I decided that for this entry, I would take a look back over 2007 and talk about my favourite releases of the year. I’ll even be linking to some of 2007’s MVs! And a couple of my friends are into slightly different artists, so I even asked them for some of their own highlights of the year, so that I could bring you guys a bit of a variety.
2007 saw the release of a lot of good stuff. I hate to think how much money I’ve spent this year buying new releases as well as older ones.
We’ll start off with a couple of albums that were the highlights of 2007 for me.
(HipHop) The year started off with a bang, with the release of Epik High‘s fourth album, Remapping The Human Soul. It was 2 discs packed full of amazing hiphop, and I really, really consider it the best album of the year. My favourite tracks were Fan, 혼 and 피해망상 pt. 1. Even if hiphop isn’t your thing, you should give Epik High a try. I never liked hiphop either, but Epik High are one of my favourite groups, and I have friends who don’t like hiphop but really enjoy Epik High. So, that kinda says a lot.
(R&B) M (이민우 from 신화) released his third album, Explore. It saw M making the transition from singer to a fully-fledged singer-songwriter. Stomp and The ‘M’ Style were two supercharged tracks from this R&B album, and One Last Cry had a bit of an Usher feel to it, nice and smooth.
(Soundtrack) Tablo (from Epik High) and pe2ny teamed up together to form Eternal Morning, releasing the album Soundtrack to a Lost Film, a collection of (mostly) instrumental, soundtrack pieces. Each song was crafted with a different scene in mind, ranging from romantic comedy, to horror, to animated. It’s an absolutely brilliant piece of work, very creative and very original. White and Fingertips were my personal favourites.
(Pop) F.T. Island were one of 2007’s new groups. I adore this group, I really really do. They’re a band, so they play instruments instead of just dancing around, and they have some really nice songs. Cheerful Sensibility was their debut album. If you’ve heard Buzz, these guys sound a bit like that. I really look forward to seeing how these guys are going to progress over the course of this next year. 집착 and FTIsland were great tracks, and 행복합니다 was lovely.
(Ballad, Soul) 박효신 released his fifth album, The Breeze of Sea: The Ballad. It’s absolutely gorgeous, especially 추억은 사랑을 닮아 and Lost, and if you like slower, ballady songs then you should definitely give 박효신 a go. He has quite a distinctive voice and style.
(Soft-Rock/Ambient) 못 released their second album 이상한 계절, also known as Strange Season. 못 were one of my new discoveries this year, and damn; they are fantastic, so if you want to try something that’s sort of soft-rock, sort of ambient, sort of something else, then definitely give 못 a try. They’re a bit like Nell, for comparison.
Really, this year has been filled with good stuff after good stuff, I could sit here and list even more albums that I thought were great, but I’m trying to just keep it at my top picks XD
My friend who is into punk picked Shorty Cat‘s I Ain’t Be Controlled as the best album of the year. I don’t like punk at all, so I’ve got nothing to say about it! But from what I’ve heard, Shorty Cat are worth checking out if you’re into punk.
From another friend, this year’s top albums were 뷰렛‘s (also know as Biuret) Be Full of Spirit, Beautiful Violet, which is rock with female vocals, and pretty good from what I’ve heard! The vocalist has a really powerful voice. And 노아‘s The Soul Singer. I just listened to his single 나란 사람, and wow. It’s a pretty ballad, and he has awesome vocals.
Wow, this post is getting long. I hope no-one minds!
Now we move onto some of this year’s great Music Videos, and I’ll link to the ones that I can find on YouTube. I thought this was a pretty neat way to introduce people to new things, and YouTube has a lot of great stuff on there. Click on the song name to see the MV!
My top picks would be:
Epik High‘s Fan. This has got to be the coolest MV ever. Really. I love the way Epik High do their MVs, and this one is definitely my favourite. A girl kidnapsthe object of her devotion; this is a song about the pointlessness of fanatical love.
Eternal Morning‘s White. It’s so abstract and odd, I really, really love it. I don’t understand the concept but it left a huge impression on me.
마골피‘s 비행소녀. 마골피 caused such a stir when this came out! Totally new, yet her MV had basically an all-star cast, with Heechul, Kangin and Shindong of Super Junior, Yoochun of TVXQ, Park Joon Hyung of g.o.d, Kim Jang Hoon, and an adorable little child actor whos name I’ve forgotten. And yet we still had no clue what 마골피 looked like, or who on earth she was! It was a great way to catch everyone’s attention, though the hype died down after the release of her digital single.
넬‘s It’s Okay, from their re-arranged album Let’s Take A Walk. This is such a lovely MV, I love the colours, the way it’s done, just everything about it. 넬 are such a great band.
Moogadang are such a spastic band, and their OAO MV was … very special. This is like crazy pophiphopdance, I don’t even know what you can call Moogadang other than spastic XD They’re really fun!
JYP‘s Kiss. I have to throw this one in here because… it’s just so weird. And different. I don’t even know. JYP is a strange, strange man.
Tony An‘s Singing That Melody, featuring SAT. This is such a catchy song, I still get the urge to bounce around to it whenever I hear it.
Drunken Tiger‘s 8:45 Heaven. I thought this MV was really, really well done, I love the concept of it. And it’s such a sad song, dedicated to his grandmother who passed away.
성시경‘s 한번 더 이별. I love this guy, his voice is absolutely gorgeous and perfect for ballads.
손호영‘s 하늘에 내 마음이. This was one of my favourite songs in 2007, I was hooked on it the moment it came out.
And finally Anyband‘s Talk, Play, Love. This is actually a commercial, for Samsung’s latest model of their Anycall cellphone. But at 9 minutes long, with 4 songs for the campaign and featuring Tablo (Epik High), Junsu (TVXQ), Jin Bora and BoA, I’ll consider it a single and MV XD. Set in a world where music, play and love is outlawed and everyone is enslaved, the four rebels spread their message of “Talk, Play, Love” to set everyone free.
And a personal favourite MV for purely fangirl reasons is 신화‘s The Snowy Night because these guys are my favourite group, and this is their latest MV which just shows them recording and being their usual stupid selves xD
Other singles and MVs recommended by my friends are Super Junior T – 로꾸거, 김지은 – 어제와 다른 오늘, I The Tri Top’s – 청개구리, Younha – Password 486, M to M – Tell Me You Love Me, Chaeyeon – My Love and The Nuts – 잔소리.
Wow. What a post. But 2007 was that kind of year, a complete overload of great music. For me, there was a ton of new discoveries. I’m really looking forward to seeing what 2008 is going to bring!
