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27 4월, 2008

Bits and Pieces of Epik High Goodness

I love me some Epik High and they, in their infinite wisdom decided to grace us denizens of the real world with a new album Pieces, Part One. With their usual blend of k pop and hip-hop-with-a-twist, Pieces is a solid addition to the Epik High anthology, if not a particularly revolutionary one.

There is some good stuff on there, particularly their lead single One, with its Ace of Base sound-alike tune which immediately takes me back to the 1990's electronic dance music hey days. The remix further reinforces the fact. It's awesome!



Then there's The Future which is a track aimed at other Korean artists, a call to arms so to speak, telling them they need to get over themselves and focus on the music instead of aiming idiotic "diss" tracks at other more successful artists. The gritty, hard, almost gangsta vibe is so unlike the more recent poetic Epik, I was taken aback by its ferocity. And loved it. Lest we forget, Epik High is fronted by a Stanford graduate and a poet, so gangsta seems absolutely antithetical to their background, which is a baseless idea, really, as their earliest albums will attest to.

The one disturbing thing however was that it sounded too much like the 50 Cent/Justin Timberlake/Timbaland Ayo Technology track, which to be truthful is rather annoying. Epik High is musical ambrosia precisely because they sound like no one else. Still a fantastic song.

The main issues with this album is that it doesn't seem to be as big a paradigm shift as Remapping The Human Soul was from their previous works. The tracks hearken back to their album Swan Songs with the more American sound, but still has enough of their poetic nature somewhat intact so as not to totally disappoint. This is an album not quite sure where it wants to be and there is hope that Part Two gives it a firm push and places them in the musical sphere they want to occupy.


4.25 Out of 5 0.25 Deducted for the AYO remix. Oh for shame!

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