In honor(?) of the 10th year anniversary of the album's release and some gentle coaxing from LRC, I dug up(literally, I couldn't find it for years now) the Joybox album for you guys to hear.
You'll hear some punk, some Stones, Beatles, RHCP, pop, even some country/celtic doo-doo. In other words, it's all over the place without a center, like a Kpop album should be. I only penned track #7, but had heaps of fun tracking in producer/guitarist Ricky's living room, the drum tracks triggered from a Roland set to Nord ddrums. I pretty much learned how to "play" the bass while recording and playing with these guys, it was a precious 2 years of life I won't easily forget.
Track 1 "Mayonaise": In verse 1, Miro explains how to make kimchijjigae(kimchistew), and in verse 2, it's how to make ddeokmanduguk(dumpling soup w/beef broth). From 1:26 to the end of the track, Miro is screaming out 4-syllable words that are all names of Korean/Western eats. The constantly modulating part at :40, was inspired by Blur's Globe Alone, as we did a lot of listening to The Great Escape while recording.
Thanks for listening, guys. It was my first listen in 6 years as well, and looking back I can't believe we actually tracked ddrums, although it sure made living room recording a breeze. As for royalties, the only cash presently coming in is from karaoke rotation, as the album is impossible to find anywhere. It was 30,000 units sold within 6 months of release, and then poof.
Gavin wrote:That's some language you got there. You guys speak like that 24/7?
Haha, nah. I do speak English when I teach in the morning, but the rest of the time I reckon I'm screaming my head off just like Miro, although "Mayonaise" has a lot of Korean onomatopoeia that makes it sound quite weird, like bogul bogul (bubble sound) and jigeul jigeul (sizzling of meat) keureo keureo (boiling sound). Miro herself was originally a hip-hop girl and was just 20 when we did that album, so all the energy(and zero singing experience) kind of paid off, in a strange way.
As for the Korean language, I'm super biased but still think it's an aesthetically gorgeous language to hear and speak, a flat-tongue (front of the mouth, perfect for ventriloquists) language rich with consonants and a delicate intonation that has none of the uppity tones of Han-influenced Chinese or SE Asian languages, yet can still be quite colorful. Honestly, I think only some fo the SoCal folks have heard me speak it with the Moollon team at NAMM, and I'm curious as to how I objectively sound to Westerners, as many strangers have asked what the heck the language is but no one has ever guessed anything close. Curiously enough, when my sister came with the family to our wedding in '05, she later boasted to her friends about Cindi's "sexy, low voice", which was something neither of us sensed as a couple have ever sensed, but the sis totally picked up on it.
That tone in particular is very similar to the charming(and very popular) MBC-TV prime time weather girl Eunji Park, who has a much "darker" alto tone than the stereotypical bright and cheery weather girl voices that are a norm here:
Check this out:
[youtube][/youtube]
She's a sharp contrast from one of the most annoying voices I know in broadcasting, the nonetheless talented show host Hyun Young. She's brilliant but makes me cringe, even with a toned-down version of her broadcast voice:
