Building a Great Album: On The Album as a Journey

From time to time I stop prattling on about Korea, and prattle on about music or film. If you prefer my Korea prattle, hang in there. I'll get back to it soon enough.

I love music. I don't have training in music, so it's not about the chords... it's about the place the music takes me. And if a four chord song can do it, that's fine. And if you need a masters' in music theory to explain it... that's fine, too. I'm like people who drive a car, but can't explain how the engine works: I don't quite understand how, but if it gets me where I want to go, we're good. And even if engineers tell me it's built very cleverly, if it doesn't get me there in a way I like, somebody else might, I don't really care what the engine specs are.

So you're welcome to disagree with me about which music I love, but I was just listening to OK Computer, and listened to "Exit Music For a Film" followed by "Let Down" followed by "Karma Police" -- which, despite having made so many great songs, might be the best three-song run Radiohead's ever strung together on an album. Might.

Exit Music (For a Film)


I almost always listen to albums. Maybe I'm a relic because of it. I don't grumble that digital music sounds different from vinyl, I don't have a hi-fi and a set of $800 headphones, but I believe that an artist who knows what they're doing puts enough care into the songs they write, and the order they appear in, and how they fit with each other, that it's worth listening to the album, to get what the artist was going for. Skipping to your three favorite tracks instead of listening to the album in the track order it was made, if the artist knows what they're doing, is the difference between going on a road trip with someone, and looking at the five best pictures they took on their way.

And these days, when the internet, and Youtube, have diminished the returns on making a full album, rather than condensing it into an EP, or releasing it as two EPs (each with their own hype buildup and lead singles), so much that an artist has no reason to make a full-length album... unless they have something to say that can't be broken into an EP. This is all the more reason to continue to listen to albums, to see if artists are worth their salt, before looking up the best songs on Youtube.

Let Down


Sgt. Pepper probably marked the beginning of the album as an artistic expression of its own, rather than just a collection of artistic expressions. The less nuanced approach was to put the most radio-friendly songs either at the beginning of side one, or the beginning of side two, or somewhere on the first side, as far as I can tell from checking the track lists of my pre-1967 albums. (this continued after Sgt. Pepper as well). Some bands still just put their most likely hits first, and pad out the rest. This is less forgivable than ever before, now that iTunes has rendered album filler obsolete, and extra annoying.

But there are still bands out there that can put together a hell of a good album, and this series, like my old bliss-out posts, is a little celebration of albums, particularly the ones that are well-built... and perhaps it's an elegy for them too, now that the album as artform is becoming less and less relevant in the face of music videos and EPs that can boast a higher hit-song to track-listing ratio (available for 99 cents on iTunes!)

Karma Police


There are a few keys to a well-constructed album, in my book. Not every well-made album has all these features, in the same way that not every relationship-driven drama involves a misunderstanding or deception in the second act... but enough do, that I'm not going to say this is why these albums work, but it's clear that this does work. I'm giving examples here from some albums I really like. Some of them are classics and all-time greats; others are middling albums where the only thing going for them might be that they were built the way they are... in fact, some of these albums are basically the equivalent of a mediocre painting with very good composition... which just makes the composition stand out more admirably.

Go to part 2 of the series.

The Korean Takes All Comers in the Dog Meat Debate

The Korean, from Ask A Korean! has thrown down a heavy gauntlet at Busan Haps, where he's written a  very, very strong argument in defense of Koreans who wish to eat Dog meat.
Busan Haps, who are kind enough to volunteer to moderate this discussion (yikes!) have been hosting a three-part "Great Dog Meat Debate"
Part one was a food writer talking about eating Dog meat.
Part two was a vegan food writer explaining why Dog meat is bad. Unfortunately, her argument gets thoroughly dismantled in the comments.
and The Korean! is part three.

[UPDATE: This is a response to The Korean's article on the topic, by Leo Mendoza, founder of the Busan Abandoned Pet Sanctuary" - someone who's face-up close to the issues, and offers a more pragmatic view than the keyboard warriors and idealists, enriches that pragmatism with eyewitness experience... but also has a few straight attacks/insults, disappointingly.]


You may remember The Korean for drawing the hate of every animal lover on the internet for his original defense of Dog Meat, here.

As happened recently when Dog meat came up at The Marmot's Hole, the discussion board has become a bit of a free-for all. My own thoughts are below the jump.

The Korean Blog List is Dead. Long Live All The Korea Blogs

After leaving Korea, it's no surprise the guy who ran the Korea Blog List is no longer interested in maintaining it.

It's no surprise, either, because the list has gotten so long and unwieldy, and the choice is either to let it balloon with defunct blogs, or spend ever-increasing time curating something that's no longer an legitimate part of his life.

Now, Blogger Noe has kindly saved all the links originally listed on the Korean Blog List (here) and has updates (here). (The "Foreigners living in Korea" list is here)

Korean News Feeds, which used to clearly be the best spot, also now carries a lot of links to defunct blogs, and has simply started including so many, that I'm no longer sure that they've chosen only the best ones -- its once awesome status as a great curator of blogs has been diluted by volume.

Alphabetical lists (as at Noe's blog) and time lists (in order of when their names were added to the list, which Korean Blog List used to do) are both also subject to the problem of defunct blogs (a constant problem) getting equal space with the active ones.

So I've built a very simple blogspot page, named: All The Korea Blogs, which uses the same "Most recent update goes first" system as the links on the sidebar of my blog -- which I really like, because you can tell which blogs are more active by moving to the top of the list, or spotting which ones linger up there.

If you want to account for quality, look at the sidebar on Roboseyo, where I've put my favorites, instead of "All The..." which looks to be more completist... or check the sidebars of your other favorite blogs.

So add "All The Korea Blogs" to your links, and if you have a blog, ask me to add it.

And everybody: don't forget to check the links on the side of your blog from time to time, to see if they're still updating.

Links: Old Korean Music, Tact, and More

Here are some of the links I discussed on my radio show, "Blog Buzz" on Thursday mornings at 8:35am:

1. James Turnbull at The Grand Narrative, is talking about all the body-part-lines used to sell things in Korea, and how S-line is now being used not just to sell health products, but non-human things like phones.

Do you know what your X-line, M-line, D-line, V-line (or second V-line) are?

2. After covering Girls' Generation's Letterman appearance last week, this week it was nice to assure readers/listeners that Kpop was not the only kind of Korean music getting blog coverage: The Atlantic and Wall Street Journal recently wrote about K-pop, but The Economist has a piece about a true Korean virtuoso (how's that, Mike Hurt?), writing about Korean guitar legend Shin Joong-hyun. Even better, the piece included a video clip of Shin playing "미인," his most famous song, from a 2006 concert, and even in 2006, well past his youth, the man absolutely rocks the hell out of the song.

The video's a bit out of sync, so scroll down, and just listen instead of letting it annoy you as you watch.


Along with that, Yujin Is Huge wrote a post titled "K-pop before it was K-pop" with some songs his dad used to play him from his record collection, and I'm happy to tell you about a newer blog I've come across (I think via Popular Gusts)

G'old Korea Vinyl is taking out of print Korean music from the 70s and 80s and putting it in Mp3 or Youtube video form so that the world outside of those few amazing vinyl classic Korean music bars, can still enjoy the old sounds that formed the foundation on which the K-pop altar (alter?) was built. I've added them to my sidebar and I love how every new post has something to listen to. Their latest is another Shin Joong hyun post, just by coincidence.

3. Ms. Lee To Be has a fantastic post that demonstrates why knowing the culture, and working within what you know of Korean culture, dramatically increases your chance of getting what you want, instead of just having a frustrating confrontations.

Mr. and Ms. Lee's baby dragon is in the hospital, and a hospital with an absolutely draconian policy for baby contact: you're allowed to look at your baby for 30 minutes a day. And that's it. No cuddling, no touching, until you check out.

When informed that modern medical pediatric science is generally concluding that skin contact, and touch, in really important for babies, and really good for their health, the doctor they spoke to threw up a storm wall that amounted to "nuh-uh, it isn't!"... as could be expected, given Korea's culture of saving face, and the fact they'd just told a doctor that her methodology was out to lunch.

But rather than trying to get through that wall by butting their heads harder, Mr. and Ms. Lee circumvented all that pain and uselessness by providing a side door that let the Doctor feel smart, and let them cuddle their baby, by appealing to the doctor's expertise and asking if someone at the hospital could help "teach" them about proper bottle feeding and nursing, during their baby visiting period.

Just like that, they went from butting heads, to getting a chance to cuddle their baby during visiting time, with a lot less conflict and frustration, than if they'd just tried again, louder, with their original tactic.

An impressive negotiation of "face" and hierarchy, and extremely well played, says I, and a lesson for us all, to try being a little more strategic instead of obnoxious, loud, or accusing, when trying to get what we want and need.

So remember, folks: if you're tempted to write a ten page letter to your boss about how wrong they are about everything... don't, unless your bags are already packed, and you already have your ticket home. And even then, don't, because you're going to make your school's work situation 40% harder for the next foreign worker they hire, who'll come into a situation where everyone they need to work with has a sour taste in their mouth about foreign workers. Even if you're really sure you're right about everything you say.

Go read Ms. Lee To Be's account.

4. American in North Korea has a great series of photos from their tour of the captured US Ship Pueblo.

Five Better Places to Visit than the Wonder Girls Suggest

Update: I have been one-upped by Adeel, who has FOURTEEN places worth visiting in Seoul.

So... Korea.net, the official government website, has been telling us about the Wonder Girls' efforts to promote Korean culture, and it's been one head scratcher after another.

Zenkimchi will tell you about with their efforts to promote Korean foods -- a list of one "yeah, alright" and four "you chose THAT as a signature Korean food?"

(the five Korean foods I'd promote: 1. Korean pears 2. Korean barbeque 3. dalk galbi 4. jjim dalk 5. makgeolli, dongdongju, and muju - the rice alcohols)

Now, they've recommended five places in Korea to visit. But the five places they suggested people visit are just... so... ON the beaten track, and so dreadfully predictable. Plus one clearly sponsored by Samsung. Which is representative of Korean culture, I suppose, seeing as the Samsung lobby's about two years from suggesting we change the name of the country to "Samsung Presents: The Republic of Korea (South)" So... if it's your first week in Korea, yeah. Go visit these five places. Woo hoo..

(source: google image search for 'unenthusiastic')

The suggestions: and maybe as penance for recommending apples last time, each location is paired with a food. And the food suggestions are much better than last time around.

• North Seoul Tower. (everybody already goes there) and stir fried chicken (now we're talking)
• Gyeongbokgung Palace in the fall (8 out of 10 Koreans will suggest this as the place you should visit, if you ask them for sightseeing recommendations. The other 2 are split between Seoul Tower and Insadong), and kalguksu (knife cut noodles, which vary from stunning to awful, depending on the place. Roboseyo recommends: Gwangjang Market, at Jongno 5-ga station, for a good one)
• A spa (as with kalguksu, which one determines the experience... but yeah. The jimjilbang experience in Korea rocks), and gopchang gui, or grilled risk materials.
• Sinsa-dong and Garosu-gil (basically, the Gyeongbokgung [obvious but dull first choice] of trendy Seoul) samgyetang, or chicken soup. And...
• Samsung d'light Bold (WTF?) and ddeokbokki dalkburky tteokbooky darkbirdy topoki topokki... decent choice.

I don't have time to get into it too much, but other than the blatant Samsung thumping by a GOVERNMENT AGENCY, we have one good choice (spa) two dull old choices (Seoul Tower and Gyeongbok Palace) one dull new choice (Garosu - which would have been Samchungdong three years ago, and will be Buam dong two years from now).

So if it's your first month in Korea, go to those places. If you've been here more than a month, then even if you don't recognize those place names (it was all a blur to me for my first three months) trust me.. one of your new Korean friends has taken you there.

And here are my five places for you to go instead, and I'll follow the same rules: One touristy, one old, one relaxing, one trendy, and one sold to the highest bidder:

1. Touristy: The Andong Mask Dance festival, in particular, the fireworks show, which are like nothing you've seen in your life. Or the Bamboo Forest in Damyang, which has also been the filming location for lots of movies and dramas.

2. Old: Gilsang Temple, a twenty minute walk from Hansung University Station, also looks nice in the fall. It's smaller and much less crowded than Gyeongbok Palace, which will give you sore feet and crowd-stress. (map)

3. Relaxing: If the weather's bad, the Wonder Girls' suggestion of a jimjilbang is good. I recommend HanBang Land. If the weather's nice, go for either Hongje Stream - Hongje Station, head north - which leads all the way to World Cup Stadium Park, and is less built up and crowded than Cheonggyecheon, and goes through older neighborhoods, or Seongbukcheon (Seongbuk Stream) which also goes through older neighborhoods, is nicely done up as a park space, and is also less crowded than the Cheonggyecheon -- though it meets up with the Cheonggyecheon east of Dongdaemun, near the Sinseol-dong second-hand market, which is also a cool area to wander around. Get your hands on a bicycle to enjoy either of these places to the max.

4. Stylish/trendy: I've never been a fan of garosu gil. A friend keeps bringing me to places there that have very pretty design, but VERY underwhelming food. Ever since Samchungdong got TOO trendy, and became too expensive for the shops that made it cool to stay open there (and then started to suck when Kraze Burker and Dunkin Donuts moved in), many of the vanished eateries have relocated to Hyoja-dong, the area in and around Tongin Market. It's filling up with nifty bakeries and cafes and some of the best hand-drip coffee to be found. Go out Gyeongbokgung station exit 2 or 3, and get lost in the side streets.

5. Corporate Sell-out: this recommendation space is open to the highest bidder. Make me an offer in the comments and I'll plug your company's products, space, or whatever. Until then, as a place-holder, I'll recommend these two spots: Jongno 3-5-ga: Jongmyo Park - the park in front of Jongmyo Shrine (once it's finished redeveloping) is the best people-watching location in Seoul. It's where all the old folks go, drink soju, play baduk, sing karaoke, and do whatever they damn well please, and some of them wear shiny jackets. From there, it's a short walk to Jongno 5-ga, and Kwangjang Market, a covered market with a food area that has some of the best versions of the foods Korea's older generation loves (bindaeddeok, kalguksu, sundae, juk) to be found anywhere.  Or if you don't like the old stuff, Star City shopping center, near Konguk University Station (line 2 and 7), which is the nicest-looking of the new mega-shopping-centers Seoul has been building all over the city.