Kpop: Fantastic Drugstore (판타스틱 드럭스토어)

Korean four piece Fantastic Drugstore has released a great new song "Before Sunrise", with singer/guitarist Im Won Hyuk's voice making a hauntingly beautiful

• Fantatsic Drugstore - Before Sunrise
• Fantastic Drugstore - Mister (아저씨)
• Fantastic Drugstore - Scarlet

Kpop: Top 20 first quarter 2014

It is time for this years first top 20, and as always I am, honestly, surprised at the number of candidates. I had the leave out quite a number of candidates I wouldn't have thought would miss the Top 20. And yes, I prefer female to male artists in kpop. ;-)

Honorable mention goes to Gain for being as sexually liberated as always in her "Fxxk U" and "Truth & Dare", and to Bebop for their glorious boxing in "I'm the best".

20. Puer Kim - Manyo Maash. This gothic piece from the rookie is suggestive and dark, and I love it.

19. Neon Bunny -It's You. The excellent indie singer/songwriter is back.

18. M ft Eric - Taxi. Funky and fun.

17. Stay Foolish - Kiss Kiss. More mature charm than usual in kpop.

16. Ladies Code - So Wonderful. Again the theme is dolls and again they have their distinct staccato rhythm.

15. Sunmi - Full Moon

14. Stellar - Marionette. No one can dispute that they sold their song with explicit sexuality using styling that one could indeed deem sub-par, but it was also really a good kpop song.

13. Lip Service - Yum Yum Yum. Attitude and a refrain that sticks like gum in my head.

12. Rumble Fish - The Virulent Song. A dramatic song sung with passion.

11. Scarlet - Do Better. Simple but effective song and video.

10. Orange Caramel - Catanella

9. Dal Shabet - B. B. B. This is a song that I feel very split about. On the one hand it is flawed from the chanted "Big Baby Baby" that disturbs a little, one the other hand it has a number of delicious twists and sounds and it is really like the perfect song that got messed up by to many ideas. Still a must on this list.

8. Park Ji Yoon - Beep. The video is just pure retro gold, and PJY is flawlessly stylish again.

7. AoA - Miniskirt. After initial sceptisism, "Oh, a zipper gimmick", but it and the song is done so well.

6. Brown Eyed Soul - Pass Me By. Nostalgic R&B

5. Mamamoo ft K.Will - Peppermint Chocolate. Perfect R&B with the support of K.Will for these debutants.

4. Son Heun Su - Go and come back. Fabolous disco & humor from this comedian.

3. 2 Song Place - Age-Height. Yes, a comedian takes the number three spot, but this is just so fun and engaging. You must read the subtitles!

2. Girl's Day - Something. I was almost 100% sure this would be number one or two this quarter already when it came out at the start of January, and I am still not quite sure it shouldn't be number one. It is a fantastic piece of suggestive music and the video is perfect too.

1. SNSD/Girl's Generation - Mr Mr. I had a hard time deciding on number one but something about the classicness of Mr Mr made me choose Girl's Generation. It's a kind of iconic sound compared with Girl's Day who are somehow the new (sexy) but untested.

Kpop: Scarlet (스칼렛)

What catches my eye for debutantes Scarlet and their video "Do Better" is the graphics and layout. Yes, it feels almost as I am reviewing a magazine as the visuals rely heavily on typographic effects. It is fascinating and at the same time borderline distracting, but with a somehow syncroniced choregraphy, I would say they have a reasonable debut. I am also sure they will release a dance version for those who got irritated from not seing enough of the girls...here is alternative review over at Otakudx.

• Scarlet - Do Better
• Scarlet - Hip Song