Moka Band

I saw this on one of the Cpop livejournal communities and decided to give it a try. I don’t know how good it is from a ~snobby~ musical elist’s perspective, but I love it. It’s been a while since I’ve recced some Chinese indie, but this is good stuff!

So their Chinese name is 摩卡乐队 which directly translates to “Moka Band” Okay, whatever.

All right, they sound like a British indie pop band, and if there were indeed a British indie pop band, I probably definitely would not give a shiz about them. However, I like how Chinese+mello!emo sound together so yes, double standards apply much. I have no idea if Tong Ming (Trans: Same Name) is their only EP, but give it a try if you like Chinese indie

Blah blah blah no English info blah blah blah just listen EP download

A very long interview that I did not watch Judging by their accents, I’d say they’re from the Beijingish area.

 

Vitas Lu

Due to the comeback of a certain overpopulated Korean boyband, I’ve sort of put every other fandom interest on the backburner *bricked*. Okay, before the true explosion happens, at which time my mind will be filled with nothing except 13 Korean boys, I thought I’d post on something a little different. After all, let’s be honest, after March 12th who knows when I’ll bother with anything non-SJ related again….

Vitas Lu aka. Lu Guang Zhong aka. 盧廣仲 is yet another young, self composing guitar-wielding Taiwanese boy. However, that doesn’t mean he’s just another carbon copy of Jam Hsiao or anything. I’m bad with the bio thing so here are just a few random facts about him:

• He got his English Name Vitas from imitating a famous Russian singer of the same name.
• He majors in Spanish
• He has a bowl haircut

Read (a less fail version of) his profile here.

Anyways, not your average idol for sure. I’ve only heard his latest album, 100 Ways to Live (Livejournal Link), but that’s enough for me to love him^^. I’d describe his sound as indie, folk, whimsical but with enough pop to not be pretentious. The music is quality and offbeat for sure, but when I listen to him, I’m not smacked in the face with indie! or anything While I don’t think he’s the best singer ever, there’s a special quality to his voice that you don’t really hear that often.

Links:

“I Love You” MV If nothing else, I highly recommend you check this out. This is the main song off 100WtL and it’s absolutely fantastic! This song is a bit more pop then a lot of other stuff on the album, but that’s probably why I love it so much XD. The chorus is so catchy, and I can’t help but tap my foot along every time I listen. Also, I think the mv gives you a pretty good idea about Vitas’ quirky personality.

“100 Ways of Living” MV Another fantastic song! The mv looks very happy, very Taiwanese, however, the lyrics are quite sad. He’s talking about the world being a lonely and confusing place, and even though he knows he can live his life any which way, he’s still apprehensive. Aww, IDK, even though it’s sort of emo, I still find it cute!

Live singing! This was from the V power concert a while back, and it was where I originally discovered him. I skipped most of the concert except for the artists I already liked, but for whatever reason, he caught my eye, and I watched his portion. Seriously did not disappoint! I thought he sounded kinda strained, and I stil can’t decide whether his voice was cracking or he was just experimenting, but I loved his songs right away : )))))).

His blog It’s in Chinese, so I have no idea what’s going on, but I like his pictures!

I haven’t checked him out on any Taiwanese variety show yet (been kinda distracted~!~!~!), but if you search his Chinese name on youtube, you’ll find all the usuals like Kang Xie and Bai Fen Bai. But you really don’t need to see him act cute or stupid to love his music. Seriously, if you like folksy, indie pop, you gotta check him out!

Okay, back to stalking soompi for SuJu updates. No point in delaying the inevitable T____T.

 

Massive Link Dump

Credit: jinsung91 @ youtube

Since tomorrow is Prez Day, I basically just chillaxed today, and caught up on fandom after the race

SNSD; “Gee” Remix Gotta love that remix thing! I actually really like this version. It feels like they sped it up (even though I don’t think they did) and added a electronic/club beat. Kwel!

Kangta v. Heejun (subbed!) | part 2 Oooooooooooooold show, but worth checking out. Pre-debut Junsu, Sungmin, Hyukjae and the Trax. Pre-debut SMers are like this mythical creature you only hear about, or see in an occasional picture or two, so this is like hitting the jackpot. Jay was every bit as cheeky and dry back then as he is now. Junsu– omg, that boy was born to sing fo sho; he doesn’t sound nearly as polished then as he does now, but natural talent he gots it T__T. Not gonna lie, favorite part was the HyukSu dance ; )))) Those two are OTP for life!

SJM Shanghai fanmeeting There is a massive pic dump on Soompi here. I’m warning you though, unless you are confident in your bandwidth capabilities, click at your own risk//. Thanks a million to pri3an for finding all these fancams!

• “Me” LIVE!!! I’ve never seen them perform this live, but even with the LQ, I have to say they sound fantastic!
• Henry & Siwon; Solos + “Julia” Not much to say about this except ♥♥♥^10000000
• Ryeowook & Kyuhyun; “The Moon Represents My Heart” Alkasdlfkjd my favorite of the bunch!!!!! For those who don’t know, this sung by the one and only Teresa Teng (listen here!), and this song is like the second Chinese national anthem or something. People young and old in China love her! KyuWook do such a beautiful rendition!!! I swear they have talent dripping out of their pores or something XDDD. And it was so lovely of the fans to sing along; just beautiful!
  Donghae; “Nice and Slow” *Incoherent* ASLKDJFLS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME DONGHAE?!??!?! I know I said the KyuWook one was my favorite, but my primal fangirlness is telling me otherwise ;___;. Donghae is jus like = O sexy!!! I swear to god, if I was in that fan’s position, I’d either pass out or jump him. Either way, someone would have to drag me off that stage!!!
• Fairytale This was actually from the Wu Han fanmeeting but I just had to put it in here. Amazing right??? I’m not familar with the original singer, Michael Wong, but I loved the SJM version. SJM is a band that’s meant to sing. I hope for their next album they really get to show off those impressive vocals!

Joanna Wang; “Vincent” MV So simple and sad but wonderful! I need to make this girl her own tag, every time I post on her, all I can do is gush about how beautiful her voice is^^. She’s so refreshingly different from everyone else in Cpop ♥♥♥.

Ft. Island; Bad Woman I finally got around to watching this– Soooooo emo. Lol, not my particular taste, but the song is pretty good. Although, did they even show the other members of the band? If I didn’t know better, I would have thought this was a HongKi solo video….
SMtown Love Per usual, no idea what they’re saying;;;; I spy SHINeeXHyung love!!!

Flo Rida; Right Round Flo Rida brings out my inner gansta! Not quite as catchy as “Get Low” but I gots to listen a few more times to really dig it.

DBSK + Blue Man Group? IDK either, but Yunho seems to really like them : ). So I don’t really frequent the DBSK soompi thread often cuz to be honest, that place scares me to bits, but apparently there’s been some drama happening about the members bullying Junsu or something. Is it just me, or has the bullying turned into a bit of a gag for them in Japan? They do it in practically every Japanese video I see, but I don’t notice it as much in Korean things. Junsu seems so different in DBSK v. THSK; he has this sort of dry humor in Japan, but it almost seems like he’s trying too hard to be funny, whereas it come off much more natural in Korea. Whatever, I find DBSK funnier then THSK, but maybe it’s cuz I just like Korean humor more then Japanese humor.

Edit 2PM; Idol Show Okay, I forgot this one. Unsubbed, so I didn’t watch the whole thing, but skip to ~3:40 to see Jay in his punishment outfit. I think I have finally found the band that can out-ghei and out-stupid Super Junior. In fact, they reminded me a lot of the old SuJu, who were pretty much up for anything. *Sigh* those were the good old days…. luckily when one boyband gets more mature (relatively), another is right there to take its place, retardedness and all…

Okay that’s all. Tomorrow I’m gonna get intimate with some microbio so see you in a few!

 

Random Stuff on a Sick Weekend

I think I have a sinus infection. All I wanna do is lie on my bed and stew : (((((. Even though school has started, I’m fortunate enough to have a four day weekend this week. Everything I’ve been checking out lately under the cut.

 

Awaking– Alskdflsdkjf

Everything you need to know about them is embodied in this photo

Awaking is a Taiwanese pop duo of two cute Taiwanese boys named Jay and Wesley (seriously, that’s all English info I can find). In case it’s not clear, alskdfjalsdjf isn’t a part of their name. That part represents how much I ♥ their music ; )))))))))).

I’m filing this under indie Chinese, but it is the furthest thing from indie. This is nothing but pop, but it’s exactly the type of pop I love. What I mean is that their songs are not only incredibly catchy, but they provide a nice variety of fast and ballad songs. Before you disregard them as Fahrenheit-lite or something, you should know that they compose a lot of their own songs, and considering how little info there is on them, I feel pretty confident in saying they’re much more the struggling artist type then anything else.

They’ve put out two albums, but so far, I’ve only managed to find their second, No Money Still Be Happy, and I absolutely love it!!!! This is one of those albums where one listen will probably be sufficient for you to decide if you love/hate it. However, if you love pop Cpop, chances are you’ll dig this. There’s nothing deep about their music, but you get the sense that they’re not completely manufactured either. They sing about what they want to sing about, and although they’re no Jay Chou, who cares? It’s fun, and easy, and that’s good enough for me.

A few links:

Awaking on Bai Fen Bai I think BFB is the easiest way for me to relate to anything Taiwanese. If I’m not mistaken, they’re under the same label as Show, and I think they know XZ & XG pretty well. Whatever, just watch the clip to see how cute they are = ).

MV for Tuo Niao Like any good Cpop group, they’ve got the KTV material.

MV for Xiang Ge Xiao Hai Did they really go to the Grand Canyon? I’m a little freaked out at their concept of “romantic…”

Live | One more Because live abilities is important to some people. I have no clue what they’re singing, and they’re both fancams so the quality sucks, but it’s something I guess. They’re vocals aren’t great, but there’s just something likable about them.

A song from their first album Yes, my failure is to the point that I can only call this, “a song from their first album.” The Chinese name is 夏天的風, in case that means something to you. I’m really not looking forward to tracking down their first album. Considering how long it took me to find the second one, I might be looking into the next decade for this…

Yesasia link for No Money Still Be Happy I’m putting this here not to pester you about buying the album (I actually hate it when bloggers try and guilt trip their readers into “supporting the artist” o__O), but because yesasia has the most info in English about this band that I could find.

A review of No Money Still Be Happy If you like that sort of stuff. I actually didn’t read it.

That’s all for now. It’s incredibly hard to find info on them, which sucks cuz they totally deserve more love ;___;. I’m gonna try and keep an eye on them, and if you know anything else about them (like their ages???) please do share!