HA:TFELT(핫펠트) - 1719 Album Thoughts (K-indie)

 

   I honestly didn't realize this girl was even in the legendary girl group Wonder Girls. Maybe that's a good thing so I could judge her music without being biased.... I'm not really biased anyways. She debuted a few years ago as a solo artists with her debut mini album titled "Me?". 1719 is her first album that was met with a good reaction as the album sold out and needed to be reprinted due to high demand. 

Track List:
01. Life Sucks
02. 피어싱 (Piercing) (Feat. THAMA)
03. 새 신발 (I Wander) (Feat. 개코)
04. 위로가 돼요 (Pluhmm)
05. 나란 책 (Guitar Ver.)
06. Cigar
07. Make Love
08. Satellite (Feat. ASH ISLAND) *Title Track*
09. Sweet Sensation (Feat. SOLE)
10. Solitude
11. 3분만 (Feat. 최자) (3mins)
12. Bluebird
13. Sky Gray
14. How to love

    Let's just be honest right from the start, 1791 wasn't that much of an exciting listen for me. The album has fourteen tracks which turned me off right as I saw it. I thought "Life Sucks" was the title track but Satellite turns out to be after much research. The latter has a indie lazy pop vibe perfect for a cloudy day where you feel down on yourself. It's a good album opener as it sets the tone for 1719. After this, 1917 drowns in similar tracks that smear into each other. One thing I will always to musicians is that you should always try to create tracks that have grand choruses that stand out in a different sound for each track. Otherwise you end up creating an album that has songs sounding just like each other. Stand out songs don't really come on until the middle of the album. After " Make Love's" soulful sensitivity done in a calm matter that pays tribute to many RnB songs before it. Satellite is a light poppy dance song with a bright melody fitting of the title track. Solitude was my favorite track and probably the most stand out track on the whole album. She's really trying to go for different styles, yet her style defiantly connects more to Jazz vocal wise.  Bluebird's slight touch in the pop rock territory was a fun listen while Gray Sky has HA:TFELT giving the best vocal tone she's given her whole career. I know I might say this a lot however: 1719 was better as a mini album. Just scrap all the filler tracks that should have been tracks that never made the cut. Life Sucks was the only track in the first half of 1719 worth saving. 

    She doesn't really sound much different from other female solo Korean singers. I do enjoy the lower register in her voice. Her higher register is pretty too. A lot of female Korean singers have the same vocal quality though. We need more diversity......

   I saved you the trouble of skipping most 1719's tracklist. Don't bother trying to listen to the track between Life Sucks and Make Love. You will drown yourself in boring tracks. 

The Wild Goose Lake(南方车站的聚会) Chinese Film Thoughts

 

 

   The Wild Goose Lake is a 2019 Chinese film that was a huge success at the box office in it's homeland and also garnered a good amount of money overseas. Cannes Films Festival had the film entered to compete for the Palme d"Or since the director, Diao Yinan(Black Coal, Thin Ice) has received critical acclaim. Well known actor Hu Ge stars in the film along side, Gwei Lun-mei, Liao Fan,(Who starred in Yinan's Black Coal, Thin Ice,) and, Wan Qian.

   A gangster accidentally shoots a police officer while in a gun fight with other gangsters. He soon must go on the run as the whole police force is hot on his trail. Only a girl sent to meet him at a train station can help him get away....

    The Wild Goose Lake is a great arthouse foreign film. I would go as far to consider the film one of the definitions of artsy with it's freshly flipped sides in storytelling. Events start off in real time with our main character on the run as he meets this random girl at a train station. Things take off from there when the film constantly decides to go back and forth toward the past then the present. One might think that The Wild Goose Chase would be a normal "cats chase mouse" thriller due to the plot but center focus switches gears after conflicts are established. More characters step into the story as the viewer is forced to guess how all these new characters play into the overall plot.  A slow burn starts to began in a dreadful feeling that surrounds the main character because you don't know what the film is trying to say nor do you know where the next scene will take you. How everything concludes teaches us that many people in this world will always think about serving themselves over the wellbeing of others I think Goose Lake has something in it for various viewers. At times overly bloody, at other times completely still as a lake at dusk, The Wild Goose Lake will either dazzle you or confuse you to death. Also note that there's Chinese cultural references in this film that might be kinda odd to a non Chinese viewer. Just roll with it then research if you care to. 

    Yinan is another director who can shoot scenery to make it tell his story for him. He's a genius who can shoot action in scenery in his own way that just looks so rustic. One quality that I feel Chinese films have is a no censorship rule on showing how life can be in certain parts of China. This film has no problem showing the slums where many have humble beginnings on top of true life Chinese culture that isn't watered down by government censorship. I loved witnessing all the sights since they bring an extra spice to the storyline. 

     The whole cast did their jobs very well in my opinion. I can see that Liao fan was brought back to be in another project for reasons that would boil down to him just being such a straightforward actor. Hu Ge's dark yet demanding demeanor commands the camera lens. His character creates a harmony with Lun-mei's character's glassy demeanor. All of the good performances made the film feel emotional though I was a bit indifferent to all the characters. They were going for that sort of.... I believe. 

  I would recommend this film just like many people have recommended Black Coal, Thin Ice in the past. I'll circle back and watch that too sometime in the future. I'm sure it's as artsy as The Wild Goose Lake.

Kenshi Yonezu(米津玄師 ) - STRAY SHEEP Album Thoughts(J-pop/Experimental)

 

     Kenshi Yonezu has been having a fantastic few years as a singer. He started at originally as the voice for vocalloids then began releasing music under his real name. Because he had garnered such a following from his post sonline, Yonezu became a sensation with his albums selling thousands of units and placing him as one of the most promenade male solo singers of Japan's current generation along side Gen Hoshino. Stray Sheep is his fifth album. The album debuted at the top of the Oricon album Chart in it's first week. 

01 カムパネルラ
02 Flamingo
03 感電
04 PLACEBO ＋ 野田洋次郎
05 パプリカ
06 馬と鹿
07 優しい人
08 Lemon
09 まちがいさがし
10 ひまわり
11 迷える羊
12 Décolleté
13 TEENAGE RIOT
14 海の幽霊
15 カナリヤ

    Stray Sheep defiantly hits different musically from Yonezu's last effort. Most notably changes come through the music's new sense of maturity for the singer's ability to have a solid idea created by the tracks on this album. While his last album was a bit experimental causing the body of work to drift all over the place, Stray Sheep strays stable in genre and mood that will entice the listener easier. Don't get me wrong about Stray Sheep not being experimental cause it really is an album that takes inspiration from all music. It's just that what vision Yonezu was trying to create is much easier to understand when you hear him transfer to more mid tempo pop fusion tracks that fit the album's continuity. He dabbles around with jazz, hip hop, and even some Irish sounds surprisingly. Production knows how to add any instrumentation under a beat and make everything sound like it belongs there. I especially loved how a section of the album was crafted around Yonezu's smash hit single: Lemon. I've often wondered before the album release if the tracks would sound worlds apart from what Lemon is. The thought scared me a bit since many people including myself, love this single. He does give good lead up tracks that set the mood before the song's play. It was genius how emotional dramatic the instrumentals are for a good number of the tracks and it fit right in with Lemon. Ballads on Stray Sheep bring a new side to Kenshi Yonezu on the album. Simply these tracks are very well produced. Anybody can make a ballad track but not everyone can keep a ballad track from being boring as hell. There's moments on the album that weren't for me. Sometimes the tracks could be too over the top in mainstream appeal or just kinda uninteresting in my opinion. Stray sheep is a fifteen track album so you can expect to find some duds in there somewhere. 

   Yonezu's vocals have always been something I've enjoyed listening to. When the vocalloid edits are taken away, this guy still has a decent voice. I'm not going to lie though, every time I listen to some of his songs, I think of a Hastune Miku video game.... Some of the tracks on the album go back to his old vocaloid days with all the edits on his vocals which I honestly don't mind as a varied take on his vocals. His mixture in high and low ranges are everything. The vocal attacks he sometimes does when he sings are noticeable but also adds a grit to his singing in rock inspired songs. 

   Stray Sheep's familiar yet twisting antics won me over most of all. I like more tracks on this album than the last one. Only the singles really caught me attention on   

HIStory3: Trapped(圈套) BL Taiwanese Drama Thoughts

 

   History is a series of Boy's Love stories based in Taiwan. They began as a bunch of short stories that became ten episode dramas. Some of the other series include HIStory: Crossing the Line and History: Make Our Days Count(My thoughts on this drama coming soon.) These dramas are like a substitute for the Chinese short dramas that frustratedly keep getting banned in mainland China. HIStory3: Trapped(2019) is the newest entry to the series after many fans didn't think that another installment was ever going to happen. The drama stars upcoming actors, Jake Hsu, Chris Wu, Kenny Chen, and Andy Bian. Ching Jung Lee returns to direct another HIStory installment while Lin Pei Yu also returns to pen the story. 

   A cop gets involved with a gangster who's in the center of a long running unsolved case. Their relationship evolves into one that will cross the line of morals between right and wrong..... 

   History3 to me, felt like a major update from all the other entries in the series. These stories don't connect to each other in any way, so you can pick which one you want to watch based on the plot summary. What I really enjoyed about this drama was how the story is very easy to follow. One reason being that the story gives the characters room to breath life into themselves. Sometimes as I watched, the plot does seem to take a back seat to couple fan service stuffed content, however, Trapped always somehow doubles back picking up building blocks that formulate a world for the couples to exist in. A lot of the show does give an excuse for the couples to be together. One might find certain situations a tab bit cheesy. An example being that slow motion slip then catch me scene... Where I kinda rolled my eyes as I looked on.... Other crucial conflicts in the story are predictable but good enough to keep you invested in the episodes to come. Most avid East Asian drama viewers will guess the plot twist before the main character does. Ninety percent of the background story revolves around on characters which I must say was well written. The rest of History3 is relationship drama green lit by multiple excuses. I'm going to be honest though. I wasn't to mad at the long drama scenes. If you are looking for a raw gangster story experience, this is not going to meet your expectations. Some parts are intense when need be. The target audience is CEARLY not gangster drama fans. 

   History3's performances are the bread and butter of the whole project.  Every cast member did their part to create a romantic dramatic atmosphere but Jake and Chris's on screen chemistry was some of the best acting I'd seen in years from an East Asian drama gay or straight. Watching the two actors play characters who are so vastly different in morals and upbringing create a strong connection with each other was emotional due to their acting abilities. It takes a hell of a lot to get me in a space where I look forward to rooting for a on screen couple. Nine times out of ten, I'm yawning when I watch many Korean drama couples act out the SAME cliches just in a new setting. This here however, had the actors go deep down into their hearts to give their all and it shows a hundred percent in the acting. I could feel everything that they were feeling when they were together. I also loved how both actors kept eye contact. Even taking a beat while holding it for a time. You can also see both actors searching each others eyes when they fought. Kenny and Andy played the second couple who I said to myself after they were introduced how I actually found a side couple in a drama that wasn't annoying me. Normally either I like the main couple or the side couple. If I don't like the main couple then, I get pissed off because the side couple never gets enough screen time. Their story gets rushed a bit on here as well because a big chunk in the plot is spent on one character's story only. As a result, The side couple had a few moments that had no choice but to happen off screen. I'm not too sure I believe that a gangster can just walk away from mobster life so easily out of the blue cause his love interest asks him to. In real life, it would have never been that easy and I wish there had been at least a scene of him fighting his way out of the gang to make the overall situation more realistic. Can we lastly acknowledge how a character got shot, stab, constantly throughout the drama? Damn.... You would of thought homeboy was 50 cent. [INSERT ME LAUGHING]

   HIStory3: Trapped is at it's best when you focus more on the acting than anything else. I wouldn't claim the script to be the best there is out in drama land cause it's not. There are tiny problems but there's no doubt in my mind that all four main actors deserve praise for carrying a drama on pure talent alone...... Ok ok alright!!!!! Don't look at me like that! LOOKS, ABS, AND PURE TALENT ALONE! Happy now?......

Home Remedies: Stores Chinese Novel Thoughts

    

  Wang Xuan was born in Heilongjiang, China but at age seven, she moved to the Los Angeles where she chose the name “Juliana” out of the back of a dictionary. Home Remedies is her first collection of short stories that was published last year. I picked up this book randomly in a bookstore one day as a guy who loves reading stories centered around East Asian culture or East Asian American culture. 

   I can't give an absolute plot summery since as the title states, This book is a collection of short stores. Much of the stories content deals with the emotional anguish of Chinese people from millennials to older people through time. I will honestly say that I didn't like all the stories that were presented but I understood the whole message that was being created in Xuan's words. Some of my favorite stores were Mott Street in July, Vaulting the Sea, Days of Being Mild, and Future Cat. Each chapter is a different story while the book is separated by various subject matters such as Family, Love, and time. Xuan writes these stories not to give an actually solution but to show how your choices effect where your life will go. Life often takes you to the a crossroad where many choices lead to endless possibilities. It's there that you must make a choice which road you want to step toward. The characters take their responsibility in many ways that effect their lives. I found that Home Remedies taught me that not everyone makes choices for their own happiness, but for the happiness of others... Maybe even for their future family to come. Some wonder around at a standstill until they choose to face the responsibility bring what could be the rest of their lives. I also felt that each chapter what like I as the reader was in a time machine that would take me to a new world in a new time with different characters. What happens in each story can be bluntly raw storytelling that doesn't give a fairytale ending however, nine times out of ten, You feel closure for the characters. Xuen's writing lastly crosses the boundary belonging to many genres. The last sector of the novel called "Time" is somewhat fantasy based: an element I wasn't expecting at all from Home Remedies. She does a good job keeping the characters well rounded considering the page length and novel size.  I would overall recommend this book to those who enjoy reading short stories as well as if you're a fan of other Chinese author, Ha Jin.