More Songs From K-pop, Dev, And Cassie (Mid Year Singles & Albums 2012)

[koganbot]

Here's a list that isn't much different from the previous one, or the one before that, and so on. I don't believe my tastes are narrowing, so I think this says something about the world, too. But it is true, for instance, that I haven't been diving into the tributaries and sidestreams and backwaters of country these days, being so disappointed with what's occupying the main lake that I'm letting the whole genre slide by. What's Willie Nelson doing these days? He's always up to something.

Think I posed good questions in April, especially regarding popular music not having a viable or credible adulthood; but I haven't followed them up, have yet to reply to arbitrary_greay's thoughtful probing. To reiterate one point about CL of 2NE1: Can a performer like CL, who flourishes so well on the border of girlhood and womanhood, go on to a persona that's adult yet just as creative? What models are there for her in popular music? Who has taken this journey recently, with artistry enriched and an audience that hasn't evaporated?

Back in '07, in one of my even more tentative than usual Rules Of The Game columns, I — tentatively — gave an explanation and even hinted at a defense for why popular song lyrics continually replay the themes of adolescent romance. My hypothesis was that one doesn't outgrow the issues of adolescence so much as one finds provisional ways of going forward, routines of getting by. So in popular entertainment one can enjoy romance and romantic tribulations presented at a higher pitch than one actually wants to live them.

TOP SINGLES Mid Year 2012:
1. T-ara "Lovey-Dovey"
2. Trouble Maker "Trouble Maker"
3. ChoColat "I Like It"
4. Dev "In My Trunk"
5. Cassie "King Of Hearts"
6. Miss A "Touch"
7. After School "Rambling Girls"
8. 2NE1 "Scream"
9. Davichi & T-ara "We Were In Love"
10. Wonder Girls "Like This." Best of three recent, very interesting rhythm-heavy hits (the other two TaeTiSeo's "Twinkle" and f(x)'s "Electric Shock," all deserving writeups from me); on this one, producer JYP totally commits to using voices as beats. Good for him:

Watch on YouTube

11. Sistar "Alone"
12. 4minute "Volume Up"
13. Yoon Jong Shin ft. Kim Wan Sun "I Love You All Days"
14. Sunny Hill "The Grasshopper Song"
15. Nicki Minaj "Stupid Hoe"
16. Clazzi ft. Koti & Jubi & MYK "Sexy Doll"
17. The Cataracs ft. Dev "Sunrise"
18. Rihanna ft. Chris Brown "Birthday Cake (Remix)"
19. Girl's Day "Oh! My God"
20. ChoColat "One More Day" (also called "Same Thing To Her"). Wailing passion fit to shimmering harpsichords that recall turn-of-the-millennium Shek'spere 'n' Kandi.

Watch on YouTube

21. Kendrick Lamar ft. Dr. Dre "The Recipe"
22. Jess Mills "Pixelated People"
23. Tyga ft. Lil Wayne "Faded"
24. Lil Chuckee "Wop"
25. Teedra Moses ft. Wale "Another LuvR"
26. Melanie Fiona "4 AM"
27. T-ara "Round & Round"
28. Bella Thorne "TTYLXOX"
29. Blush "Up Up & Away"
30. Kara "Speed Up." Knee-buckling ache at the start that the chorus refuses to live up to. (K-pop having another strong year in Japan.)

Watch on YouTube

31. Bobby Brackins ft. Iamsu & Roach Gigz "Golden State"
32. B.o.B ft. André 3000 "Play The Guitar"
33. Shinhwa "Venus"
34. Cloud Nothings "No Future/No Past"
35. Justin Bieber "Boyfriend"
36. Kang Mi Jin "MIA" (webrip)
37. Tyga "Rack City"
38. After School "Flashback"
39. Gangkiz "Honey Honey"
40. M.I.A. "Bad Girls"

Watch on YouTube

41. Dawn Richard "Automatic"
42. Zebra Katz ft. Njena Reddd Foxxx "Ima Read"
43. Big Bang "Blue"

TOP ALBUMS Mid Year 2012:
1. ChoColat I Like It, The First Mini Album EP (Paramount)
2. T-ara Funky Town (repackage of Black Eyes) EP (Core Contents Media)
3. After School Playgirlz (Avex)
4. DJ Bedbugs Teenpop Lock And Drop Volume 2
5. Miss A Touch EP (JYP Entertainment)
6. E.via E.viagradation Part 1 (Black & Red) EP (Dline Art Media)

Watch on YouTube

7. 4minute Volume Up (Cube Entertainment)

Comments

CHUCK

[(Anonymous)]

Hey Frank. I haven't heard any Korean albums or EPs this year, I don't think, except Girls Generation (which I'm very iffy about); may have to catch up with those. And albumwise, especially, my lists are almost as metal-intensive these days as yours are K-Pop intensive. That said, here's more or less where I stand at midyear, albumwise:

1. (Various) – Tension: Spanish Experimental Underground 1980-1985 (Munster)
2. Dev – The Night The Sun Came Up (Universal Republic)
3. Freedom Hawk – Holding On (Small Stone '11)
4. Angel Witch – As Above, So Below (Rise Above)
5. Elfin Saddle – Devastates (Constellation)
6. Thunderkraft – Totentanz (Svarga)
7. 3 Inches Of Blood – Long Live Heavy Metal (Century Media)
8. Bible Of The Devil – For The Love Of Thugs & Fools (Cruz Del Sur)
9. Mekong Delta – Intersections (Steamhammer)
10. Tim Berne – Snakeoil (ECM)
11. Bushman’s Revenge – A Little Bit Of Big Bonanza (Rune Grammofon)
12. Christian Mistress – Possession (Relapse)
13. Saint Vitus – Lillie: F-65 (Seson Of Mist)
14. Pharaoh – Bury The Light (Cruz Del Sur)
15. Jovanotti – Italia 1988-2012 (ATO)
16. Mark Stewart – The Politics Of Envy (Future Noise Music Inc.)
17. Grand Magus – The Hunt (Nuclear Blast)
18. Banastre Tarleton Band – About Face (Banastre Tarleton)
19. Azaelia Banks – 1991 (Interscope EP)
20. Royal Thunder – CVI (Relapse)
21. El Doom & The Born Electric – El Doom & The Born Electric (Rune Grammofon)
22. Timmy’s Organism – Raw Sewage ROQ (In The Red)
23. King Mob – Force 9 (King Mob)
24. Bhi Bhiman – Bhiman (Boocoo Music)
25. Anders Nilsson – Night Guitar (Sound At One)

And even more tentatively and tossed-togetheredly, since I only rarely listen to music in single form anymore, singles-wise:

1. Dev – In My Trunk
2. Dev – Take Her From You
3. Trouble Maker – Trouble Maker
4. Cassie – King Of Hearts
5. D’Banj – Oliver Twist
6. ZZ Top – I Got To Get Paid
7. King Mob – Selene Selene
8. Axe Ripper (formerely Hash Blazer) – Losing Streak
9. El Conjunto Nueva Ola – Chido Chido!
10. Atumpan feat. Stay Jay – Sisimuden
11. Bella Thorne – Ttlyxox
12. Latimore – Cat Got My Tongue
13. The Farm – Home Sweet Home
14. 3 Inches Of Blood – Look Out
15. 3 Inches Of Blood – Metal Woman
16. Sarkodie feat. El – U Go Kill Me
17. The Shrine – Primitive Blast
18. Grand Magus – Valhalla Rising
19. Christian Mistress – Pentagram & Crucifix
20. Toby Keith – Beers Ago
21. Mark Stewart Vs. Primal Scream – Autonomia
22. After School – Rambling Girls
23. Tim McGraw – Better Than I Used to Be
24. David Nail – Sound Of A Million Dreams
25. Black Pyramid – Mercy’s Bane

Re: CHUCK

[(Anonymous)]

A couple notes: (1) If I counted the import version of Dev's album from last year, it would be a lot closer to first place or maybe even in first place; (2) The Feedtime box set on SubPop and Midnight Chaser's late 2011 album would squeeze in somewhere if I counted them, but since I'd heard their music before 2012 I probably won't. (3) Dev's Wiki page lists "Take Her From You" as a 2012 "promotional single," and it's on Rhapsody as a standalone single too, so that's how I'm counting it.

Also, in unrelated news, have you seen this? 12,000+ words I wrote, total, on 50 country songs, from the '20s to the '10s. The headline (which I didn't write) is awful, and the interface may be even worse, and the way Complex broke up some of my paragraphs and randomly changed almost all of my dashes to quotation marks even worse than than that, but I'm still proud of what I did here; best writing I've done in the last year or two, probably:

http://www.complex.com/music/2012/06/50-country-songs-that-dont-suck/

Re: CHUCK

[koganbot]

Hurrah! "Take Her From You" is now going on my list, even if she released the vid back in October. She releases vids more often than I create blogposts, so I probably shouldn't take their release dates so seriously.

I just went to the Complex page and immediately began guffawing at the comments. Reminded myself that 100 is the average IQ.

Re: CHUCK

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

V. glad I managed to vote Dev at #1 last year as import-only!

Re: K-pop albums, via petronia I recommend the United Cube compilation, which has a bunch of stuff that Frank's put on mixes but is a more consistent top-to-bottom K-pop alb than most of the ones I've heard. (I like that K-pop seems to thrive in the EP format; wonder if the same is happening to American pop, except three EP's get jammed together into an album e.g. Nicki Minaj's Roman Reloaded.)

Re: CHUCK

[koganbot]

United Cube is like a Best Of 4minute & HyunA plus a bunch of worse stuff by other people, though I really do need to relisten to B2ST and try to like them. The 4minute and HyunA tracks really are excellent (every one by Shinsadong Tiger; I think many of the B2ST tracks are as well).

I'm totally erratic on whether and when to include compilations and best-ofs on my list. T-ara's Japanese album Jewelry Box is hands-down the best-sounding record of the year: Japanese versions of most of their Korean hits plus two good new tracks. Trouble is I'm rarely going to listen to it since I generally prefer the Korean versions (including the two new tracks, which just turned up in Korean on T-ara's newly released Day By Day EP).

Re: CHUCK

[(Anonymous)]

Also, a horrible year for country albums, as far as I can tell. But if I had to recommend one, commercial Nashville variety anyway, it'd probably be either Lionel Richie's Tuskegee (Universal) or
Kip Moore – Up All Night (MCA Nashville), both of I'd probably put toward the bottom reaches of my Top 40, at this point.