Asian music (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
Apr 11, 2018 at 5:24 PM Post #2,296 of 2,994
Yeah, I need to dig into more indie stuff. I'm basing off of the Melon top 100 tracks as of late.

I wish there was something like spotify or tidal with K-indie for easy music discovery.

I enjoy K-soul and R&B so keep them comin! I really like stuff like Bumkey soul vocals.

I haven't listened to BTS other than the viral crap like DNA.

I'm aware of Brown Eyes(and soul), and also Naul. I was into them for a bit.
 
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Apr 11, 2018 at 11:12 PM Post #2,297 of 2,994
If you like K-R&B/Soul, then you're in luck because there are so many artists in that style right now in S. Korea. Everyday there are new releases in the R&B/Soul style from various artists. In fact there are so many that it's totally flooded the K-Indie scene, and I don't even know where to begin to give recommendations, since you can't swing a dead cat without hitting one these days. I'll post some just to give you an idea of how common the style is in the current K-Indie/K-Pop market:

Among them my favorite is Baek Yerin (also one of my favorite female vocalists):






















And that's just the tip of the iceberg--there's so much more. As for where to find all the latest new releases in K-Pop and K-Indie, here are some links that you can check everyday:

https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/search?q=flair:audio&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all
https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/search?q=flair:mv+OR+audio+OR+remix&restrict_sr=on&t=all&feature=legacy_search&sort=new
https://www.reddit.com/r/kindie/

There are a couple of other sites I check often but I can't post links to them because they also allow you to download the music. I use them to see what the new releases are. I can PM them to you if you want.



I used to listen to J Rabbit, but then I discovered there are countless other K-Indie artists that sound just like J Rabbit in S. Korea, and more popping up every month, and I now favor the ones with a bit more upbeat sound. In that particular style, Bolbogan4 is currently the reigning queens in terms of success (they're more upbeat and a bit more pop):



BTW, BTS does have some really good songs too. They are actually quite versatile in terms of stylistic range and if you don't like certain type of songs they do, chances are they have other songs you would like.



In the 80's and 90's I listened to so much Japanese music (J-Pop, J-Rock, Anime/movie soundtracks). But in the 90's J-Pop took a nosedive and got much worse (due to the emergence of the Euro dance sound that Komuro Tetsuya brought to Japan, which killed all the unique J-Pop style--everything all ended up sounding the same. Then when AKB48 and similar groups became extremely popular, it also made J-Pop much worse because musically their songs are quite bland and grating and lacking musical merit. That also when K-Pop became really good, so I moved on to K-Pop/K-Indie instead. I still listen to some Japanese stuff, but not nearly as much as I used to in the 80's and 90's. I still love all the 80's and 90's J-Pop/Rock though--they are some of my biggest influences as a composer/songwriter.
I'm aware of G.Soul, although he has high skills, his tracks don't really have a long lasting effect I realized. Just like Dean. maybe too much style over originality. They sound good when you initially hear them, but doesn't seem lasting(gets washed out). I feel the same about IU.

Out of all that you listed, the last two I'm aware of, but also I like to hear more of their tracks. They do align with my taste very much, sounds good.

I'm aware of some other K-indie like 2LSON, Junkey, standing egg, which I quite enjoyed. Just that J Rabbit has a lasting effect on me. Their performance just seem original.

Lots of musicians that have real skills comes from K-indie I realized. Bumkey, Geeks(early stuff was good then rest went to schiit), etc..



I like Moon Myun Jin as he's got lots of soul, but he doesn't put out good tracks probably due to not having the right producer to complement his skills.



2LSON seems like Korean version of Clean Bandit, picking out the right vocalists.

I like Winee's vocals as well, and she collaborated with 2LSON. Her vocals doesn't sound highly controlled, but it's the kind of sound you get the feel of the song. Vocals can sound right in feel without much control as well.



 
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May 5, 2018 at 12:37 AM Post #2,302 of 2,994
I've personally found anime stuff to largely be a wasteland when it comes to audio quality; the intersection between energetic songs and well-mastered songs, in particular, appears to be non-existent. But when it comes to more laid-back music, there are still some gems here and there.

I've been listening to a lot of Masumi Itou's music lately. I'm not sure whether it's kosher to post direct YouTube links to these, but I've found her work on the Haibane Renmei, Maid Dragon and Azumanga Daioh soundtracks to be quite enjoyable, especially the songs Blue Flow and Raspberry Heaven (tribute version). Her non-anime albums, especially Harmonies of Heaven, are great as well. I've been seeking out some of Chata's music, too. Utatane is pleasingly relaxing. On the indie side of things, there's Otenba World's End and Hysteric by Chiffon.

Any other anime music or similarly styled music to consider? I'd especially be interested in faster-paced J-pop/J-rock that hasn't had brick-wall compression applied to it.
 
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Jun 2, 2018 at 5:12 AM Post #2,304 of 2,994
My browsers are still having trouble with the last two pages because there were too many videos. So I'm going to bump this thread a few times (with some old SNSD vids) to get to a new page.

2007 - Into the New World
 
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