Loverholic, robotronic

Thanks to Nikki and LeAnna for being the reasons this post exists.



Korean boy band SHINee just released their new album. It's their second full album, but, due to the number of rereleases and EPs Korean record labels tend to put out, the group is responsible for a lot more material than your average American act by the time of their sophomore release.

The title track and lead single, "Lucifer," is like a ravier version of the dirty electro sound of some Remee/Troelsen productions (Sarah Connor's "Under Your Skin," for example, which has been covered by another Korean boy band), though it's by Yoo Young-jin, the writer of SHINee's earlier hit "Ring Ding Dong" and Super Junior's "Sorry Sorry." "Lucifer" is from that futuristic, piecey strain of Kpop, a mosaic made from the smashed windows of a spaceship. Its irregular pieces jut together to form a whole that lacks fluidity but which is almost more impressive because you can see how its parts fit together. If an artist from another country released this song, it would probably be more vocally melodic and less rat-a-tat machine gun-fire, but that's no complaint.

With Darin apparently too busy making (admittedly very good) '80s ballads to give us the sharp, edgy male-sung urban pop the music scene needs, someone had to step up.

Someone has.

(Also, on a personal note, I'd just like to say how much I've missed seeing choreographed group dancing in music videos. I'm a child of the late '90s pop boom--I can't help it.)

SHINee's new album, Lucifer, can be purchased here (physical).