Currently listening to

Hello again,folks! How's it been for you guys?
I've been having a couple of less well-known albums that I really like on rotation lately so I thought that it would be a good idea to share them with y'all.  I am well aware that my personal musical preference may not be the same as yours so my advice is that you should take it with a grain of salt. 
Albums that withstood the test of time (meaning that I actually replay these albums on a daily basis without feeling sick of them,at all in no particular order) are as follows:

1. Park Ji Yoon's Tree of Life-also known as Dream of Becoming A Tree (2012)

• I can't seem to put my finger on it but somehow there's just something about Park Ji Yoon's airy vocals that just gets to me. The star of this album has to be Tree of Life. Seriously,this track is all kinds of awesome and it totally grew on me after the first listen.In order to make things easier for you,check out the first song playing in playlist below and you'll see what I mean. I don't love every single song on this album,but I still like the songs enough to replay them multiple times.

 2. Joo Young's From Me to You EP (2012)

• One of the reviewers from American Kpop Fans said that she was "blindsided by the awesomeness that is Joo Young" and well, I couldn't agree more with her. Damn,I can't believe that this gem of a voice suddenly popped out of nowhere,astounding us with his sleek,velvety vocals. You want some soul/R&B? You've got yourself one,and a singer-songriter at that. How did a person of such calibre (caliber in American English) went unnoticed? I loved every single song on this album,surely this must mean something,no? I seem to have a thing for title tracks because my favourite track from this album is From Me to You. The other tracks on the album are equally good too quality-wise. You can check out From Me to You (third track on the playlist below) and It Was Farewell(sixth track) just to get a taste of his music. His voice somehow reminds me of Khalil Fong the Hong Kong soul Mandopop singer-songwriter. If you like Khalil 's voice,chances are that you'll probably like Joo Young's sound as well. 

 3. Soul Star's Rebirth (2011)

• I do think that this 3-person male vocal group is sorely underrated. For what it's worth,I truly feel that they are one of the best voices around in the industry. If you want some rich melodies of the soul/R&B genre then this would be your best bet. Why YG would ever let them go is beyond me. It happened with Big Mama,it happened with Su Pearls,all that I can say is,MEH. Perhaps it was best for them,since this means that they now have more artistic control,which is always good in my book. I was so tempted to go on a rant on how fired up I am over the disbandment of Su Pearl but I think that's a story better left for another day. Anyway,back to our boys,I actually quite like this album as a whole since the sound is pretty much consistent throughout. I don't have a favourite song though.

 4. d.ear's Love Graphy (2013)

•  d.ear (Lee Hyung-seok) is only of the early rookies of the year.,dropping a full length album with all tracks written, composed, and produced by d.ear himself. He comes from RealCollabo, the same company that houses Joo Young (mentioned above). Love Graphy is a solid debut from d.ear. I love that the instrumentals are kept clean and simple as a means to showcase his vocal abilities. My personal favourite from this album has to be Time Goes By. It has a jazz/R&B-ish vibe to it that I really like. One thing worth mentioning is that the flow of all of the tracks are really good in a very cohesive way. I love how the entire album stays consistent and true to its main theme until the very end. There wasn't a single track that felt out of place in terms of its musicality which I have to say is a quality that I can rarely find in albums nowadays. I am all about cohesiveness and consistency when it comes to albums so when it's properly done,that makes me a happy listener. I have to admit that there's a fine line between being consistent and boring,so I'm pleasantly surprised to see such a good piece of work from a rookie like d.ear. 

As you can probably infer from my current choice of music,it seems that I'm rather inclined towards the soul/R&B genre as of late,which is actually something pretty new for me. These artists cannot be categorised in the K-indie genre but I suppose that they are quite independent in the sense that they actually can and have the ability to exercise more creative control and take reign in deciding what music do they want to portray to others,and that,I think,was what mattered to me the most. 
I'm currently testing out two albums namely Jung Yup's Part I,Me (2011) and Lucia's Decalcomanie (2012),so I am actually quite excited and curious to see if they too will endure the test of time. If you do happen to have any good album recommendations,please feel free to blast away in the comments section down below. 

This may seem quite abrupt and rather irrelevant but on a side note I am having quite some Flower Boy Next Door withdrawal symptoms. Never mind,here's a collection of GIFs from my favourite scene ever. HEH warm fuzzies.

-finito-