Rap Corner: The Quiett

Recently, I've come to like rap a whole lot more.  And by this I mean, I never touched the stuff before I started listening to music that... wasn't exactly in my native tongue. :D

Now that I'm exploring music, or rather, trying to discover as many new things in (let's face it) Korean music as I can, I have found myself quite liking rap.  Maybe because I feel that rap in English is very harsh and confrontational, even overly so.  And I never liked that.  I felt like, if someone were to explore different emotions, maybe, rather than just rapping in a super angry loud voice... Sigh.

But that may have been my inexperience talking.  I still don't really enjoy American rap, mostly because it seems like every other word is profane, and that's not proving yourself, that's just swearing.  If you can have rhythm, variations of tone with your voice and some rhyme maybe?  Not to mention fantastic instrumentals/synth/beat that you match it to?  That, my friends, can count as music in my book.  And if not music, at least wonderful expression, maybe even poetry.  I'm a huge fan of poetry.

With, I suppose, no further ado, I'll get to the artist/song.  And, erm, this is more of a collaboration, but: just this week I discovered The Quiett, and I wanted to share something more recent.  In this song (Lookin' by BoA, feat. The Quiett), I love the interaction of the deep beat and her voice and then his rap?  The clapping to offset the heavy beat, the vocals.  Sigh.  Love it.

I definitely need to listen to more rap and hip hop.  I am just blown away by this song.  I am also discovering more by The Quiett, and loving his work!  He has gone on to become a producer in the music world and a co-founder of 1llionaire records with Dok2.  The Quiett has just this month released a whole album, I believe.  Check out AMBITIQN (beware, it has language):

And, that's it, friends!  I'll be back for Chill Music Stash later this week :D

스몰오(Small o) - That will fall

Oh man, guys.  This week.  Just wow.

I was thinking to myself today, "What am I going to post about?  I'd like to do something new that I haven't posted about before, and it's not possible that I'm running out of music..."  And it ran on and on in my head.  I finally had decided that I was going to share my favorite artists.

And then.

I got on Youtube, and this beauty had been recently uploaded, and I clicked on it.  And my life was never the same.

"That will Fall" by Small o is definitely not mainstream, but the combination of the way-cool silhouette graphics with the shots of them in the room jamming out (did anyone else notice them glancing at each other a lot??), and then the song and the harmonies they create with their voices?  *sigh*  It's pretty darn wonderful.  I love that they have so many different instruments interacting, and how hipster they look, and I love the group dynamics.  

One thing about the music video that made me really happy were the animals.  Especially the monkeys in the tree.  I didn't get that one at first, but that one definitely made my day!

Here's the music video.  I hope you love it:

That's really all I've got for you this week.  Go listen to Standing Egg's latest, as well as Verbal Jint's.  I absolutely adored the quirkiness of Verbal Jint's "If it Ain't Love" music video.  I love Standing Egg's song, but haven't seen the whole mv yet.  Waiting with fingers crossed!

And Standing Egg:

Have a fantastic week with your Chill Music!

Teaser Time! (Verbal Jint and Standing Egg)

I decided I needed to post more than once a week, because it's more entertaining for all of us that way.  And so, I'd just like to let you know what music videos I'm excited to have come out, or what songs.  I may even mix it up a bit and add a rap or rock song in here.  Who knows?  If I don't, then I don't think anyone else does, either... Unless you can see the future...  Hmmm, that has definite potential.

Anyway, this week I am waaaayy excited because two of my favorite Indie groups have just released teasers for new songs!  The first is Verbal Jint with a teaser that has, definitely an interesting feel to it, that's for sure.  It's going to be called, "If it ain't love":

Cool, huh?  The other one is Standing Egg.  I'm definitely more than okay with anything Standing Egg, and this one seems to be no exception:

And, since I'm definitely in the mood, here is something that is just fun.  Not chill in too many ways, but this song is one that makes me happy.  The music video is great, and a little bit rough like the song--the rhythm and the rapping and it feels a little gritty and wonderful, and the music video kind of reflects that--"here I am, and you can take me or leave me, but I'm gonna keep making music just like this."  It's pretty great.

I love that the lighting is so stark, the setting looks like a theater stage, bare.  It does nothing to distract from the rhythm and the rapping and... Yeah.  Love it.

I'll see you all later this week!  Keep having fun discovering new music :D

J Rabbit Lovely

Who out there in cyberspace (wow, that is such an old word... Anyway!) is watching Flower Boy Next Door?  Hmmm???  Don't try to hide, it I know some of you are!  I am, too, so we can be friends.  :D  Okay, we could be friends before this, but this just confirms it.

Well, the other day I was watching (make that a few weeks ago, when life was a little less crazy than it is now), and I heard this song on it.  And I thought to myself, "Self?  That sounds just like one of the Indie artists that you love to listen to all the time."  And myself thought back:  "You know what?  You could be right!"

And so, myself and I had to go onto Youtube and look it up.  And it was!  This lovely song is by J Rabbit, and it's just wonderful.  It fits the storyline and the cute, just... Adorable-ness of everything about Enrique and Go Dok Mi.  Seriously, I feel like their relationship is the cutest thing ever.

I love J Rabbit, by the way.  I love her voice, and I think she's adorable.  In a... Not condescending way.  She just makes me happy, and every time I listen to one of her songs, my spirits are automatically lifted.

And for the new discoveries this week:

LeeSsang!!!  Heck yes!  This was published in JANUARY and I DIDN'T know about it!!!  Argh.  Now I do, though, and I love them, always.

And, I think I've mentioned Ra.D before.  I was so worried that I'd discovered this artist and that he wasn't doing anything anymore.  But, lo and behold, just this month, I found this gem:

So, I'm going to try to keep more on top of things this week and actually post on Thursday like usual.  And maybe even a little news post of some wonderful new chill music.  But until then, have a great time with your chill listening, darlings!

Mad Soul Child, Dear

One of the amazing things about discovering a new genre of music (or anything for that matter) is that you get to find everything out, without bias, and everything is fresh and wonderful.  It’s like being Alice down the rabbit hole.  Strange, different, but so wonderful!!!

This week’s fantastic, wonderful and surprising discovery has been Mad Soul Child.  I was actually listening to Tablo’s “Bad” and wondered about the woman who was singing with him.  Her voice is haunting and sometimes tragic and altogether wonderful.  And that is how I discovered Mad Soul Child.

It’s only going to be one song this week, because… Well, I could listen to this song over and over and never get tired of it.  Ha ha, eventually I probably would, but it hasn’t happened yet, and I’ve been listening to it all week.  Mad Soul Child.  Dear.

Holy cow.  This song is…  So beautiful and tragic and I love it!  Every time I listen to it I almost burst into these random tears, because of the beauty and sorrow.  It’s kind of embarrassing when I’m at work, because I’ll feel like crying, and then people start talking to me and I want to say, “Can’t you see that I’m having a moment here?”  Okay, so it’s not that bad, but it could be.  This song is that beautiful.

There isn’t really anything funny to me about the song.  Except… There’s this pause, somewhere right in the middle-beginning.  It gets me every time.  I’ll be listening along, and then there’s the long….. Pause…. And I think, “What?!  The song’s over?!  Lame!”  And then the music starts again, and I sit back, all sheepish and placated that there’s still music.  Yeah, life can be like that sometimes ;)

Go listen to this amazing song if you haven’t yet.

And if Mad Soul Child isn’t your scene, I have it on good authority that 10cm and Clazziquai Project have both just this week released albums.

Here's Love Recipe from Clazziquai Project:

And here's my favorite song from 10cm's new album.  (The song's called Nothing Without You):

Have a great week with your chill music, and let me know if I can spotlight anything for you!

A Dose of Happiness

I've been thinking and thinking about what I wanted to post about this week.  Or rather, what song I wanted to post about.  And there are so many to choose from!  Many of them don't have music videos to go with them.

And so, my dears, we're going to have another post with a few random songs that I think are just lovely and wonderful to listen to.  They can be background music while you work, they can be forefront music in your car and you can sing along at the top of your voice to them.  Whatever you're doing, they're amazing songs, and the artists this week are phenomenal.

First, however, we're going to start with a music video that was released this last December, because I...  Am more than a little bit in love with Sanchez's voice.

Here's G.NA and Sanchez, with "Beautiful Day"

Such a melancholy tone for such a sad song!  A song about it being a beautiful day, even though they're just broken up, a beautiful day to say goodbye.  Faster than a sad ballad, it still manages to convey that inner... Craving I suppose.  The song is just...  Wow.  The way their voices completely compliment each other without overshadowing the other is mind-blowing.  A perfect collaboration, here.

The video is nothing to sneer at either.  It is deceptively simple, but watch their stillness, the way they are turned from each other the whole video.  Watch the smoke (I don't know why, that part just makes me happy), it displays the lighting and their movement to fascinating advantage.  A lot of abbreviate arm-movements when there is movement at all.  

Now on to some wonderfully chill songs:

Eluphant, 여전히 아름답네요, Feat.권정열 of 10cm

Just.  Just Listen.

Listen to the way their voices flirt with the instruments, the guitar weaving around their voices like a ribbon.  I love the percussion in this, the little syncopated, "tap, tap!" and then the drums, and the piano playing a jazzy, light, beautiful melody in the background.  The rapping parts--be still my heart!  Oh, I absolutely love them.  I love that the rap is measured, but not obviously so.  It keeps the rhythm of the instruments.  i don't usually like rap, but this is lovely.

Here's another one that I almost can't handle how fun and unique it is.

The rhythm established by the percussive piano notes, the fun techno sounds, even the baby noises!  Ha ha ha!  And then the chorus sweeping into this epic mixture of their voices and power and almost 80's awesomeness... and then sliding into melodic "sweet, sweet love!"  Sigh.  This song is just a mixture of wonderful and epic.

And last, but definitely not least, I've got a random blurb of a song for you.  By Casker.

Simplistic, almost like a child playing the piano and her (or his) parents singing along to the song.  It's...  Weirdly wonderful.  I don't know why, but it is.  Perhaps because her lighter, ethereal voice is cradled and held by his earthier, more grounded voice, and the almost plodding melody and rhythm of the piano ties the two together inseparably.  55 seconds of glory.  Right here.

Hope you like these songs!  Have a beautiful week, darlings, and enjoy your chill music listening!  Until next week ;)

Dear Cloud

This week I WAS planning on talking about Dear Cloud, or rather, one of Dear Cloud's songs that I specifically like, or that struck me as a sort of Chill Music miracle or some such.  And I was on Youtube, listening to some of their stuff, and then I saw a live performance, and I was just like, "Aaaaaaaaaahhhh!" And it was a beautiful moment.

I love their sound, even live.  Well, especially live, I suppose, and that is quite rare for me.  Usually a band or a group is so produced that their true, live sound can never quite compete with that  pedestal which the commoners (us, if you didn't get the reference) listen to on the radio or via cd.  There is absolutely no way a regular voice/instrument can be played exactly perfectly every single time a group performs.

That being said, I felt that this was perhaps a part of Dear Cloud's charm.  Their music is almost the kind that one would go to an open mic session for--the stuff you really wait all night just to hear, and that's the reward for suffering through all of the wannabes (no offense to those of you who are learning and who are trying out your singing/playing on other people--believe me, I'm in the same boat, and I respect the heck out of your tenacity and guts).  Their music takes you into that dim room, bare bulbs with the lampshades hanging from the ceiling, people lounging in every corner, eyes reflecting glittering pieces of light back at you.  That room has a sound of its own, it hums with the life in it; the breath, the heartbeats, the rustle of clothes as someone shifts, waiting for the act to really begin.

Sorry, distracted.  Dear Cloud.

I love them.  I kind of feel like their music is either an acquired taste, or something you actually have to be interested in and go searching for.  It's definitely not mainstream, and that totally fits the group and their sound.  Kudos to them for making music the way they want to, and not to fit in with anyone's idea of music.

I also love their style.  It's not all done-up and fake, they don't really "dress up" for the stage. I mean, they look great, but they look like a band should look--kind of like, expect the unexpected kind of thing--you don't know how they're going to look like until they step out on the stage. This can especially be seen with the lead singer.  She's absolutely gorgeous.  No seriously.  Love everything about her style, from her short hair to her leather jacket to the way she doesn't look at the audience when she's singing.  It's like she's taking us on a journey into her mind when she sings: she's inviting us along.  It's a perfect fit for their sound.

And, here's where I give you a music video typically.  But I'm going to give you a live version instead, because it kind of sucked me in, and my imagination ran wild with it.  Obviously.

And, I'd also like to share this other blog that I discovered on my wanderings tonight.  Because I like Ria's style :D

dear cloud post--Ria

Anyway.  Have a great week with your Chill Listening, kids, and if you have comments or requests, I'd be happy to answer/honor them! ;)