My casual interest in chiptunes piqued during episode 7 of series 3 of Skins. My friend said it was castles. I didn’t think it was because the girl looked different and the guy was singing and castles already went on Skins (that’s where I learned about them) so I decided to investigate. Luckily, the guys at Skins love showing off their music. I was greeted with quite the interesting group name. I usually have beef with long nonsensical names like this but for some reason, it doesn’t bother me.

From what I could gather from their myspace, they only have their “Inner City Angst EP” which only has 4 songs but have the “Me Versus You” vinyl forthcoming April 27th. They’ve also been involved with a few Kitsune Compilations. I’ve been listening to Inner City Angst since that episode of Skins aired and it doesn’t venture far off the path that Crystal Castles paved for me which doesn’t really surprise me since they share the same label.

Off the Inner City Angst EP, all 4 of the tracks have their own kind of charm: Superheroes is the fast, screaming, percussion-heavy track that got me hooked. It’s got everything I want in a standard chiptunes track. Dead End is a bit mellower and Blood Lust is fun too, but Wizards, however, is my favourite song of theirs because it sounds the most not like something I’ve heard in the chiptunes genre before.

This track works out like a story: the opening arpeggios foreshadow a sort of epic quality, reminiscent of the Final Fantasy theme. There’s usually something that ties you in about it that makes you read it – it could just be the cover artwork or the blurb on the back. For this song, it’s those arpeggios – something epic is going to be happening in the next 4 minutes. So then we go into the song, starts off mellow, something new adds with each measure: a flutter of beeps, a change in percussion, a hit of melody, a pad. Layer after layer, the mix just keeps building until the climax at 2:27 – it just takes the track to the next level, bringing in a main melody, slowly dying back down to what it was, then gone.

Like nothing happened.

I don’t remember the last time a song sent me on a trip like that. Maybe Hell Hath No Fury by Klute. Either way, cheers to YLHCSD. To more tracks, and more music.

The last KPop group I was interested in was S#arp. I don’t even know what happened to them but from what I read, it wasn’t good. From them, the only Korean experience I’ve had is through playing Pump It Up and DJ MAX PORTABLE on the PSP.

It’s weird. I liked Morning for a long time from when I discovered them at the start of their 5th generation but in retrospect, I’ve been looking at them and their group with, lacking a better term, pitygoggles. Yeah, some of them can sing and dance and the lot of them are adorable but just something about them feels in me feels like I’m at a young relative’s recital for something and they’re well… let’s just say you clap when they’re done and not because it was a spectacular performance. I don’t know. What I do know is that I know how much work they go through and how far the come from when they first join. The difference is usually astounding, but still, the end result for some of them still feels like I keep them outside of my regular marking system, where they’d kinda just fail. Maybe I’m being overly critical. Maybe Tsunku’s just losing his touch with a fan like me. Maybe I just need change. And maybe this change includes 9 Korean girls singing about falling in love for the first time.

The first thing I’ve noticed about Girls’ Generation is that they’re so diverse. They have at least one member fluent in Japanese, Chinese (not sure about specifically Mandarin or Cantonese), and English. Some come from acting backgrounds, modeling backgrounds, DJing backgrounds. All of them were talented on a professional level previous to Girls’ Generation. I haven’t really seen any of the girls outside of what I’ve seen of them on youtube but they’re definitely something that I’d like to get to know better. I’ve tried to view content on their official site but it break on every browser I use to view it. Maybe it’s a Korean thing?

To quickly cover their music, I’ve only acquired the Gee mini album as of now and outside of Gee, the songs weren’t really that memorable. That might change. But just saying, if I was on a deserted island and only had to listen to one song for my entire stay, it’d be Gee. The beat is fast and catchy. It’s poppy and happy and fun but somehow feels unique. Like it’s a brand new experience. Like the first time you fall in love. I don’t know how but they’ve definitely captured that feeling in this song. I still need to check out their first single and full album.

The Gee MV had me from hello. The girls look great. The dance is cute and fairly intricate. There’s even a smidge of harmonizing from Jessica. How can you go wrong? All 3 sets of costumes are flattering and stylish. Also, omglegs. I love the jumps Jessica and HyoYeon do.

As for my girl ranking, going solely off the Gee MV and the few facts I’ve learned about them so far, in ascending order: SooYoung, Yoona, SeoHyun, HyoYeon, Yuri, TaeYeon, Sunny, Tiffany, and Jessica.

Sunny’s on the left. Tiffany’s on the right.

There’s something about SooYoung that kinda scares me. Can’t put my finger on it. Same with Yoona. SeoHyun is a bit of an enigma for me. HyoYeon’s hair in the shorts dance shot is just :3 but I get the same feeling from her like I do SooYoung and Yoona. Yuri’s cute with the headband from the lives. And her smile resembles one so pure and child-like. TaeYeon doesn’t quite feel like a leader but she does get the most camera time and she’s very easy on the eyes. Sunny reminds me of MEG and I think she is adorable. As for Tiffany and Jessica, they’re both from the states and are fluent in English. Don’t worry, that’s not the only reason why they’re my top two.

Mmmm Jessica.

Tiffany’s voice surprised me from Gee. She’s got a quality and fullness that reminds me of someone I can’t quite put my finger on. And then there’s Jessica and her bangs. I love Jessica’s bangs. Her voice is adorable. Her harmonizing, though just a bit overpowering in the lives, makes me smile. In some pictures, she looks like BoA and Fujimoto Miki had a baby together and she was the result. She was the first girl to really stand out for me in the Gee MV and still never fails to entertain.

For more info, check out their Official Page and Wikipedia Article.

Hailing from Los Angeles, California comes someone I wouldn’t know about if it wasn’t for Dieselboy’s Substance D mix. In my first podcast, I played Load Rocket (Gridlok Remix) which was originally done by Computer Club. I never really thought to check him out… until a few nights ago where I was just playing around with my sub and played the Gridlok Mix and watched my remote control shake for the lulz. I bumped into his myspace and found out he actually does electro. To that, I say awesome.

The original mix of Load Rocket is sex. I’ve been getting into electro a lot more ever since my friend introduced me to Justice (which I haven’t made a post on yet… I should really do something about that). Judging solely off Load Rocket and the remixes he has on his MySpace, his style is more bad ass compared to Justice which has more of a feel good, dance-ish, epicness to it. Computer Club’s electro is the type you’d hear at Ricer Shows with the glowstickers going off and what not. Or that’s the image I see in my head anyway. Check out his mixes on his MySpace for some good, clean electro.

Other than that, I hope to hear more from this guy.

I don’t find a lot of MEG in the song but I do, kinda, see where the guy is coming from. If anything, a few of her strong notes ever so slightly remind me of misono, without the theatrics during the not so strong notes. So I surf over to theppn’s wiki and there’s nothing (as of August 20th) other than her birthday. I do enjoy the fact that she is my age. However, despite the lack of information on this lady, I think she’s gained a fan who happens to be quite fond of her vocal performance.

The sound of her voice sounds like someone spreading whipped cream on a cake: its sweet and light and airy in a good balance. I really want to hear other things from her. I already placed the order for the mini-album, COLORS, this song is on. It should be coming in the next week or two. Comments in the original post directed me to her myspace to hear her other songs but they’re all preview versions. Still, her voice is reminding me more and more of misono just through the previews. I wish I didn’t listen to those previews though…

As for the PV, she’ll break her wrist if she continues to handle disco bowling balls like that. The engrish is engrishtastic. That dress is the cutest thing I’ve seen in a while. She wears it like owns the place. The stockings and heels are pretty sexy <3. She has a few moments that I can't get enough of. I mean, she's sexy all throughout the parts where she's just playing around as opposed to just looking sexy (see: 2:27 when she's shaking her arms, and 3:14 blowing her ball for good luck. shut up.) Yum.

Bottom line, she's definitely someone I'd like to see more of. Her vocal ability (based on this song) is only matched by her beauty. I just hope she succeeds. <3 I'm cheering for you SAWA!

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Colors

SAWA