Kpop: Crayon Pop - FM

The wait for the very much anticipated return of Korean nerd dance act number one Crayon Pop is over! The queens of quirky choregraphy and cute looks returns with a super hero themed video where references to anime and TV-series abound (Sailor Queen and ...  Halo?).

• Crayon Pop - FM
• Crayon Pop - FM (Choreography version)
• Crayon Pop - FM (live from M! Countdown)

Jpop: Tofubeats - Stakeholder

I totally loved tofubeats single "Don't stop the music", and his sound is really soft and laidback in general. Still, I have been a bit disappointed in the later songs (think Her Favorite, Season Change Clothes or Poolside), as they haven't felt as accessible (or nerdy, or something...). The single "Stakeholder" from his third album with the same name is promising and the video is quite funny, the theme being depicting destructiveness in a relationship in a surprisingly funny and ironic way. The greasy chips finger on someone's glasses is a classic example of nasty everyday sadism... ;-)

• Tofubeats - Stakeholder

Wang Lin - Yami Butterfly (雅美蝶)

"Yami Butterfly" is really rather trivial KTV (chinese karaoke) music, but I am somewhat weak for Wang Lin's charming and happy songs.

• Wang Lin - Yami Butterfly (雅美蝶)

Kpop: Gain - Paradise Lost

Gain from Brown Eyed Girls has long been the one female in kpop who has been threading the border of what's accepted in regards to female sexuality in a commercialized korean pop industry controlled by men. A few examples are "Bloom" that was celebrated as the first main-stream kpop video about the female orgasm, and Fxxk U a really dark video about violent relationships.

• Gain - Paradise Lost

Mandopop: Esther Liu (劉品言)

Esther Liu (Liu Pinyan) from Taiwanese pop duo Sweety has 'resurfaced' (pun intended) after many years without anything happing, and now through her own record label and efforts. She is singing in french with a video that is suitably matching that with Esther dreamingly moving in water.

• Esther Liu - Résurrection (重生)

Korean indie: EE

I loved EE for the pleyfully crazy sounds of "Rock, Paper, Scissors" and the earlier naive "Miss Amazon". I didn't see any more from them and as they are a rather small band I therefore missed out on their "Banging till I die" from last fall. It's a much more polished and well produced video and song, and there loses some of its wildness, but they are still quite fascinating and odd.

• EE - Banging till I die
• EE - Rock, Paper, Scissors (가위바위보)
• EE - Miss Amazon
• EE - Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Ears