at 4:06 pm, august 9, 2024

 july listens

july has been a wonderful mix of new genres and kpop! started off the month with the hit of the kpop summer sticky . sticky might be on the top of the charts along with nayeon's ABCD when it comes to "summer bops that hit platinum in misozsoup's room". charli xcx's album brat has been the talk of the summer and rightfully so. while i enjoyed my listen through the entire album, von dutch's dance club electro-pop was an automatic hit for me, and was on loop everywhere i went. i found tommy richman's million dollar baby thanks to a dance reel that sungho from boynextdoor posted. the mix of soulful funk and r&b is a delight!!! finally, i found big l's now or never thanks to yuto horigome's nike sb video, which also featured the song XX by fede lng, also a bop that i ended up looping a whole bunch. the song was perfect for the street skating vibes and reminded me of nujabes' music, along with the grittiness of urban life (that i personally miss very much). i'm a big fan of the lofi hip hop beats, along with big l's lyrical rap.

at 4:55 pm, august 11, 2024

album review: MINISERIES 2 by sumin & slom

i recently started listening to sumin and slom because of their interview on bibim-pop with soyoon and kid milli (two more korean artists that i love) and boy, has it lead me places. i had first heard of sumin and slom's first album MINISERIES due to tweets on twitter praising it's artistery, but at the time i had only heard short snippets of songs and didn't think too much of them. this new discovery lead me to listening to the MINISERIES album, and i was hooked on YOGIJOGI and WHAT DO YOU THINK. YOGIJOGI's groovy dance pop beats was right up my alley, as it was another song that i like to categorize as "catwalk music to strut to." followed by what do you think, a less appreciated song on the album, these two songs took the cake for me. the rest of the album was amazing, another stand-outee including the gonlan song, and i was pretty happy already just listening to YOGIJOGI and WHAT DO YOU THINK, that i almost forgot to listen to the new album, MINISERIES 2.

and wow. i feel like i haven't listened to genuine art in the form of music for a long time. don't get me wrong, a lot of the music nowadays are also created from genuine, sincere feelings from highly talented artists, but sometimes i feel like modern music lacks the authenticity? the personality? music where the artists truly make it their own? and since sumin and slom literally are involved in every aspect of the production, each song, each note, each beat, each phrasing is literally their own, crafted and infused with their own stories... and so each song feels unique, personal, and exquisite.

to start off, the first track JUST A BREAKUP opens with a dreamy, bossa nova sound that makes me feel like i'm in the midst of hazy dream on a tropical island, but the lyrics say otherwise: 눈치 없는 시간이 서운해 i'm sad about the times i don't notice 내 마음 고집부릴 틈 없이 without any room for my heart to be stubborn ... 보통의 사랑, 보통의 이별 이야기 ordinary love, ordinary breakup story. the lyrics made me think about the end of my own relationships, and how i tend to move headfirst towards things when it comes to ending things with people. i think i try to ignore my surroundings and other peoples' feelings when i decide on something final, and in a way that makes each relationship just... ordinary. ordinary love, ordinary breakup story.

the bass line in WHY, WHY, WHY makes it groovy as hell and makes me feel like i'm in the lounge of some cafe grooving to a jazz band. along with sumin's vocal riffs and adlibs, it makes it a very upbeat, groovy and complete song. the same can be said for SORRY and TIC TOC TIC TOC, which was the first song i heard from the album since sumin performed it on bibim-pop, and made me immediately fall for her voice. GOODBYE has a soulful, lazy sound, almost like a cat waking up from it's afternoon nap under the sun.

ENDLESS NIGHT is one that deserves it's own paragraph. the chill, citypop beats along with sumin's high notes, transport me to another space and time. sumin's high note leading into the bridge makes me feel like life is worth living. it's a song that doesn't require me to elaborate on how beautiful it is; only listening to it will do it justice.

NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS has the upbeat, catwalk, house beat that i adore. ...I THINK reminds me of music that i used to listen to like sofi de la torre, and feels reminiscent of californian house vibes. and finally SPOTLIGHT! such a fun song, that almost reminds me of a traditional song that old folks would sing at a neighborhood party. (i'm not sure why, but it just gives off the festive vibes.) i love singing along to the 기다리네 (gidarine)!!!

overall, the perfect album for me. slom's masterful and genius production (whose beats remind me of california after i learned that he's from palo alto) along with sumin's vocals and writing make a work of art that touches my soul like no other. the album has soul, groove, dance-party!!! vibes, chill, dreaminess, everything you could ask for. sumin and slom, let's go for miniseries 3! ★★★★★

at 5:39 pm, september 17, 2024

august listens

another month has gone by. august was a hot, sweaty, lethargic month filled with cool tunes. here were my favorites.

> LE SSERAFIM - CRAZY
> Sumin & Slom - Miniseries 2 EP
> TENDER TOUCH - Can I see you tomorrow
> Ryo Fukui - Early Summer
> Barry Harris - Fukai Aijo
> Ryo Fukui - Voyage
> Tyler, the Creator - See You Again (Alternative Intro)
> Kanye West - Flashing Lights (Alternate Intro)
> Loossemble - TTYL