Quick blurb reviews

[arbitrary_greay]

EDIT: Lolololol, Stranger is a total Jpop song. Mostly Avex, but with some other things. 1 2 3 4 (Well, the chorus is anyways. The rest of it is that inferior-Lucifer rehash I was worried about. Thank goodness this isn't the title track, because this way I get my intense Lucifer dancing anyways.)

Comments

[askbask]

"Man, if this is another YYJ+Teddy Riley collab"

- it isn't. In fact, even if it really sounds like him it's not YYJ at all according to the credits at Daum. I'm still not sure about that - YYJ always seems to put a finishing touch on these tracks and I suspect he may be credited as with 'arrangement' or something like that - but anyway: it's Rocky Morris, Thomas Eriksen, Thomas Troelsen, Rufio Sandilands, lyrics Jo Yoonkyung.

Of course Troelsen is practically in-house SM at this point, and he's been involved with some solid tracks. Thomas Eriksen is Norwegian - he's actually produced some fairly entertaining local hip-hop. The other two I don't know. Bizarelly the credits are different on the two 'partial' Sherlock tracks on the album, even though they're clearly meant to be combined and their inclusion as seperate entities is pointless. Troelsen is named for both, though.

[arbitrary_greay]

It had the LLO/Juliette sound to it, I knew it was likely that Teddy Riley wasn't involved at all. For that matter, YYJ wasn't involved with LLO and Juliette, either. LLO was Remee, Troelsen, Lucas Secon, and Yong-Hun Cho. Juliette was Remee, Mich Hansen, Joe Belmaati, and JAY SEAN ROFL.

How does that partial track thing work?

[askbask]

Yeah after I posted that I realized it doesn't really sound like YYJ. The new EXO track does, though, all the way, maybe I was thinking about that.

Track 1 on the album is Sherlock, track 2 and 3 are clue & note, which make up Sherloc together. They're almost the same. Should've been bonus tracks as novelty at best, but putting all three at the top of the EP? Crazy.

[arbitrary_greay]

Each track is a full song, or each is a verse+prechorus+chorus pattern? (And Note, I assume, would include the bridge)

[just_keep_on]

Whoa, that Kara song really doesn't match (vocals to the music), so weird. Actually, have you listened to 2NE1's Scream? Or even their cover of Like A Virgin?

Nine Muses' "Ticket" reminds me of Secret + Rainbow XD I rather like the song, though I agree that the brass blasts could have been moved.

Sherlock is a really catchy song - interesting way to try and sell both Clue and Note at the same time and it's not too jarring, mashing up the two. The only thing is that listening to those two songs on their own, it feels like they're lacking because we're used to hearing them mashed together. (Btw, is SM on a "let's be like JYP and constantly say the group name!" kick? It's almost as annoying as Minho's existence. Sorry, I just can't stand the guy.) Also, I had hoped that because of this, the album would be more cohesive, but it's more of the same. Most of it wasn't very memorable to me, with the exception of Honesty. Such is a lovely acoustic song <3 (I quite liked Hello, btw xP) Their comeback on M! Countdown was pretty

[arbitrary_greay]

Fucking J-ent companies and their short versions

[just_keep_on]

Like a virgin, bitch.
That is perfect XDDD I feel like that encapsulates 2NE1's style to a T XDD

It is SweetTune behind Rainbow.
Wait, it's the same company...?

It seems like SM realized that DBSK don't have mellow voices anymore, so they're pushing them on to Shinee.
Ah, I never noticed that. Innnnnteresting. (And it's more like they lost the mellow voices xP Oh well~) I have no idea if it's Hwang Sunjie, btw xP SHINee's MuBank performance was a really good live, actually, but damn, the filming just continues to take away from the performance.

Best to play it a little safe while reestablishing their fanbase, too, before bringing out the big experimental guns for a push into new markets.
I agree, and actually, I wouldn't be surprised if they pull out those "experimental guns" for their solo work. That too will be interesting to see how they balance, in addition to other projects, like Teen Top.

[arbitrary_greay]

SweetTune are producers. They wrote Mister and Jumping and Step, too.

Do they not have film majors in Korea, or all said film majors too hipster to be working for a music show?

Ooh, that's a good point about the groups they themselves are producing. But those groups don't have years of preexisting discography, either. Although, if the relationship they have with their groups is akin to that of Rain and MBLAQ, then it's fairly hands-off. No aspiring JYPs here. XD

[just_keep_on]

I love how we usually have to wait months/years for SNSD to release practice vids but SHINee gets to release theirs within a few days xP

Also, according to Rino, Tony Testa choreographed this. (I guess I missed the AKP article xP) I totally love the formation work here, especially the transitions (that part from 1:45-48 where Minho is moving across the stage is probably one of my favorites - it takes that wonderful Tiffany-to-Sunny ripple line in Genie and kicks it up). SHINee's energy and precision really bring out the awesome of those "shadows" and the military-esque locking. I think working with Testa was a great choice because his style is similar to what we're used to seeing from SHINee but at the same time, it's quite new and different from what we're seeing on stage from other groups (I feel like that's the case with most of SM Town). Also, I think with SHINee, choreographers don't have to bring their choreography "down" a level because they're all such good dancers

[arbitrary_greay]

I love the signature hopping move. XD Loved it in Mirotic and Roudou Sanka, too. Making it the signature move is so amusing, although Shinee manage to pull it off with dignity somehow.
Man, Shinee's choreo always comes off like a legitimate dance crew routine. Not just formations in terms of location, but lots of body positioning formations, and actual spatial awareness.(Can't wait for them to do that hopping chorus down a walkway XD) They really are the new DB5K, but sharper for being so skinny, and more electronic music than tribal.

UGH, THIS. It's all so contained and controlled, minimal movements to snap into the next pose. Even f(x) has slightly more dynamic dances. The Gangsta Boy dance is very Replay-like, where the point of the moves is in the motions themselves, not the pose they finish in.
Choreography that's focussing on sync and poses can still be dynamic:

The biggest factor here seems to simply be TEMPO. The Boys, Hoot, and RDR all have an infuriatingly laidback tempo and tone without being swagga-chill like Replay

[just_keep_on]

Choreography that's focussing on sync and poses can still be dynamic:Can't we say that that's popping? That clip of U19 seemed to have more movement than poses in their choreo though I always find it hard to compare J-pop and K-pop choreo because I find that there is a different emphasis/expectations when it comes to freezes. For example, when the girls hit the freezes (poses) in the U-19 clip, they don't exactly freeze - there's still shifting, like when models pose during photoshoots. We don't expect them to be static when they hit those poses - the emphasis is not on the freeze, either, it's on the different, original expression that each girl adds to the pose (i.e. the shifting

[arbitrary_greay]

Locking is the style more about constant movement while popping is is more about poses, imo. But you're right, this choreo is shifting all of the time. Locking has so much more influence on Jpop dance, I see actual locking moves all of the time. The chorus does get kind of static Hoot-chorus-esque, but even then in between the pose-based main melody there's shifty chaos where Hoot has rigid sync for the "shu-shu-shu" hook.
Ooh, definitely see what you mean about the contrast with The Boys. In The Boys chorus it's like "pose, pose, pose, pose" all Vogue-like, where U-19 is more like "snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, shift-back." The initial poses for "girls generation make them feel the heat" especially seem to me to be explicitly not to be popped into.

Hmm, we know that this pose-based style was codified with Genie, and Kissing You and ITNW were more movement-based, but what about GG? (Fucking hell, searching for GG lives is a pain.)

First, there are the shenanigans freestyle sections, but it seems like there's more formation

[just_keep_on]

My head hurts. Wanna read this AKP article on Kpop choreo for me?

[iacus]

I never want to read AKP.

[arbitrary_greay]

It's a Seoulbeats-esque article talking about how Kpop (female) dances have gotten more sexual, but arguing against MOGEF dance bans.