Beat Laments The World

A metal-infused take on Asian music & other stuff

Having been away from my blogging duties for about two weeks, a lot of news items that I’d usually like to write about have already passed or are at least on their merry way — I’ve arrived late and the ship has sailed without me. Now I’m wandering what to cover and what to ignore.

But one thing’s for certain: there’s always room for eyecandy. So here’s SNSD’s Seohyun on a photoshoot for W, sporting some Tommy Hilfiger denim.

Now I can’t say that Seohyun’s one of my favourite idols out there, but over the past year she’s grown on me quite considerably. As I find myself getting older and becoming more broken, perhaps the lunacy of someone like After School’s Lizzy isn’t the best option after all, and if idol fantasy should turn into idol reality, my being paired with the more cerebral Seohyun ought to be more beneficial to my survival.

Anyway, expect more photos to surface once W release the related issue in June.

It should be clear from the title: my feelings on °C-ute as of late are largely negative. That’s the nice way of saying, “exceptions withstanding, every last single, b-side and album track they’ve done after Tokaikko Junjou has been crap to me.” SHOCKING 5 sounds like another crock of shit in a long, nearly uninterrupted line of worthless audio cancer. That said, I have to get the following off my chest.

Aa Koi off Shocking 5 is the coolest damned °C-ute song since who knows when.★ It’s an Airi solo, but let’s just say if this had been released as a single — instead of her other solo song SHOCK! — you wouldn’t have heard me complain. The song is evil. Those guitars are the spawn of Satan, though only if Satan was girly. Not girly in a bad way, but you know how there are those hot girl guitarists that sort of annoy you because they’re a million times better at guitar than you… but also sexy? It’s sort of like that. Aa Koi is the work of a sexy and talented female Satan.

(★ Still nowhere near as good as S/mileage‘s Yumemiru 15sai. But hell, what is?)

Speaking of sex, do you remember my H!P guitar solo ranking?

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If I redid it today, we might just have a new winner. *checks to see if face is still intact*

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These images right here will be the best thing I ever post on this blog:

What has been seen can not be unseen. But then I don’t wish to ever unsee that.

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Release date: 2010/01/28
Tracklist:

1. Oh!
2. Show! Show! Show!
3. 뻔&Fun (Sweet Talking Baby)
4. 영원히 너와 꿈꾸고 싶다 (Forever)
5. 웃자 (Be Happy)
6. 화성인 바이러스 (Boys & Girls) (feat. key of SHINee)
7. 카라멜 커피 (Talk To Me)
8. 별별별 (☆★☆)
9. 무조건 해피엔딩 (Stick Wit U)
10. 좋은 일만 생각하기 (Day by Day)
11. Gee
12. 소원을 말해봐 (Genie)

The music event most fans have looked forward to the most for a good half a year now? Most definitely.

Like many, I first learned about SNSD back at the time of the Gee syndrome. I heard it just days after the MV was online before the actual CD was released and I have to admit: I was immediately caught in the Gee fever. Fast forward to the follow-up song Genie which worked only to make me appreciate them better, and since then it’s just been an excruciating wait until their sophomore album. Now that it’s finally here and I’ve given the album the attentive listen or ten it deserves before a review? Do good things come to those who wait?

Well… hell, I’d be a liar if I called it an awful album.

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