Playlist: Hit the Playback for a new quartet, rookie trio Bay B, Verbal Jint's sex object lament, Latin soul

PLAYBACK - Playback

This is heaps derivative and loads of fun.  The bright backgrounds of the MV are a flashback to  EXID's Up Down and the day-glo anklet socks are Madonna kicking a street light in Borderline - both solid references.

The song is slick bouncy R&B pop. The chorus - "hit the playback; hit-the hit-the playback" hits all the beats and the tune hits the spot. Their stupid name makes it almost impossible to find out anything about them. (They are the equivalent of those idiot western bands called Real Estate and Marketing. Haha, well done guys, no one will ever know who you are.) They've just done the Pops in Seoul rookie show but I haven't got to that yet.
Update: the segment doesn't reveal much, except that English speaker Ha-Young lacks confidence and the others aren't keen to bolster it.

Their lives shows have featured some pretty unconvincing lipsynching and some ropey singing - but the lead on the recorded version is strong, so I'm putting it down to inexperience and hoping this is the start of more good pop.

UGLY DUCK (featuring Mayson, The Soul, U-Turn) - Whatever

Rapper Ugly Duck turned up on a recent Jay Park song. I like the way he's chopped up the blues guitar here and  hammered it onto the beats. It wobbles before it's clipped leaving a hint of wah-wah. Some muted horns join in for the traditional profanity laced chorus. The whole thing has a nice raw feel. 

VERBAL JINT & SANCHEZ (featuring Bumkey) - Doin' It

A bit of tinkly piano on a smooth jazz hip-hop groove for a lament by two guys about being used as a sex object. (Boohoo!) Verbal you're a cool guy but no one's using you for sex with that perm. Rapper Bumkey, fresh from beating his drug rap, puts it to good use (boom-tish).

BAY B - Come to Mind

Looks like the second single for this three-piece; the first being an over-orchestrated ballad in badly spelt Spanish. This is a nice moody, mid-paced electronic cut; a sleek update on '80s electro. The harmonies are close and sweet; the hushed rap echoes that of Kara's Cupid. The whole song is like a low key version of that iconic track, which is no bad thing. The more I listen to it the more I want to listen to it. (Also Cupid.)

KIM BAN JANG  - Drum

This is a cracking Latin soul track in the style of Joe Bataan and other cuts from the NuYorican scene of early 70s New York. Kim Ban Jang, was the frontman and drummer with Korean reggae group Windy City, and the percussion is the star on the aptly named Drum. Polyrhythms anchor the Rhodes-style organ, horn section, and Ban Jang's fierce vocals. Don't know if these guys gig, but they would be smoking live. Would be a must-see in Seoul.

KIM MYUNG GI - 답정너 

There's some more organ on this feel-good old school soul track. It's in the same era as Ban Jang's track, but it's a slower song, with hand claps instead of polyrhythms. Myung Gi has a nice raspy voice  and strong delivery. I haven't learnt hangul yet so I can't translate it :/ I'll get on that this weekend.

Or maybe I'll sit around in my velour Aldi tracksuit playing Hearthstone and writing up the next playlist bc Girls' Generation comeback yass.