Leg movements transcend suckage

I must say that the South Korean Singles Chart is kinda sucking at the moment. Good songs by SHINee and Sistar will soon be winding up their runs, and Girl's Day's pleasingly perky "Expectation" could only manage one week in the Top Ten. Meanwhile, the music that's been exciting people here and on Rolling K-pop (Gaeko, GLAM, D-Unit, Ladies' Code, MYNAME) are down in the lower reaches, when they're there at all. That this week the chart is topped by over-precious talent-show indie and unremarkable balladry isn't the particular problem — this often happens. I'm disappointed by the idol ballads too (Davichi and Taeyeon), but that's not a giant surprise either. I only ever like a small percentage of ballads. I guess what I'm bummed about is that, after Rainbow came out with a dull non-SweeTune track and a boring concept, the SweeTune comeback track for Infinite is also something of a drag: murky and meh. SweeTune tend to pile sounds into their tracks, and this time the boys' voices couldn't lift the weight. Teen Top's holding on with an okay bit of cod-Latin, but they've been catchier too.

Not that I think the Korean popular genres are in trouble. That there's plenty of good stuff hitting small or flopping means that the wellspring is still gushing, even if the dice are landing wrong. And actually, onstage, with the excellent dancing and the thrilled fans, Infinite and Teen Top are coming through, K-pop as a never-ending stream of event upon event upon event. The spark's there, crisp movement, sharp with the kneebend, just needs better notes and the voices need to be used better:

Infinite "Man In Love"

Watch on YouTube

( Teen Top )

By the way, down in the OST ballad pit, Baek Ji Young is excellently overdramatic on "Acacia," and was even more excellently extreme three months ago giving way to hate.