Posts Tagged ‘lp’

24 Oct

25 Linkin Park Songs For 25 Years of Hybrid Theory

Posted by vagrantesque in Best of 2024, K-Pop, Lists, Music. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Here’s something a bit different.

On October 24th, 2000, a quirky rock band from Agoura Hills, California released Hybrid Theory, a “nu-metal” record that blended rap, screaming vocals, hauntingly beautiful harmonies, electronic soundbites, and shredding guitars to shake up multiple pockets of the global music industry at once. Nearly three years later, a very young version of me purchased the band’s follow-up album, Meteora, with his own money, and like many around the world, his life was altered forever.

To celebrate today’s milestone and take a break from writing about videogames for a minute, I thought this would be as good a time as ever to break my nine-year dedicated music article drought and count down my top 25 favourite Linkin Park tracks.

This will of course be a very personal ranking, as music lists often are. However, to ensure the page doesn’t simply resemble a playlist of Hybrid Theory and Meteora on shuffle, I listened back through every album over the last few weeks and tried to balance my thoughts on musical composition and legacy against my own emotional leanings and ingrained memories of time and place. The latter still features prominently, or else the list wouldn’t be worth writing, but every album except One More Light features in some way (I still find that one a difficult listen due to what happened right after its release).

Regardless, the countdown has only one clear rule: Linkin Park, especially in the early years, were famous for remixing and re-releasing songs, so only one version of each track can make the list. Let’s get started.

25. Session

It feels right to kick off the list with something from Meteora, and I also wanted to include at least one of Linkin Park’s customary instrumental tracks. Cure For the Itch may be more iconic, Drawbar more emotional, Wake more thematically impactful, any one of A Thousand Suns‘ many linking interludes more immediately engaging. But Session, well, it’s just cooler than any other LP instrumental. From the moment it turns reverb into a halfway-pleasant sound effect to the percussion rollercoaster atop low synth to the manic scratch climax, Mike Shinoda and Joe Hahn’s indulgent flex straddles Y2K edge and prophetic late-2000s EDM to satisfying effect.

24. My December

I’ve always valued the softer side of Linkin Park’s sound quite highly, and if you ask me the group stumbles just as much when they neglect it as when they shelve the screams and distortion walls. Yet the band is renowned for weaving quieter, heart-bleeding moments between loud bursts of energy; nothing on the first two albums was quite willing to commit 100% to anything even approaching a full ballad. Enter ascended demo / Hybrid Theory bonus track My December, a song that I like precisely because it has always felt more like an experimental proof of concept than a fully-fledged potential B-side. It sure sounds like a Linkin Park track, though: that deliberate beat complete with accompanying whisper-rap, the echoed scratch effects, and the un-garnished, inimitably sad Chester Bennington vocal line. Listen out for that hauntingly restrained bridge.

23. Somewhere I Belong

It definitely feels weird to single out one song in particular for its “nostalgia” value – pretty much this entire project is all about that very emotion – but the opening zipper-tone of this track just hits me on a more fundamental level than any other Linkin Park song. This was, after all, the first of their music videos I saw as a kid, naturally on top-40 countdown staple rage at about 6am one morning in 2003, and so was an absolutely massive factor in my decision to make Meteora the first album I ever bought with my own money. As a song, however, I don’t think the relatively basic composition holds up as one of the band’s very best, so it may not even have made the list if I had discovered the lads any earlier or later. Still, I can’t help but love it, and chances are if you like this one you’ll probably enjoy a whole lot more of the band’s output.

22. The Emptiness Machine

I tried to include more than one song from LP’s latest, um, LP, as I really do like a lot about how they’ve handled the tricky challenges of a post-Chester world. But as much as I enjoy the likes of Casualty, Overflow, and Two Faced, I find myself coming back to the first song of the Emily Armstrong era as its best work thus far. Maybe it’s the impact of that deftly-handled livestream that re-introduced Linkin Park last year with this song; or the way Emily doesn’t even make her presence known on the track until every other classic Linkin Park element has flexed its muscles; maybe it’s the fact there’s just a good, catchy hook at the centre of the song, and it changes up perfectly right before the end. Yeah sure, The Emptiness Machine represents a promising new future for one of my favourite bands of all time, but it’s also just good on its own.

21. No More Sorrow

Minutes to Midnight represented a significant step away from the nu-metal sound of Linkin Park’s first two albums, which needed to happen for the sake of the band’s longevity and artistic growth but proved a source of controversy at the time to say the least. Suddenly the electronic elements were replaced with steel drums, organs and raw piano; the lyrics were less personal and more political; Mike Shinoda was actually singing; Brad Delson was even writing guitar solos! But the largest perceived sleight among the young fanbase was the drastic reduction in loud Chester anthems, and No More Sorrow felt like a built-in apology for that. Hurtling in right on the two-thirds mark within the eclectic album’s tracklist, my fourth-favourite Minutes song never fails to deliver with stadium-tuned panache. The sheer venom in that “thieves / and / hypocrites” line was burned into the neurons of my brain in 2007, and has remained there even since.

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29 Dec

Best of 2022: Top 10 K-Pop Albums

Posted by vagrantesque in Best of 2022, K-Pop, Lists, Music. Tagged: , , , , , , .

As we head into the big three countdowns to round out the year, here’s a cool dose of quality K-Pop and K-R&B song collections that flowed better than anything else I heard in 2022. It was a banner year for veteran SM soloists, a couple of familiar voices and some exciting new talents. A couple of cheeky classification instances in there this year, but that’s hardly a new phenomenon. That said:

1-3 tracks = N/A

4-7 tracks = mini album

8+ tracks = full album

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VR BEST OF 2022 DISCLAIMER

This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. To agree with me 100% is as likely as avoiding MCU fatigue. Respectful disagreement is most welcome.

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5. SMiLEY – Yena

It is once again a minor crime that my formatting insists on keeping the mini album list down to five entries, but despite the plethora of fantastic options for fifth spot this year I can’t help but remain attached to the very first one I heard in 2022.

January saw former Iz*One member Yena begin her solo career with the first of two EPs, but the oddly-titled SMiLEY has almost none of the hallmarks of a debut effort; almost a year after the mini’s release the gumption to kick off a five-track piece with an acoustic slow jam is still stunning (and essentially unique among the idol scene). Said jam Before Anyone Else is immediately captivating, and though the title track is no Smartphone, the high register touch makes Lxxk 2 U one of 2022’s more palatable punk-pop attempts. Pretty Boys is a masterful staccato delight worthy of anyone’s top B-Side list, leaving Vacay to carry Yena home on a light breeze. A promising start to be sure.

4. Colorful Trauma – WOODZ

Three years in, three entries on this list; the artist currently known as WOODZ isn’t slowing down. With this fizzing EP he packs more bombast and bravado to ice the considerable producing chops now expected of any of his album releases. The multi-layered talent sets up the rockier, almost country-tinged tone of Colorful Trauma with a guitar lick so starkly unusual among WOODZ’s close contemporaries it may as well be a fanfare. Thus starts Dirt on my leather, yet another out-of-the-park smash of an opener to add to the WOODZ collection. HIJACK proves the guitar goodness no fluke, buzzing like an Advance Wars CO theme song underneath growling vocal ad libs. The third-track appearance of punky title I hate you almost sounds toothless in comparison, but it does have a killer melodic pre-chorus that pairs nicely with the wailing lead guitar behind Better and better. Committing to the full strumming quintet, it’s a pop-acoustic accompaniment that brings the album to a gentle close on Hope to be like you.

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29 Dec

Best of 2021: Top 10 K-Pop Albums

Posted by vagrantesque in Best of 2021, K-Pop, Lists, Music. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

2021 may have thrown my Korean music listening habits all sorts of curve balls, but at the end of it all, this consistently maddening list was once again the hardest and most time-consuming one to construct. No matter how much musical content I skip, there is always a mountain of quality Korean album content to grace my ears; there are always tight calls to make in the ordering of those albums; always moods ready to take hold and change up how I respond to them at any given time. Those moods were quite often on the more negative end of the spectrum this year, and 2021 was a particularly strong year for ballad B-sides, so you may see that reflected in the rankings.

In any case, the list before you now is done now and I’m pretty confident it represents a strong line-up of audio quality. Headphone up.

A special mention this year has to go to LambC’s excellent full-length album treat I’ll see you when I see you, which would have ranked very highly on the list except it’s entirely in English – It didn’t quite feel fair giving it a proper ranking given what I’ve disqualified in the past. But please, go listen to it.

1-3 tracks = N/A

4-7 tracks = mini album

8+ tracks = full album

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VR BEST OF 2021 DISCLAIMER

This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. To agree with me 100% is beyond unlikely. Respectful disagreement is most welcome.

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5. I burn – (G)I-DLE

One of the coolest things to come out of (G)I-DLE’s fruitfully unexpected partnership with League of Legends is the fast-tracking of star member Soyeon to the role of group producer, and never before has the leader been given as much control over a multi-song project as she has with I burn. Conceived as a spiritual continuation of the HANN vibe that punctuated the group’s debut year back in 2018, I burn’s title track HWAA can’t help but feel a tad derivative as a result – at least when experienced alone. Listen to the entire EP, however, and you just might find the most sonically consistent mood piece in mainstream K-Pop this year.

Building out of seven sombre piano notes that spread out and become a melancholy intro with light – but not airy – vocals, the mini album finds an ethereal pocket and stays hovering there, doing somersaults for occasional flair but never threatening to break out into a sprint – or quite dipping into ballad territory. It’s all full-sounding, lower-register vocals mixed around one another at a mid-tempo pace on moody backing tracks. Even Where is love, the danciest track on the thing, uses all the trappings of a modern girl group B-side without actually raising the heart rate. The best tracks are the final two, LOST and DAHLIA; they work because the embers within the preceding songs have been fanned with such a steady, unbroken pace, and what’s left is a chance to really smoulder with style.

4. Stairs – Stella Jang

Stella Jang at last puts her trilingual songwriting prowess into album form with Stairs, the pocket follow-up to last year’s full-length easy listening triumph Stella I. Though 2021 was the most prolific year in Jang’s fringe-skimming career – she released singles with wistful thirty-something relatability, understated city-pop panache, and ragtime reimagination while cameoing on that aforementioned LambC album – another sustained studio session was always going to hold the greatest potential for another hit of that emotional resonance she managed in 2020.

In mid-October we finally received that hit: a piano instrumental backed with faint heartbeats and footsteps in stereo giving way to an English lead track packing plenty of Jang’s signature bitter whimsy. A pair of Korean tracks follow – an old-timey lounge-leaner and a mid-tempo acoustic jaunt – neither one losing that paradoxical tone. Then the finale: a full-on French flex with simple ambitions that ties together the European undercurrents of the whole EP and promises to open yet another avenue for a discography that is finally starting to gather some real steam.

3. Planet Nine: Alter Ego – ONEWE

The increasing acceptance of actual bands into the stables of K-Pop labels not ostensibly known for employing instruments isn’t just allowing for said labels to diversify their sounds; it’s starting to produce some delightfully confusing emotions for yours truly. Some of the songs on ONEWE’s Planet Nine: Alter Ego (yay for another needlessly complex album title) sound like they wouldn’t have been out of place on my CD rotation as an angsty teenager in the mid-2000s. Exhibit A: The wistful, bellowing chorus of the lovesick AuRoRa, which kicks off the tail of the EP following lead single Rain to Be, which I talked about last week.

But that’s not all this handy mini-album can do; the chorus of the similarly-themed Veronica brings in a decidedly bubblier J-Rock riff to encourage some different emotions (both name-themed tracks incidentally ascended to get their own music videos later down the track). LOGO scrubs up the processing to let a single electric guitar sing before hitting the ground running on a soaring anthemic chorus line, while A.I. brings out a relentless circular rhythm that carries the EP’s momentum through to its final stretch. You could do much worse in the growing Korean pop-rock sphere than this gem.

Click here to let the tunes roll on

29 Dec

Best of 2018: Top 10 K-Pop Albums

Posted by vagrantesque in Best of 2018, K-Pop, Lists, Music. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Here we are at the big three, and my most difficult list of the year. Seriously, I had more trouble ordering this one than I did any of the others (It’s always the biggest effort to format too). There are so many different moods that albums are capable of putting you in – or sustaining – so every time I came back to the draft I shifted, added or removed something. This is the most accurate representation of my favourites that I could come up with at this point in time. Turns out it’s the poppiest album list I’ve put together for several years. I usually like to highlight song collections and/or artists that didn’t make my singles list on this page, but this year there are quite a few albums containing singles that either made this year’s main Top 15 or the honorable mentions. Also, I may have just realised while typing this that literally half these albums are from SM Entertainment. Whoops.

For the purposes of this list, a mini album is between four and seven non-instrumental, non-remix tracks long. Eight or more of these makes a full album instead.

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VR BEST OF 2018 DISCLAIMER

This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s odd, but let’s have a beer. Respectful disagreement is most welcome.

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MINI ALBUMS
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5. Blooming Days – EXO-CBX

As always, I love a good attempt at a structural gimmick when it comes to albums, and Blooming Days has a doozy – seven tracks, one for each day of the week and its corresponding mood. Though title track Blooming Day – sitting in the Tuesday slot – is not one of the strongest products to come from the EXO family stable, the rest of the album does a reasonably good job of putting together an aural week that you can experience in less than half an hour. The strongest three tracks, neatly enough, are the opener, the exact midpoint and the closer. Monday Blues is just so good at nailing the bleary-eyed feeling of staring at a week of work ahead, Thursday evokes that knowingly premature daydream of a fruitful weekend and Lazy takes the album’s best backing track and uses it to transport the listener to a sun-soaked picnic. The first of several SM Entertainment albums on this page, I can recommend Blooming Days wholeheartedly to any listeners out there who like to count tracks in their head.

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