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Madtown - New World (MV Review)

3/19/2015

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Cool and Catchy.

           My first thought? It's not nearly as good as "YOLO"... My second thought wasn't much more flattering: it was the thought that the vocals are being oddly buried in the mix and the annoying circus trill was obnoxiously brought up to drown everything else out. And the mix is weirder than just that, there's so much sub-bass that normal speakers aren't designed to handle, and it's louder than it should be too (almost blew out my speakers the first time  listened to it)... It's great for a club mix or something, but it's odd in a promotional track. This track is pretty good in headphones, nicely spatialized and layered with interest and with each aspect given sufficient room to breathe, but on regular mid-quality speakers it sounds like a mess...
           They managed to mostly correct some of what made me not love Yolo right off the bat by giving us music in the music video without making us wait too long (20 seconds as opposed to over a minute), but New World still didn't quite zing off the screen for me. The styling was cool, but very standard, the choreo was exactly the same, cool for what it was, but pretty much par for the course. The set aesthetics were pretty awesome, but that's not really enough to make the MV amazing. I liked the song's message, it's very nice to see the rap-style aggression focused on something other than controlling a lover. It's also just nice to see songs about clawing your way up in the world, because it's a cause very near and dear to my heart (especially at the moment, considering I've just graduated college and am facing brick-walls of opposition beyond which theoretically lies opportunity). 
          Anyway, I like the song and the MV is visually attractive. It's not revolutionary or anything, and I'm fairly certain that my enjoyment of YOLO is coloring my interpretation of New World, but New World is a fairly solid release all on it's own. It's just not the spectacular one I was hoping for.

I Give it a 6/10: Good Job.

Picture
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MBLAQ - Smoky Girl (MV Review)

6/6/2013

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Smokin' HOT.

I wasn't going to review this, because I just reviewed the whole album, but who could resist these gorgeous guys? First of all, it has to be sad that this is an epileptic's nightmare, and honestly the flashiness is a bit beyond excessive. However, the flashes do contribute quite substantially to how the MV is able to move through B&W, true color, and black light segments seamlessly. It really is remarkable how smoothely it moves between cinematic landscapes. The MV takes the absolute best of each one and blends it altogether in finely crafted and irresistible masterpiece creation. The elegance with which color in introduced . . . from pure black and white to featuring Thunder's pink hair, to flashing between greyscale black suits / white backdrop and whitewashed-color white suits / white backdrop (each time with the greyscale getting just a bit more color saturation . . .) and then the dropped drink spilling neon brightness into the whitewashed world to introduce the blacklight section? FLAWLESS. It's one of the best visual transitions I've ever seen . . . and the part handoffs! They're fantastic! Like how it goes from Seungho singing while standing in the grey room to Joon singing while sitting in the chair just in front of him is this oh-so casual transition of camera angle. It's really quite beautiful.

And sweet Shisus the styling! Joon and that hat . . . . GORGEOUS. There was enough suit porn and eye sex from all of the members to get any A+ hot and bothered, making this easily the sexiest MV MBLAQ has released, in my opinion at least. That is especially remarkable because of the distinct lack of visible skin. MBLAQ's reputation is one that rarely involves silly things like shirts that get in the fangirls' way of seeing incredible muscle definition, but this time, not a single ab is bared, nor even an arm for that matter. Joon gets to bare his forearms and just a little of his back, but for him that's a practically communist level of drab dress devoid of sexual intrigue. Usually, he has a moment of being entirely without a shirt, but this time it's that hat that serves to make him more than sexy enough. I love Mir's little ponytail, I don't know why, but I really love that sort of styling. I'm not as much a fan of the glasses, but he makes them work. Thunder's pink hair and Seungho's white blonde look FANTASTIC, and G.O. is one classy-ass heart breaker; I do miss the GO-stash, but he looks fine in those shades. Every single one of them oozes sex appeal, and they're street-legal doing it.

Like their styling, the choreography is to die for. It's dripping with sexiness, and yet it's not anything like the crass sort of pelvic-thrusting idiocy that most boy groups known for sexiness utilize. MBLAQ has been known to do it too, so the lack of it here makes me all the happier. Joon's scene with that girl is the only overtly sexy scene. There's hints of the sort of over-done sexy, hand running down bodies and the pelvic-thrust stance and such, but then there's a sharp denial when instead of bringing their hips up, they lean their shoulders back and roll their weight through their heels as their hands jump up to their hair, or they kick out to one side and spin around. And yet, that's the sexy part, that teasing. The you-almost-had-it-nope-maybe-next-time air of anticipation. Knowing MBLAQ, one would think that there would be a culminating moment of sexiness, shit-tear, hip-thrust, something; so you're expecting it and when it doesn't come it leaves you wanting.

I still HATE the song's ending though. It's just TOO sudden. --_--'
The MV relieves the tension by adding that last revamp, but the song NEEDS something at the end.

My only other complaint is the lack of a solid and cohesive storyline.They can't get a 10 without one, but they can get damn close to one ^_~

9.75/10: Oh Sweet Shisus, what just happened?

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MBLAQ - Sexy Beat (Music Review)

6/6/2013

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Picture
SIDE NOTES: I just LOVE the album art and all the promotional pics that came with this release, the concepts were a little disparate in a way that I don't think made much sense, and the MV was an epileptic's nightmare, but they all looked so good I didn't really care . . . I mean really, Joon and that hat, sweet shisus, it was glorious.

Top Track: Smoky Girl

Final Score: 8/10

Promotional Track ~

Smoky Girl is spatialized beautifully, that wandering sawtooth bass synth and the urgency of it all adds tension and a feeling of space. It's very subdued though, even the releases don't let you drop far they've established a static level of tension and move you though versions of it without really letting you breathe. It's usually not a pleasant thing, a feeling of being yanked around, but the way this track does it makes you feel like you're being led by the hand through the best adventures . . . It's smoothe and gorgeous as a unique but still a chaotically complied entity. The one thing I really don't like is that the ending comes at you like a bus though, or rather like an alarm clock yanking you out of a really good dream. I don't like it, but I like the idea behind it.

I give it an easy 9/10!

Other ~

Sexy Beat sets the album's tone very well, a quirky and intriguing interpretation of Lounge that mixes dance track synths and complex beats with a variety of strange, enticing, dream-scape, flavors.
R U OK . . . I'm not clear on the motivation MBLAQ has for song titles made of capital letters instead of words, but at least this one has discernible meaning. This is another very classy and jazzy lounge-like track that is laid back enough to be BGM, but interesting enough to an independent treat.
Celebrate is light and fluid ballad. It's not as intense as some of MBLAQ's other ballad tracks, but it still has this undercurrent of energy that gives the song life. The end-chorus is my favorite section, and I love the way it ends in a whoosh as if none of it matters or even really happened.
Girl is not my favorite track on this release, but one it really gets started it's lovely. The wait for that first chorus drags a bit too long for me, but once it does get here the rest of the song falls neatly together. It's a very casual and relaxed coffee shop soundtrack
Dress Up is a very interesting track. It's title seems innocent and the light, playful sounds keep that vibe going. But the "dress up" notion does not refer to a childhood game, and the deep bass and sultry vocals convey that very well. It's a clever mix and I like it.

Over all, they're worth a 7/10: Me Gusta!
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