Playlist: Topp Dogg, Jonghyun, Melody Day, Pungdeng-e, Oh My Girl, Got7, Samuel Seo

Topp Dogg - O.A.S.I.S.

After last year’s Annie became one of my favourite tracks of the year I was looking forward to the doggies making a comeback. There are only 10 of them now, but that’s still a fine litter. This pre-release track has cowbell, popping bass and some cool harmonies.

Melody Day - Speed Up/Want U Bag

This somewhat charisma-free quartet came back last year with Motown throwback  #LoveMe, a song that I put into a playlist then constantly skipped: the style was right but it didn't go anywhere. This is much better; in fact the mini has two good songs. Speed Up is a pop/rock song with all the right bits in all the right places written by Kanata Okajima (E-Girls, Girls Generation etc) and Abi F Jones. Even a brief flirtation with a dubstep breakdown can’t mess this little gem up. Andreas Oberg (Shinee’s fantastic Black Hole, songs for Vixx, BoA, etc) and Maria Marcus have written a killer chorus for Want U Bag, which is a shimmer of sugary pop.

Jonghyun - Elevator

Another slice of divine chamber pop performed and composed by Jonghyun who seems to be making this his specialty. Recorded for MNet’s Monthly Live Connection, the percussion-less track has Jonghyun threading three strands - a delicate melody, repetitive lyric and simple piano - together for a beautiful tune that leaves plenty of room for emotion. The orchestrated climax, which dies away as quickly as it arrives, leaving the echo of something wonderful and bittersweet.

Oh My Girl - Closer

The brains trust behind Oh My Girl is doing an astonishing job. This is not as amazing as their debut Cupid, which is one of the best songs of the year (with Miss A's Love Song) but it's still an incredible slice of airy electronic pop. Some have dismissed it as an Ellie Goulding knock-off, preferring to focus on the clever choreography. There are similarities, but 1) not sure that's grounds for dismissal and 2) the treatment, particularly vocally, takes Closer somewhere else. One of the things that's interesting about K-pop is the prevalence of head voice - there are a few singers who go for the melismatic gospel chops, but much more common is the kind of sweet, fragile high-pitched singing that has practically disappeared from Western pop, and this makes a big difference to Closer's sound. The synths, breathy at first, start pulsing, building to a throb; the perfect foil to the honeyed harmonies. Like Cupid, it seems to get better the more it's heard.

Got7 - If You Do

This is a gorgeous slice of melancholy dance pop in the style of Teen Top's recent beauties Missing and Ah Ah, co-written by the same team, Black-eyed Victory, aka Rado and Choi Kyu-Sung. Guilty feet ain’t got no rhythm but there is little better than sad disco, and this is as good as it gets. Also: Jackson Wang as a platinum blonde.

Batshit crazy K-pop cut of the week

Pungdeng-e - Pippi Pappa

Hear the jazz age on mescaline as brought to you by kooky trio Pungdeng-e. It’s got sousaphone - or is it a tuba? - it has wordless singing (la-la-la, pippi-pa-pa); a salsa piano tumbao and it should be supremely annoying but it’s so daft and danceable and cheery, that fuck it. La-la-la-la-la-la!

Samuel Seo - New Dress Girl

He’s a Canadian-Korean with braids, but stick with him. The synths hum on this track, sliding up and down in semi-tones while he raps and sings about “the new dress for you”: “Say one piece girl I got you; say mini skirt I got you”. It has a lovely low-key production that haunts long after it has faded away. It's from a long player that he wrote and produced and has a bunch of other good tracks, including, the loose Jamaican/P-funk inspired jam Somebody’s; and does not include the pretty ordinary tune he decided to turn into an MV.