is definitely going to go into my CMS playlist so I can listen over and over again!  I like his style, I love his voice, and you should listen to him too.  So here you go, a couple of songs that I actually HAVE listened to, and really love:

I enjoy the style of this one--the rhythm and the electronics that set his beautiful voice off so nicely.  It's quirky and upbeat, not something to necessarily chill to, but something you could definitely dance to, should the notion take you.  Just sayin'. 

Of course, if I see anybody dancing like a maniac, I'm going to assume it's one of you, dancing to this song! ;)

This song, on the other hand, is definitely one to chill to.  Or dance slowly, swaying like a tree in the wind.  Ummmm... Sorry for the weird imagery ;)  

With this one, the guitar is so wonderful.  You know how sometimes the intro to a song can be 2 whole minutes long, and by about 30 seconds of guitar, you are thinking, "When are they going to start singing, already?!"  This song is not like that, and I love how he makes the guitar his voice for the beginning.  

I love love LOVE the piano; I also love how his voice is not as forceful as in the previous song, it's almost breathy and creates such a dreamlike atmosphere.  And then the quirky keyboard thing/chime/whatever-the-heck-that-was comes in and it's all over for me.  Perfect!

Hope you all like 이지형 as much as I am coming to!  If you have any requests, feel free to leave them in the comments :D  If not, I'm thinking Dear Cloud is going to be next week's Chill Music Stash installment.  We'll see...

Have a great week with your chill listening!

random weird lovelies

This shall be short and sweet, friends.

I basically love Crazyno.  He's so funny, he's quirky and so many other adjectives that just don't do him justice.  Of course, we must then lump them all together hoping to hit the nail on the head.

I hope you've all heard and seen his music video, Musiche, which is pretty funny and wonderful.  Because I'm not going to add it here.  I'm going to post something that I discovered recently that just made my day.

It's Crazyno singing a song for his fans because of some goal he reached and he wanted to celebrate with them.  And I thought it was great, so I wanted to share it.

Here you go:

And, since this is a short post, here's another thing I'm geeking out about--Phantom is having a comeback, and they've posted this absolutely cute teaser.  Well, cute might be a little bit strong, maybe creative and a bit silly, but absolutely fun, would more get it right.

Fun, creative and brilliant.  Hope you all like them!

JUNIEL (주니엘) - illa illa (일라 일라)

Time for another song from my Chill Music Stash!  Aren't you excited?  :D

This week is JUNIEL's illa illa, and I have to say, I fell in love with the song even before I watched the music video.  It's got this great wistful feel in the beginning, rocking into a powerful chorus that never ceases to get me singing along.  Not well, mind you, but it's recognizable as singing ;)

She has this way of letting the guitar be the strong undertone to her almost breathy singing, and then the "illa's" come, and it's all over.  Just such a great song, such a great artist: I love listening to Juniel.

On to the music video, yay!!  

Not so much "yay," actually. 

 At first, I was watching and thinking, "Oh, this is the CUTEST MUSIC VIDEO EVER!!!"  And, it was.  It had this cute lady in a cute greenhouse surrounded by beautiful, green things.  And then there was rain, and an adorable boy, and... Sigh.  It was pretty much wonderful, and I was all set to love the music video so much more than any other music video I'd ever loved.  You know that feeling?  I sure hope so, because it's a good one.

But then?  You know what?!  My hopes were DASHED in the CRUELEST way possible!  The adorable boy (who is in the band CN BLUE, and is also in Heartstrings--he's DARLING!) sees her through the window, and smiles his cute smile, and has this total, overwhelming crush on her, if we can judge anything by the time he spent drawing her and buying a roomful of flowers from her.  He finally confesses to her, and what happens?!  Turns out she's DEAF!!!  I would have been okay with that, except, it's a totally STUPID scene!  

Seriously?  She's been deaf for how long?  Even assuming it happened in an accident not even a month before (but that can't be right, because he has spent a long time crushing on her), she wouldn't have sat there like a dumb person (get it?  Dumb is not only foolish but can't speak, often associated with deafness...), she would have gestured when he started speaking, or SOMETHING!  Seriously.  She's also been crushing on him--she would have actually responded when he finally got the nerve up to talk to her!  Geez.

So.  Other than that one huge, gaping HOLE in my heart this music video created, it was really wonderful.  I love the rain, and the birds, the way Juniel wasn't posing or anything, just playing and singing.  Great stuff.

Now, Darlings, go off and have a great week and weekend, and keep listening to your music!  Music is what makes the world go round.  It's the universal language.  Other than love.  And math... But we don't speak about math around here :)

10cm - 아메리카노

I decided that two posts this week would be fantastic, because it is the week of Christmas, and there's a break (for those of you who are students), and just because.

These guys are another band that I am absolutely loving right now.  They're fresh, I love their sound, and I really enjoy the attitude in a lot of their songs, weird as that may sound.

I know that this song (10cm, "Americano") was banned for some lyric "issues," and I am not going to argue here or there.  I've already said my bit about censorship and how ridiculous I think some of it is.

I really enjoy this music video, though.  I love that they are just there, singing.  It's a fun, randomly quirky setting for a fun, randomly quirky song.  

I really enjoy the "jembe" (according to Wikipedia, that is the percussion instrument ;) ), and the guitar together, and love they way they play with their voices.  It just is a fun song to listen to, because it doesn't really take itself seriously, and so listeners don't have to either, and can just jam along with it.  Or chill to it, depending ;)

That's really all I have to say, so have a great week with your Chill listening, darlings!

LEESSANG (리쌍)

LEESSANG :D  

What more needs to be said, right?

I admit, I was slow to liking this group/duo.  I was involved in other kinds of music, and their style didn't really catch me at first.

That being said, please don't hate me for it.  Because they slowly and surely caught me in their web of inconceivable awesomeness.  Seriously, these guys are fantastic!  I love what they do musically, I love the play of their voices, and I especially love how clever they are with all of the collaborations they do.  There isn't a song of theirs that I do not like, now.

This music video is a personal favorite of mine:

I adore the stop-motion filming, it is so clever, and the "background" scenery is wonderful and imaginative.

I personally adore the song.  It is so catchy and will stay in your head for days.  Of course, it doesn't help when you listen to it on repeat for each of those days :-)

The description box says something about a man being true to instinct and a woman's logical persuasion.  I don't know whether that interprets into what I caught from the music video, but here goes:  It seems like the guy really likes her, but the girl wants love to be a certain way, and so she makes him chase her, but he just wants to like her in his own way.

And, I love love LOVE the rhythm and the beat and the way the voices all twine together but create this amazing song.  Wow, it is amazing.  This song is one that you can listen to in your kitchen and just dance around with while you're doing whatever.  It's that good. (That, if you couldn't tell, is my measure for every song--if you can dance around to it in your kitchen ;) )

Anyway, I hope you guys all listen to LEESSANG, because they are absolutely fantastic!

Oh, the music video above was a collaboration with LEESSANG, Tasha and Kwon Jungyeol of 10cm.

Have fun with your Chill Music listening, and a fantastic week!

Jang Yoon Joo - 파리에 부친 편지

Sorry Darlings!!!

Seriously, I've been super busy trying to get ready for the holiday season.  I'm sure most of you know how it goes:  Everything seems to be amped up and there are so many more activities going on, and you need to get your shopping done on top of that, and then there's work as well...

*sigh*

Anyway, I haven't forgotten about Chill Music Stash, I promise.  I've just been busy.

Here's something new to me, and maybe new to you, to tide you over until I can actually post something more... In depth.  Which should be either tomorrow or next week after Christmas.

Hope you enjoy!

I know it's not really a music video, but I am definitely liking the sound and the play of the instruments together.  Of course, I have only listened to it the once, so I'm not sure if I will absolutely love it after multiple listenings.

I hope you all have a happy Holiday season, whether it be Christmas or another holiday you celebrate!  And enjoy your chill listening :)

Happy-Making: Nell

I love Nell.

It's about time everyone loved them as much as I do.

Of course, those are the thoughts that cross every fan's mind when he or she is thinking of said favorite band.  Or perhaps just some really good music.

Nell is amazing.  They have struck a fantastic balance between the instruments and the vocals, and I'm sure if I understood the lyrics, they'd be fantastic too.  Yep, still working on that.  But you can tell, even when you don't speak the language, because the words are so clear they are obviously more important than just words.

And so.  Watch Nell.  In fact, start with these videos, and branch out from there.  Because you will love them.  I'm pretty sure.

Nell's Stay.  Actually probably my favorite Nell song right now.

Here's a live version of another song.  Nell is just amazing.  This song makes my heart smile.

And this last one is their LATEST!!!  Just watched it.  Love it.  Oh man, so many good things to say.  But I won't.  Okay, maybe just a few.

It's amazing how when she gets up she coughs like there's no oxygen to breathe.  That's what it feels like when everything seems lost to you.  You can't breathe, think, do anything except survive sometimes.

The ice is a beautiful theme running throughout.  Either the relationship has grown so cold neither of them can survive, or it's over (the relationship) and her life seems like it has frozen in time and space because she can't move on.  Wonderful imagery.

The ring--a symbol of commitment, but it's no longer on her finger: it has been frozen into a solid block of ice, representing not only the failed relationship but all of her hopes for the future.  It's as if she can physically do nothing (represented by her eventual lying back down and giving up).

Okay, I'm done going all English major-y on ya.  It was a good moment :)

Hope you love Nell as much as I do.  Especially the direction they are taking with their music.  Have a great week with your chill listening, peeps!