K-pop year 2015 year in review: FX, GaIn, Infinite H, Exo, Seventeen, Stellar & more

Rumours of K-pop's demise have been greatly exaggerated. The past year saw a deluge of fantastic mainstream releases as well as a bunch of great indie stuff.  My 2015 playlist has more than 250 songs in it. It could probably do with a prune, but I wouldn't be that keen to ditch many of them. Some of my favourites have already been covered by Scott Interrante at Pop Matters and Jacob Dorof at Noisey.  I expect the inimitable Arcadey will also will add to that when his list goes live. All of them like Red (get the ear plugs) Velvet and Big (American midwest rock band in crazy K-gear) Bang more than I do.
With that in mind, here is a random selection of highlights from the in K-pop and K-indie.

Not All Christmas Songs Suck Selection

12:25(Wish List) - f(x)[日本語字幕] by dimKJ

Does any other music scene embrace Christmas with as much gusto as ROK? The amount of festive songs cranked out is astonishing. The majority are saccharine ballady wallpaper but F(X)'s 12:25 Wish List, is a treat. It’s an LDN Noise production (4 Walls, View) with brandy butter sweet harmonies - the vocal arrangements over all are a standout - in a melancholy melody over a bouncy beat.

Merry melancholymas.

BEG-GaIn trusty sidekicks Lee Min Su and Kim EaNa team up to provide GaIn with a lovely last minute festive track, Let's Meet at 12 O'Clock. It’s the b-side to a remake of Must Have Love, which is a rock song with sleigh bells. Less said. Lightly popping bass offsets the mournful horns and GaIn’s breathy vocals. Bring it out again next December, or play it all year.

Honorable mention: BoA’s disco Christmas Paradise

Clever Chorry Selection

American duo Nappytabs, who do some of the most ordinary chorry on So You Think You Can Dance, pulled out all stops for Exo’s fantastic Call Me Baby, but give credit to Exo; who totally nailed it, bringing a commitment, agility and raw sexuality to the sharp moves.

Rookie group Seventeen are hot on Exo’s heels. A group of 13 (there is some laboured explanation behind it; don’t ask) with charisma and energy and an A&R department with an ear for a good tune. Of their excellent releases this year Mansae was the winner and the witty, energetic choreography, performed week after week on the Seoul music shows was always a showstopper.

Oh My Girl's Closer had incredible Busby Berkeley style choreography that looked gorgeous front on and from above, where their formations took displayed the signs of the zodiac. The group performed it flawlessly from show to show and it was nice to a see a variation in the virginal look, with changes in the outfits from white to red and even black.  

Honourable mention #2: T-ara’s blinking move in So Good, Dal Shabet's vag wipe in Joker.

Amazing MV Concept Selection

Only one contender, sorry.
Stellar's Vibrato is bold in so many ways. The beginning shows the girls trapped inside glass cubes - hapless prey for voyeurs. At the same time that the song shifts gears into sensational breakdown, the art director goes totally nuts: hey voyeurs, you want lady parts? I’ll give you lady parts. Handbags, cactuses, fruit, hands and fingers, all take on another guise. Sheer genius with a brilliant soundtrack.

Sad Boys in Bathtubs Selection

Oh the angst. Oh the pain. I must go and spray paint a wall and hit a punching bag while looking divine (hello, Jackson!). And then. And then I must cry in a bathtub. Because being a K-pop star is *murder*. Both BTS' I Need U and Got7's If You Do are awesome. I played the latter more; but the production on the former was outstanding.

Honourable mention: JJCC - Insomnia: no bathtubs but plenty of tears and looking disconsolately through rainy windows. Of the three, this Dublesidekick produced-track is the edgiest. Looking forward to their Sydney gig in February.

K-indie selection

I saw MFBTY on a few indie lists. Aren't they massive? How are they indie? One of my favourites is Night Delight's string and accordion number Private Eye - you can't hear it anywhere except maybe  as an excerpt on Melon. It's so lovely.  SBeck's album still sounds great too.  It's called 27. It's a mini of neo-soul, R&B and I guess trip-hop. His falsetto is really something (as recorded anyway) and the songs are strong. It practically doesn't exist according to the interwebs. Try Melon.

Humming Urban Stereo landed at just the right time with Stupid (with Sugarflow). HUS are pretty reliable when it comes to disco-funk jams; or housey ones for that matter. This is the former and it’s sweet as. Clattering percussion and fat '80s synths give it an electro feel. The melody and vocal brings it a little closer to the present.

Hip-hop selection

You know it's a bumper year when even a tampon commercial brings the goods - Kisum has yet to better White Style, although her last, Love Talk, puts her on the right track. Rubber Soul's Life, co-written by Mad Clown, with its hypnotic chants and unique vocal arrangements was pretty much without equal. Verbal Jint's My Type, with its Latin rhythms was just as quirky. San E and Yerin's Me You was the best of the sappy hip-hop that saturates the charts. Super smart MV too. Also she has the best vampire teeth. 

The mini released by Inifinite H was stacked with good tunes. Jinusean had a lot of fun with their 90s throwback Tell Me One More Time, and honestly I thrashed this one; although all of these songs got a lot of ear time. It's impossible to list them all so I will finish with probably my favourite: Raw-G's Lost Tape. Like SBeck and ND in the K-indie category, he has practically zilch internet presence, but the mini was one of the most interesting and most listenable of the year.