MAN! That f(x) Pink Tape...Though I’ve only recently gotten the fx album, I’ve been listening to it over and over again for a good month now, and I have to say, the Pink Tape album confirms that fx are one of the most ORIGINAL and innovative acts out there. God DAMN, almost EVERY single song on that album stunned me with its sheer UNPREDICTABILITY! This is ONE group that are ALWAYS pushing the envelope musically!
From the first song Rum Pum Pum Pum (and BTW, when I blast it in my car, that’s when I realize how well the bass is recorded on these discs!) I'm hit with their tight sound, the way the song's minimalistic structure keeps you on the edge of your seat building up to its droning choruses gets you so amped up for the rest of the album!!! Definitely another classic to add to their already impressive clutch of singles.
The next song “Shadow” showed me the eclectic direction they were going with this dreamy swarth of toylike sounds- I call this track their “Bewitched” song because the magical chime effect they use throughout the tune sounds just like Samantha casting a spell, I''m like, Wow, this sounds like the background music to someones' fantasy dream!! “Pretty Girl” is just drenched in that 90’s alt music I love like LUSH and the like, though the song began with a sort of R&B vibe, soon guitars are added to the mix, and then when the chorus kicks in,t I get a VERY retro feel. Superb vocals, too, very desperate and moody sounding.
Though the structure of this song is a bit like “Electric Shock”, it's the hypnotic bridge that really makes the next song KICK for me, reminding me a bit of Bjork’s Homogenic album, very moody and spacey! And right after that atmospheric bridge, it sets you up for that ROCKING chorus! KICK KICK KICK, no wonder Victoria cites this as her favorite track off the album! And has Sulli ever sounded more adorable when singing the line "Hot Like Pancakes" LOLOL, that's PURE Sulli!Signal- Wow, what a song! This song sounds like it could have been taken right off the tracklist of SNSD’s last album because it is SO Girls Generation Power-Pop flavoured- Lot of focus on the energetic vocals, I can almost hear Jessica and Sunny singing it! Whenever I hear this one, I get SO into it, my mind starts imagining dance moves for it, such an awesome song!!
One of the most danceable tracks off this album, STEP's a real discotheque "Thumping" track, if you know what I mean! Ya better believe this song gets blasted in my car whenever it comes up! BTW, might be a good time to mention here how much I dig the way they utilize Amber's english sound-bites throughout the album, the looping line "You Watch My Step!" used so imaginatively as the canvas which the girls cheerfully sing over! (BTW funny, both Pretty Girl and Step are also KARA titles, huh?)Up next is the lone ballad off of Pink Tape, and here we see just how awesome the girls' vocals are! A duet of sorts, with Amber, Krystal and Luna singing with D.O. of EXO fame, I just love how they sound during the choruses. Amber sang a bit of this backstage at Show Champion in English, which was cool! Funny that f(x) is primarily known for its electronic music, but you tend to forget how awesome they can sing, especially Luna, my GOSH do I love her voice!!!Aw, the extremely demented "Airplane"...The song starts off SO prettily and dreamy, and just when you think you've gotten ahold of another beautiful ballad of theirs, the song takes a 90º turn and literally warps into this cacophany of weird sound bites and spastic synth loops, the first time I heard it I felt assaulted by the barrage of sounds! I DID find the song catchy, however, and after a few listens, the song's structure "came together" in my head and now Airplane sounds like a surreal Salvador Dali painting set to music! I love waiting for Krystal's voice "Airplane! ...Love!"
In a side note, I saw the girls performing this song a few times on Music shows, and I 'm sorry to say I wasn't too impressed with the choreography for this song- it made the song seem boring and tired. But maybe I just haven't seen the right performance yet. The chugging guitar riffs that accent the next song Toy reminded me of the licks in the old Faith No More song “We Care A Lot”, and one night as I was listening to Boy, the Faith No More lyrics from We Care A Lot came back to me: “We care a lot about Transformers “cause they’re more than meets the eye!”- Just as I thought those lyrics, Amber says the line “I’m Transforming Now!” which really knocked me out with its coincidence!THEN what I consider the album’s MASTERPIECE…though I’ve been raving about how avante-garte and innovative Pink Tape's songs are, my very, VERY favorite song off this album is just about the only song that sounds like "traditional" f(x), the swinging beat song “No More”, Holy CRAP do I LOVE this song- the melody is SO catchy and the girls voices are SOOOO, SOOOOO GOOOD, almost like 50's style harmonizing!!!!
Reading the lyrics online its about them singing to a girlfriend who's always falling in love like a "fox-girl"over and over, so cute!!! I love the playful way they sing about getting sick of their girlfriend's lovelife games, but know they'll be there for her because they're friends. Already this is one of my top favorite f(x) songs of all time, I get such a freaking BUZZ listening to this, I love it SO MUCH!!!! Yeou Gateun Gijibae, Yeou Gateun Gijibae, you fox-girl, You fox-girl!!! So, So CATCHY!!!!!!!
As the album heads towards its conclusion, the girls decide to start wrapping things up with this solid dance track "Snapshot". When the song began I thought it was going to be like SNSD's "Romantic Street" with its "Olde Fashioned" flavor, but soon enough it turns into pure love f(x) with its catchy choruses and refrains!
And then we come to the final track to the Pink Tape Odyssey, the somber "Ending Page" where the girls sing thoughtfully about a failing romance, wondering how the story of their lives together will end- what will be on the final page? Gotta say, ending the album with this song always leaves me with a lonely feeling, but I STILL have to step back and say, "Wow, what an AWESOME album!!!"And then I go back and listen to it again!!! Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
