8eight are an R&B group with both male and female vocals. Their lineup consists of 이현, 백찬 and 주희. They debuted in 2007, and have just released their third album Golden Age. The first single from the album is 심장이없어, and Sohee from the Wonder Girls plays a role in the music video:

Not the most amazing music video, but at least I liked it more than Se7en‘s Girls MV featuring Lil Kim. I’m not a Se7en fan but I was expecting more from the guy, considering how long his American debut has been in the works. The lyrics are pretty trashy and self-absorbed too, though I suppose it fits in just fine with the American R&B scene.

Rockstar 서태지 has just released a new single, 8th Atomos Part Secret. It’s the follow up to 8th Atomos Part Moai, both singles are from his upcoming eighth album. Juliet is the main track from this 8th Atomos Part Secret single, but sadly there’s no MV out for it yet. You can check out the single’s teaser though.

And over at KoME, we recently got ourselves an interview with the electronica band Casker. Check it out!

I recently heard 디어클라우드, or Dear Cloud, after a friend of mine posted the group’s Lip MV on her LJ. I had never heard them, or even of them, before this so I thought I would share them today.

Dear Cloud are a rock group made up of 5 members: 나인 on vocals, 용린 on guitar, 이랑 on bass, 정아 on keyboard and 광석 on drums. They debuted in 2007 with a self-titled album, and released their second album, Grey, in October last year.

The single from Grey was Lip, which was the MV that my friend posted. Check it out:

(Anyone recognise creepy chin dude? He was in 박효신 & Hwang Project’s The Castle of Zoltar. I have no idea what his name is. He can just be Creepy Chin Dude.)

Dear Cloud reminds me of a female-vocal version of Nell. Very laid back and mellow, and so easy to listen to. 나인 also has a really nice voice, she suits the style very well.

You can see the MV for their first single, 얼음요새 here. And if you’ve got a Naver account, you can check out a couple of their songs here (you’ll need to use IE and install the Naver Player. Make sure you’re logged in!).

It’s been another week of good stuff being released, such as Fly to the Sky‘s latest (and last) album Decennium. I’m personally still feeling rather heartbroken that they’re breaking up, although they have said that they will be coming back together to release smaller releases sometimes. That’s like ending your marriage but still dating that person! I wish that they were staying together properly, because Decennium had so many amazing songs on it, they just keep getting better and better – I suppose it’s good to go out on a high note, though.

신화 member and ballad singer 신혜성 also released an album this week. Keep Leaves is the ‘second side’ of his third solo album. The first side, Live and Let Live was released last year and had 신혜성 showing us that ballads weren’t the only thing he can sing outside of 신화, and that an artist should never be afraid of trying something different and stretching their own horizons. The second side, Keep Leaves, has 신혜성 returning to his usual ballad style. I actually haven’t listened to the album yet, but I’ve seen the MV for the first single from the album, 왜 전화했어.

I think it should be called “Why does the girl always die?”.

리오 (also known as L.E.O) also released an album, 검은띠. I really like it, and it features a couple of artists that I really like, such as Supreme Team, MC Sniper, Verbal Jint, Dynamic Duo and 배치기. Good times!

The first single from the album is Love Train, a little more pop-ish than the rest of the tracks but still pretty fun:

And a new duo, 점퍼, debuted last week. They’re produced by 신화’s Andy, and have a pop/dance style. It turned out that YES! wasn’t actually going to be Eric‘s single like it was being made to sound like it would be. He simply featured on one version of the song.

Despite misleading and disappointing me, the song was alright. Very standard stuff but I’ve heard worse.

A few exciting things have been happening for me on the music fandom front, and there’s quite a few things that I’m looking forward to in the next week or so as well.

FT Island came out with a new MV, 나쁜 여자야, from their latest mini-album Jump Up. It’s a little weird without 오완빈, and a little strange to see and hear 송승현 in his place, but the new guy fits in quite well and FT Island’s sound hasn’t suffered from the member change. If anything, their music sounds a little more mature than it did before, which is never a bad thing.

Epik High‘s Tablo released a book last year in November, 당신의 조각들, which was a collection of short stories he’d written in 1998-2001. Originally in English, these stories were translated and published in Korean. But today the original English version of these stories were released in the English version of the book. I’m really excited! And there’s plenty more Epik High on the horizon too, with their latest album coming out next month.

신화‘s Eric has a single coming out tomorrow, which took most of us 신화 fans by total surprise. Eric has been saying for a few years now that he’ll release some solo works, and he never actually did it, just featured in other people’s stuff instead. Last year he said that he would release something after he had finished filming 최강칠우 and before he entered the army, but he didn’t do it then either (although I think the sudden death of friend and actor 이언 had a lot to do with that). I think most of us 신화 fans had given up expecting any music from Eric now that he’s serving his military time, but yesterday a video teaser was released!

YES! should be released in full tomorrow, and was recorded before he entered the army. It’s exactly the style expected from Eric, and I am really looking forward to it. It seems like a catchy beat!

Fly to the Sky also have a new album coming out, on the weekend. It will be their 8th album, and this year also marks the duo’s 10th year together.

I know, I know. I promised last week that I’d come with some hiphop today. But there’s something else I want to write about today instead.

I’ve been a fan of FT 아일랜드 or FT Island since their debut. They’re a five member boyband – and by band, I mean an actual band. They don’t all sing and dance – they actually play their instruments, and generally suck pretty bad at dancing. There’s 이홍기 on vocals, 최종훈 on guitar, 이재진 on bass, 최민환 on drums, and 오원빈 on guitar and backing vocals/’rap’, and my favourite. They debuted in 2007 and since then they’ve released two albums and repackages, and a Japanese mini album and single, as well as performing songs on a couple of drama OSTs.

The above is the first single, 사랑후애, from their second album Colorful Sensibility.

They are also awesome live. This was shortly after their debut, doesn’t 이홍기 have a great voice?

Sadly though today it was announced that 오원빈 has decided that he’ll be leaving FT Island. There’s been a lot of different rumours flying around about it, but the official site mentions musical differences.

They will apparently be replacing him with one of the company’s other recruits, though details about it haven’t been confirmed yet as far as I can tell.

I’m so sad about this, I’ve spent the last few years watching them together and seeing each of them grow into who they are right now, they have come so far since debut and the thought that one of them would leave never actually crossed my mind. But at the same time it doesn’t completely surprise me, and I hope that 오원빈 will do well in whatever he decides to do after this point. I honestly hope though that he isn’t thinking about a solo career, because his voice isn’t strong or good enough to be solo or lead vocals – but if that’s what he wants to do, then I hope he does well.