Smokey Robinson honored with national pop music prize

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Whether he was singing his own compositions or writing for other artists, Smokey Robinson was instrumental in shaping the Motown sound that changed American popular music in the 1960s. Now, his accomplishments have won him the pop music prize from the national library.The Library of Congress announced Tuesday that Robinson, 76, is this year's recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The lifetime achievement award is named for the duo of George and Ira Gershwin and was

July 6, 2016

Seventeen returns to spotlight with repackaged album

Two days after releasing the repackaged version of the group’s first album “Love & Letter,” 13-member K-pop boy band Seventeen is returning to the stage.Starting with a performance on MBC’s weekly music program “Show Champion” on Wednesday, the group is scheduled for more broadcast appearances, including Mnet’s “M Countdown,” KBS2’s “Music Bank,” MBC’s “Show! Music Core” and SBS’ “Inkigayo” in the coming weeks.  The repackaged album includes five additional tracks: “Very Nice,” “No F.U.N,” “Heal

July 6, 2016

New era of multinational K-pop groups dawns

A new generation of multinational K-pop groups is emerging, ready to take on the global music scene.Some earlier experimental groups, such as girl group ChoColat, created by Paramount Music in 2011, included members of German, Italian and Puerto Rican descent. The group, however, has not been active since 2013.  Miss A, one of K-pop’s most popular multinational groups with Chinese members Fei and Jia, is facing a shaky future with Jia having left the group’s agency JYP Entertainment in March. On

July 5, 2016

[Hallyu Power] B-boy Wing helps Korean break dancing take flight

When it was first introduced by young street dancers in New York City in the early 1970s, the distinctive art of break dancing, or B-boying, was widely seen as a nonglamourous, low-level style of street dance. Despite its absence from the mainstream pop culture spotlight, B-boying eventually made its way to Korea in the ’80s. For decades, however, break dancing was far from the mainstream and had just a small following among young, amateur dancers whose only opportunities to perform were on the

July 5, 2016

Beast returns as five-member group with new album

After a yearlong hiatus, boy band Beast has returned as a five-member group with its third full studio album “Highlight” released on Monday. This marks the group’s return to the spotlight after one of its members Jang Hyun-seung left the band in April to pursue a solo career.  Within one day of the album’s release, its lead track “Ribbon” topped eight domestic music charts, including MelOn, Mnet, Bugs, Olleh Music, Naver Music, Soribada, Genie and Monkey3. The rhythm and blues tune “Ribbon” is a

July 5, 2016

Georgia O’Keeffe gets big London show

LONDON (AP) -- Georgia O’Keeffe has come to London, like a bracing American desert wind rippling the River Thames.An exhibition of more than 100 works opening this week at Tate Modern is the American art icon’s biggest-ever show outside the United States.Curators hope it will surprise visitors who know the artist mainly for her giant flowers and sun-bleached animal skulls. The exhibition also offers O’Keeffe the pioneering abstract artist, O’Keeffe the surrealist and O’Keeffe who painted New Yor

July 5, 2016

Show highlights ‘unknown’ young talents

The new group exhibition of young artists at Kukje Gallery asks a question that the youth of today can easily relate to -- to what extent do we need to try to be successful and famous? “There is desperation in today’s young generation to be successful and well-known. But, at the same time, they often see and fear that some fast-earned fame may be ephemeral,” said Kim Sung-won, an art professor and critic who curated the exhibition, at the press preview of the exhibition last week. “This exhibiti

July 4, 2016

Indie record shop owners oppose large Itaewon music store

An association of indie record shop owners and their supporters protested in Hannam-dong on Sunday, accusing a new large music store of price dumping, monopolizing music tastes and hurting the livelihood of small businesses.The target of the protest was Vinyl & Plastic, a massive two-story establishment which opened on June 10. The store has over 4,000 vinyl records and 8,000 CDs on sale, and turntables on which customers can listen to music. It is run by Hyundai Card, a credit card company that

July 4, 2016

Busker Busker singer joins lineup for Someday Festival

Someday Festival 2016 revealed Jang Beom-june, lead singer of Korean indie band Busker Busker, as the last in the second round of the festival’s lineup Saturday.   The organizers announced all but one musician from the festival’s second-round lineup on June 27, creating buzz as to who the final artist might be. The third-round lineup will be released shortly via Someday Festival 2016’s official social media accounts, and fans can expect to see Korea’s top singer-songwriters on the upcoming list,

July 4, 2016

Se7en to release new single, music video Thursday

Korean singer Se7en will release a new rhythm and blues tune titled “I’m Good” on Thursday, announced his management agency Eleven9 Entertainment on Monday.To gear up for his return after a 3-year hiatus, Eleven9 Entertainment released teaser images via Se7en’s official social media accounts Monday morning.  Written and composed by Se7en, “I’m Good” is the musician‘s first release in Korea since his 2013 hit “Thank U.” Through the new single, the artist hopes to relay a message of deep appreciat

July 4, 2016

Rembrandt's 'Kim and Kanye' back home after 400 years

AMSTERDAM (AFP) - Almost four centuries after Dutch master Rembrandt painted a young married couple, their two portraits are back home in the Netherlands thanks to a unique joint 160 million euro ($178 million) purchase with France.Dating from 1634, the portraits show wealthy Dutchman Marten Soolmans, 21, and his new wife Oopjen Coppit, 23, both wearing black with white lace as they mark a year of marriage.“It’s the first time that they are in public hands, and can be seen” by millions of people

July 4, 2016

New musical ‘Peste’ to feature music of Seo Tai-ji

The cast of the upcoming musical “Peste” pose at a press conference held at the Di Nozze Convention center in Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap)　A musical based on the tragic tale of French author Albert Camus’ “The Plague” combined with the sounds of legendary K-pop icon Seo Tai-ji, new local musical “Peste” is gearing up to hit the stage later this month. 　To this day, Seo is widely considered an unparalleled iconic musician for his controversial and politically defiant lyrics that pushed the envelop

July 3, 2016

[Album Review] ‘The Mountain Will Fall’ revels in darkness

DJ Shadow“The Mountain Will Fall”Mass Appeal RecordsDJ Shadow set a new standard for the art of sample-based composition with his auspicious 1996 debut album, “Endtroducing.” It was an album that turned snippets of obscure recordings into aural journeys, as if Shadow were orchestrating a perfectly sequenced dream, creating order out of randomness.That everything Shadow, aka Josh Davis, has created since will be measured against his 20-year-old masterpiece is a daunting prospect, but he continues

July 1, 2016

Big Bang’s 10th anniversary exhibition opens in August

In line with Big Bang’s 10th anniversary since its debut, the K-pop group will be holding the event “BIG BANG The Exhibition A to Z.”Scheduled to open in August, the exhibition will showcase the boy band’s 10-year career from its members’ perspectives. It will include photos, videos, costumes, music and other elements, to illustrate the past, present and future of Big Bang, said the group’s management agency YG Entertainment in a press release.   A documentary-style film about the group was also

July 1, 2016

[Album Review] Deerhoof simply giddy

Deerhood“The Magic”(Polyvinyl)There are moments on “The Magic” (Polyvinyl) when Deerhoof sounds simply giddy.“Cappuccino! Macchiato! Affogato! Cortado!” bassist Satomi Matsuzaki enthusiastically sings in “Kafe Mania!” over burbling synthesizers and roaring guitars. She’s seriously giving props to coffee drinks -- well, as seriously as you can do such a thing.It sums up the anything-goes vibe of Deerhoof’s 14th album, seemingly a response to the more refined songs of the San Francisco quartet’s r

July 1, 2016

[Album Review] Avett Brothers get real

The Avett Brothers“True Sadness”(Republic)For their ninth album, Seth and Scott Avett -- better known as The Avett Brothers -- basically decided to get real.In a letter to fans announcing the arrival of “True Sadness” (Republic), Seth Avett writes about removing the lens that would “present themselves in the most favorable light possible” and crafting an album “as multidimensional as its makers.”They succeeded. The Avett Brothers’ gorgeous harmonies remain intact, but they are deployed in a far

July 1, 2016

Park Yoo-chun questioned on sex assault charges

Police questioned Park Yoo-chun of K-pop group JYJ for eight hours on Thursday evening regarding a series of assault complaints that have been filed against him in the past three weeks. “I’m sorry to have upset many people. I will comply diligently with police inquiries,” Park told reporters before going in for questioning at Gangnam Police Station on Thursday at around 6:30 p.m.Police said they questioned Park on whether coercion was involved in his sexual relations with the four complainants i

July 1, 2016