Disco managed to be audacious without being upscale in the usual sense, so it could incorporate cabaret, opera, kung fu, anything, and still not be “culture.” It could be ambitious without leaving anything behind, without shedding its down-home mannerisms. “Down…

I don’t look at my MySpace frequently, getting very little interchange there. So I only now discovered that as part of their revamping they, without notice, apparently killed — destroyed, vaporized — my old MySpace profile and my MySpace blog, including all past posts. Or maybe they…

My livejournal is set so anyone including anonymous posters can post comments, in order that anhh and Chuck etc. will be able to comment, including people I genuinely don’t know but who’ve had lots of smart stuff to say about, e.g., T-ara. It was anhh’s anonymous comment on my “Nobody” post, and…

Made a YouTube playlist of my favorite tracks from K-pop’s lower commercial tiers.

In ascending order. As you can see, I like both it and that:

Leader’S “Hope” (2011). The song is called “Hope” but the sound is heartache 24/7. I left NYC several years before Hot 97 or whatever it was came…

New ChoColat single, similar to their previous three in that there’s a touch of mid-Eastern-by-way-of-Spain-and-Africa quasi-freestyle mournfulness, and all four singers get time in the spotlight. Song provides no opportunity for an aching Melanie wail à la the “I want it all, all or…

I’ve finally made a YouTube playlist for the Austral-Romanian Empire.

For my Austral-Romanian thesis, go here. Tracks are:

1. In-Grid “Tu Es Foutu” (Italy 2002). I’m starting in Italy — and therefore in French — rather than Australia, since Mat identifies “Tu Es Foutu” as a..

Fancam of forthcoming track from Crayon Pop, “Bar Bar Bar.” CRAYON POP DO NOT DISAPPOINT. I had to get out of my chair: I was laughing so hard I was afraid I’d hurt myself. I think those are toboggan helmets. Anyway, I can’t wait on this. (H/t to David Frazer, as usual, for all things Crayon…

Z.Hera “Peacock”: Dance-pop from a writer who seems to have studied études and preludes, featuring a rookie singer who puts strain in her upper register in a way that’s heart-tuggingly passionate, like the best of the ’80s. She’s got something, as does whoever wrote and produced the song, even…

Lee Hyori: Lee Hyori’s Monochrome is the opposite of monochrome, with Hyori applying her gently authoritative style to all sorts of the last century’s dance music (incl. country pop and western swing!). Strangely, I’m not hit with a lot of feeling — until the last four songs. That’s only…

David Frazer informs me that my hero Tymee (formerly E.via), who’d split rancorously with Dline Art Media, has signed with ASSA Communication, an agency/label apparently founded by rapper Outsider. So I’ve been checking Outsider; he raps fast, though still too much in the overanguished…