I is for Immortal Song 2 (a.k.a the show to go when it comes to awesome live singing)

I don't watch much tv; lest it's sports (of course), MTV (lol), or occasional anime. But I've made it a point to tune into Immortal Song 2 on KBS World every Saturday because damn, the show is real good. There's comedy (the waiting room's MC cracks me up so much), drama (sorta, with the competition festival atmosphere though I have to admit that it really gets better when the nobody stole the thunder and get a win; like, damn), and obviously, awesome singing.

(KBS World put the whole episode on Youtube, so you can watch it there. For old episodes, be specific on the comments and I'll try to help you out.)

I've watched most of the episodes (I unleashed my Google ability somewhere around early Jan (?) last year and downloaded the whole thing starting from ep1 like whoaa) There's a lot of good performances of course, and it's hard to pick the ultimate favorite, so let's do a list because that's easier on the post and less of a pain. Also less commentary because I don't want to sound like a broken record praising each performance; just know that they are all so. good. Just click play, seriously.

(I try to limit one performance per artist, -do know this is harder than it sounds- so, again, feel free to hit the comment if you want to ask for other recommendations)

Or, reasons why you should watch the show is because of the awesome performances like these:

B is for BANKS' "Brain" (a.k.a my pick for the best English Song of the Year so far)

Trying to look smart
But not too smart to threaten anything they say

-BANKS. (2014). Brain.

(Cross-posted from That Other Blog because it's music related and that's how I roll ha!)

Sure it's just April, and it's way too early to be talking about best-of-the-year list, but I first listen to this on 2nd of February (how fitting with today's post) and 2 months later I still can't get over how. good. this. song. is.

I mean, had Nell didn't come up with Sunshine and give me all the feels akin to The Ending (which was my Song of the Year for 2012) this will be a sure way pick as THE song of the year. But, as far as English songs are concerned, this is a definite top pick, bar none.

Or perhaps I can choose two songs of the year?

Anyways.

I chance upon this song by a post at Tumblr, and the lyric inserted with the audio post caught my interest, but as soon as her vocal starts I got chills running down my spine. And when she screams the lyrics as the song reach the climax? I'm already off to Google and download the song. Like, I can't even remember when I was last so, so impressed by a song as a whole; the sound, the vocals, the lyrics, the mood of the song - everything just blends together in a perfect atmosphere.

Though it's funny how the singer remains virtually unknown to me, for I can't bring myself to listen to her other songs, as I'm afraid I wound up being too critical since I love this a tad too much. I do plan on checking out her discography someday, so hopefully I'll find more gems like this. Of course, I'll be checking out MTV and radio for possible contender while repeating this till oblivion.

Or I can always go back to Nell. (Sorry, but that's how I roll.)

Till then,

(ღ˘⌣˘ღ) ♫･*:.｡. .｡.:*･

The Best of the Best of Korean Music in 2012 (according to MY standard)

So I made a draft for this post way back in January on MS Word because of writer's block and in some sort of a weird twist of fate, found it when I am hit by writer's block (again). Sure, it's already May 2013, and in K-pop, stuffs from 2012 is already irrelevant (sorta), but hey, we can never have enough of list in our lives (at least, mine is), and maybe this can be some reminiscent sorta post? Haha! Though it's more like I feel that it's a waste to throw it away orz

So why an award (kinda) list? That’s because;

1. I can cross-post this to that other blog because I'm lazy like that. 
2. Korean award always irks the hell out of me because of the no attendance no award policy (what?)
3. Most online award are filled with fan votes and it pissed me off when the better candidate losing out just because the fandom is smaller OTL

So way to fix this? Make my own! Like a boss.

Bear in mind I’m no music personnel (and I seriously can’t tell one weird tone to another) so this list is purely created from how much of the song/artist I’m enjoying for the past year. You don’t have to agree with me on anything from this, but it sure is good if I can share and introduce some songs you may never know before. So yeah.

Now, on to the list!