Tiny Desk Concerts lands in Korea

NoW

This week’s music and performances

2023.10.13

Credit

Article. Lee Jiyeon, Kim Doheon (Music Critic)

Design. Jeon Yurim

Photo Credit. Tiny Desk Korea YouTube

Tiny Desk Korea (YouTube, U+ Mobile TV)

Lee Jiyeon: Tiny Desk Concerts, the “tiny but not so tiny concert” series from American radio broadcaster NPR Music, now has its very own Korean version. Tiny Desk Korea is licensed by the original creators and produced by LG’s STUDIO X+U. To give a taste of the uniquely Korean direction this iteration will take, the first song featured is a version of the Korean folk song “Arirang” by the Kim Chang Wan Band, with the brilliant An EunKyeong on the taepyeongso. The new series maintains the Tiny Desk Concert concept of artists performing in a small, cozy space, and gives it some Korean flair.

Kim Chang Wan was the first guest on the new show. When asked what it felt like performing there, Kim answered that he enjoys “both extravagant stages and grand stages” but that this performance made him “think this space allowed us to convey our music and our sincerity even more.” Having such an intimate setting for a concert allows the artist to perform in closer communication with the audience. That may explain why he played an unexpected encore: “I don’t know if it’s because I was caught up in the excitement, but I performed an encore, which I hadn’t done before.” One of the best parts of the show is how it makes online viewers feel like they’re there for a live show thanks to there being no edits in post-production. The live performances are an absolute treat, with the sound of the guitar, drums, and keyboards ringing out clearly, while the microphones pick up everything from breathing to background sounds. Shooting everything in one take allows the whole show to take on a more raw quality and that much more real, like when a little slip-up in the improvised guitar solo during “Meaning of You” makes the band laugh together and keep playing. This “raw yet vibrant music space,” in Kim’s words, has no extravagant set pieces, attention-grabbing lighting, or elaborate stage direction, but Tiny Desk Korea is a unique venue all its own.

Tension (Kylie Minogue)

Kim Doheon (Music Critic): Kylie Minogue will go down in the history books as a pop culture juggernaut with all the brazen sex appeal of Madonna. But more than her looks, the highlight of Kylie’s career has been her deep musical exploration. She got her start as a teenage bubblegum pop superstar, active in the songwriting process despite a serious slump in the early 1990s, and sharpened her creative skills by digging her nails deep into the world of electronic music. Before she had the hit “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” she had “Where the Wild Roses Grow” with Nick Cave, and the unforgettable album Impossible Princess, made in collaboration with such artists as Towa Tei, Pizzicato Five, Garbage, Björk, and Manic Street Preachers. Kylie’s found a second wind in her career since the release of Disco, which capitalized on the disco pop revival of the 2010s, and she’s still on a roll with Tension, her latest album. Her new release is an instant classic, combining effortless attraction with all the skill of an icon who’s already mastered electropop, Eurodance, and house. From “Padam Padam,” a queer anthem for the TikTok generation, and the turn-of-the-century club banger “Tension,” to “10 Out of 10” with DJ Oliver Heldens, the album is packed with instant hits. Tension is, hands down, one of the best albums of Kylie’s career and a case study of how to do a pop album right. The new release represents her fifth decade in a row since 1988 of releasing a number-one album on the UK charts—the perfect achievement for an absolute diva whose immense creative capacity has directly influenced her work.