danielions’ top 5 songs of last month – dec ’19
Starting a new series for my favourite songs of the month! This list will not be limited to just Korean music but I’m sure there’ll be a ton of songs from my YouTube channel anyway 🙂
1. wave to earth - light
I lowkey love the k-rock genre. I don’t think it’s everyone’s cup of tea but it hits different on those lonely nights/sadboi hours. I’ve started to collect some Korean modern rock songs for a new playlist, so expect that in the coming months!
“wave to earth” is a relatively new band comprised of The Poles’ lead singer Daniel Kim, drummer/pianist Dong Q Shin, and photographer/creative designer(?) Seungki Hong. Daniel Kim is a freakin’ beast as he writes the music and lyrics for the songs, as well as plays all other instruments aside from Dong Q Shin’s. Talk about talented.
If you guys know me at all, you know I love chill tracks. Daniel Kim’s vocals alongside the instrumentals, create a dreamy atmosphere I can’t help but to listen to on repeat.
They JUST released their EP “wave 0.01” on January 2, 2020, but “light” remains my favourite. “wave“, which I also posted on my YouTube channel, is also amazing. “bird” is a little weird but in the best way possible. I’m not crazy about the synth in the intro/outro but I appreciate what they’re trying to do.
2. sway bleu - Why You
Here’s a track I had HUGE expectations for. The first time I heard “sway bleu” (formerly known as Sunham) was a feature on “Milky Day – Blur (feat. Sunham)“. Milky Day did a great job with the production on that track but I was instantly hooked on sway bleu’s vocals. I even created an entire playlist ♫ everything will be okay ; underground korean indie (10 songs) around the mood of the song. (Side note: It’s at 266K views – wowww).
So when I received a submission from sway bleu it took me a good 5 minutes to click play. “Please be good. Please be good. Please be good.” I mumbled to myself as I hovered over the play button. And thankfully it was better than good – it was a fkn banger. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that he wrote and produced the track himself! I have sooo much respect for artists who can produce and sing. True unicorns in the music scene these days.
Truthfully, I like “Blur” ever so slightly more, but I’ll be keeping a close eye on sway bleu this year!
3. keshi - blue
Y’all already know I’d include “keshi” on this list! I generally don’t post any non-Korean artists on my channel but I had to make an exception for keshi. In the past 1.5 years he’s quickly become my all-time favourite artist with my all-time favourite song “2 soon” – but that’s a post for another day.
“blue” is a bit of a departure from keshi’s typical song style but it’s fantastic regardless. Admittedly, it took me a few listens to really appreciate the track as it has more of an acoustic sound compared to the rest of his discography. The acoustic guitar is in the forefront and really shines in this song whereas the instrument usually just another layer in the fantastic beats that keshi makes.
The lyrics about friends drifting and life changing really hits close to home for me especially during the holiday season. I’ve had a few close friends move across country and literally across the world these past couple of years but they visited during Christmas and it felt so damn good to be reunited again.
From keshi himself:
“‘blue’ is a song about missing friends.
A lot of shit happened this year, and I realized that the only thing I really wanted to do was to share it with people who aren’t with me anymore.
It’s not even that we’re far away from each other. We just lose track of keeping in touch because we all have our own lives going on.
The ‘move on with the seasons’ line still kinda guts me when I read it.”
source
4. LANY - Let Me Know
LANY is an american indie band that I started listening to way back in 2016 when they opened for an “Oh Wonder” concert. The weird thing about this song is that I listened to the album multiple times but always skipped over it – now I absolutely love it. It’s super embarrassing but I rediscovered this song through a youtube video titled “LANY – Let Me Know (Dua lipa relationship)” lmao (for those who care, she supposedly dumped the lead singer, Paul Jason Klein, for her ex…ouch).
Anyways, “Let Me Know” is now my second favourite song from LANY after “13“.
This youtube comment perfectly summarizes this song for me:
Fun fact: Paul Jason Klein is also a fan of keshi’s music! According to their instagram stories, they even met up for some songwriting sessions. Collab when?
5. Nodsgn - Blue (feat. Seo Jayeong)
Oh man, Nodsgn (pronounced No Design) has been one of my favourite underground korean artists since the early days of my youtube channel. I posted his song “All I Wanna Do” back on Dec 6, 2016! I’m not sure what he was up to in 2017/2018 (perhaps military service? I recall seeing photos of him in his uniform on Instagram) but I’m sure glad he’s back. He released his song “Loose” while I was in Korea last year and I literally listened to that one song on repeat for two days. I have fond memories of laying on my terribly uncomfortable airbnb bed with this playing in the background.
Like all the other songs on this list, Blue is a pretty chill track. I want to say this common theme is due to the “chilly December weather” or some kinda BS but my youtube channel is basically 90% this kinda music hahah. This song features the indie singer “Seo Jayeong”, whom I desperately wanted to like because I think her voice is so lovely but her solo tracks never really resonated with me. Pairing Nodsgn’s musical style with Seo Jayeong’s voice is the perfect compromise. I’m really happy to see him starting to produce his own beats too.
What were your top tracks of last month? Let me know in the comments below!
17 Comments
Hansheng
First off, I’d like to say I absolutely love your taste in music~ I’ve been following you on YouTube for years now and constantly have your mixes on replete~ second I’m really glad you finally started a blog!!! It’s really great to see your opinion on the songs!
Last month:
Sandra Chan- No no (ft. Waawei)
Salyu- Inazuma
Enno Chen- 那些酒精成癮的日子
Enno Chen- 591
NELL- Noise of silence
Some old but some new songs too~ I hope you give them a listen!
danielions
Oh god I didn’t realize that I had to manually approve the comments…thanks so much for the recommendations! I’ll check them out right now 🙂
EDIT: Sandra Chan- No no (ft. Waawei) is REALLY cool. I like it a lot. Thanks so much for sharing!!! I like listening to Chinese music but don’t know much outside of Jay Chou and Eric Chou hahah
Hansheng
I’m so glad you liked it!!!! It’s been on most of my playlists recently~ I listen to a lot of Taiwanese, Japanese, and Korean music. I definitely listen to a lot more indie music as far as Taiwanese mandarin music goes~ flows with the soul better… but I’m sure you know how that goes! I can’t wait for your next blog! ^_^
danielions
Please do share more in the future 🙂
Hansheng
I absolutely will!!! ^_^ I’m so glad you like it! ^_^
Sven
I love this list and I love you. Marry me.
danielions
Future Mrs. 버섯 will not be happy if that happens…
Also I’ll let you know when the k-rock list is up. You’ll prob like.
Hansheng
Absolutely will!!! ^_^ I’m so glad you like it! ^_^
Nicole (@reality_unleashed)
As per usual great choices!!! I always trust your taste as it has never once let me down!
Here is my fav list rn!!!(some are on insta only rn)
Have a good day and a great start wirh your blog!!!! Sending positive vibes!!
Jason Valentine(ft Kyle Bent) LVL
Divine-Energy
Dominixos-Never Die
Oyku Dogan- Moontide Song
V18- Somber
danielions
Thanks Nicole! I’m going to listen to all the recs in the comments now 🙂
Isak
I’m happy to see that you open a blog. Your song choice was Sublime. I will tell you because I follow you since I was in middle school and yours playlists help me to feel better when I was in bad situation. I listened all yours playlists and a lot of of the sharing songs. I think that playlists that you do was the best that I never I had her see YouTube, they are PERFECT. Thank you so much!
danielions
Awesome!! I’m so happy to hear I can help. Middle school was a rough time for me.
High school and uni were much more fun for me and I’m sure it’ll be the same for you!
Majesty
You know, I just recently found you, your channel, and your website. . . and I have to say I absolutely love it. I primarily love Korean r&b. . well r&b period. . . and was even more surprised that there are tons of other artists and songs out there that I still don’t know! These songs in particular are now my new favorites and are officially added to my library, permanently lol. I just want to say thank you for sharing your awesome taste in music 🙂 I look forward to so much more! And I want to suggest a couple of songs for you. They are not all korean songs, nor all the same genre, but I thought you would still enjoy some of them.
Ex – Ojikae
Carter – LetDown
Time – Sebastian Mikael (If u like soul type music)
Love You Too Much – Lucky Daye
Buying Time – Lucky Daye
At Your Touch – Joe Hertz (If u like chill house)
When My Love Ends – smle (If u like chill house again lol)
To The Moon – Phora
Running – J.Yung
. . . and Slchld – Wednesday Girl (Spread sorrow remix)
You might know some of these songs or even all of them, but I thought I would just give a hint of my style if u like it. But I will be viewing more of your channel, which is pure gold, and will loyally be waiting for every post! I finally found someone with actual taste in music lol.
Majesty
I also forgot to mention All For Me by Jamieboy & Jeff Bernat! That is literally like my favorite song!
Sara
Ahh sorry I didn’t see that I wrote my comment as a reply:((
Sara
I like every song on your list but I have to say my personal favourite among these is Nodsgn – Blue.
I’ve been listening to him for a while and I have to say – he has only great songs. You mentioned Milky Day and his music became my daily “must to hear” nowadays.
When it comes to my list of december 19′ ( I know I’m a bit late since it’s February already ) then I’d pick:
– Primary ft. Meego & Suran – When I fall in love
– Dvwn – Phobia / Waste of time / Underwater Swimming / Develop ( I’m really into his music for last few months, and I’m so glad he joined KOZ and became more recognizable )
– Dynamic Duo – Hemi’s Room ( man I’m a huge fan of Dynamic Duo music… I know they’re a legends but I feel like they’re underrated… )
– Cosmic Boy – Can I love? / Love ( intro )
– whole new album by Jeebanoff – “Good Thing”
– whole Crush’s album – From Midnight to Sunrise ( I cant even pick a favourite song from this album, each of them is a masterpiece for me. Crush’s music means a lot for me, thanks to him I started listening to korean music and being interested in this country itself )
– LambC – Fallin
– Sam Kim – Would You Believe
– Gaho – Stay here & Then
– Red House – Timeloop ( I really recommend his music btw )
– Giiana – Wishes, Let me take your love, save it, bad trip
– Jiwoo – comme des garcons
– Soo So Bin – So it is
So yeah, that’s more than 5 tracks haha but I really couldn’t skip any of then
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