Category Archives: Music

Favorite Songs of 2017

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It’s still January, so not too egregiously late: Here’s a list of my top songs for this year, in an order that might be surprisingly mixable. These are not necessarily from 2017; I just happened to have heard them in the last twelve months.

Paris, by The Chainsmokers on Memories…Do Not Open
On Hold, by The xx on I See You
Should’ve Been You, by Imelda May on Life Love Flesh Blood
Castle on the Hill, by Ed Sheeran on Divide
Want You Back, by HAIM on Something to Tell You
Ride, by Twenty One Pilots on Blurryface
Cleopatra, by The Lumineers on Cleopatra
Fault Line, by Michelle Branch on Hopeless Romantic
Walk on, by Overcoats on YOUNG
Liability, by Lorde on Melodrama
Making Love Out of Nothing at All, by Air Supply on Definitive Collection
New York, by St. Vincent on MASSEDUCTION
Beautiful Trauma, by Pink on Beautiful Trauma
Love Me Like You Do, by Ellie Goulding on Delirium
Sign of the Times, by Harry Styles on Harry Styles
The Industry, by Okkervil River on Away
Don’t Take the Money, by Bleachers on Gone Now
White Flag, by Joseph on I’m Alone, No You’re Not
Ordinary World, by Green Day on Revolution Radio
Tachycardia, by Conor Oberst on Ruminations
Apocalypse, by Cigarettes After Sex on Cigarettes After Sex

I don’t know if any one particular song stands out here — maybe Lorde’s “Liability”?  Or perhaps The xx’s “On Hold.”  Let’s just call it a tie, because they’re both wonderful.

Favorite Songs of 2016

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Better late than never: Here’s a list of my top songs for this year, in an order that might be surprisingly mixable. These are not necessarily from 2016; I just happened to have heard them in the last twelve months.

Fronteras, by Gaby Moreno on Ilusion
Million Reasons, by Lady Gaga on Joanne
Lady Wood, by Tove Lo on Lady Wood
Move Your Body, by Sia on This Is Acting
Hold My Hand, by Jess Glynne on I Cry When I Laugh
Until the Day Dims (Heavy Hands Remix), by The Woodlands on Heavy Hands Remix
Gimmie Love, by Carly Rae Jepsen on Emotion
A Happy Place, by Katie Melua on The House
Fight Song, by Rachel Platten on Wildfire
School Friends, by Now, Now on Threads
James, by Maggie Rogers on Blood Ballet
We’ve Only Just Begun, by the Carpenters on The Essential Collection
Open, by Rhye on Woman
Hold You Tonight, by The Woodlands on Gems and Bones
Hollywood, by Grouplove on Big Mess
Almost Makes Me Wish for Rain, by Lucius on Good Grief
Still Falling for You, by Ellie Goulding on Bridget Jones’s Baby Soundtrack
Used to Love You, by Gwen Stefani on This Is What the Truth Feels Like
Mayhem, by Imelda May on Mayhem
Lone Ranger, by Rachel Platten on Wildfire
Maybe This Christmas, by Tracey Thorn on Tinsel and Lights
She’s Got You, by Rhiannon Giddens on Tomorrow Is My Turn

The highlight this year is Tove Lo’s “Lady Wood,” which has some serious sonic landscapes.  Tove Lo also wrote another song here, the Ellie-Goulding-helmed “Still Falling for You.”  Ms. Lo is at the top of her game.

Gifts from 2015: BookDragon’s Top 25, NYT’s The Year in Illustration

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I missed these two nice mentions before 2015 came to an end:

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s BookDragon named Love Love as one of its top 25 of 2015.  Here’s what it had to say about it:

Love Love by Sung J. Woo proves that jaw-dropping dysfunction can make for some spectacular Schadenfreude.

Over at The New York Times, they picked a handful of best graphics for their The Year in Illustration list and guess what was there…

None other than the fantastic artwork by Jun Cen for my Opinionator piece back in April.

Thank you, 2015.  You were the gift that kept giving until the very last day.

Favorite Songs of 2015

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“I hope the world sees the same person that you’ve always been to me / And may all your favorite bands stay together”

Here’s a list of my top songs for this year, in an order that might be surprisingly mixable. These are not necessarily from 2015; I just happened to have heard them in the last twelve months.

When We Were Young, by Adele on 25
Budapest, by George Ezra on Wanted on Voyage
Jealousy, by Pet Shop Boys on Behaviour
I Can Change, by Brandon Flowers on The Desired Effect
Clearest Blue, by Chvrches on Every Open Eye
Want to Want Me, by Jason Derulo on Everything Is 4
Fire Under My Feet, by Leona Lewis on I Am
Queen of Peace, by Florence + the Machine on How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
All Your Favorite Bands, by Dawes on All Your Favorite Bands
Karen Don’t Be Sad, by Miley Cyrus on Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz
Farmer’s Road, by Telekenisis on Ad Infinitum
Capable of Anything (8 Chamber Rock Song Featuring yMusic), by Ben Folds on So There
Superheated, by New Order on Music Complete
Talk About You, by Mika on No Place in Heaven
Just Like Me, by Betty Who on Take Me When You Go
Cradle to the Grave, by Squeeze on Cradle to the Grave
Crystals, by Of Monsters and Men on Beneath the Skin
Wherever Is Your Heart, by Brandi Carlile on The Firewatcher’s Daughter
Missing You, by All Time Low on Future Hearts
Nobody, by Selena Gomez on Revival

The snippet under the heart up there is from Dawes’ “All Your Favorite Bands,” whose lyrics seem apt to mention as my own favorite band, New Order, pretty much broke up forever this year (they put out a new album, but without one of their key founding members).  Musically, the highlight this year is Mika’s “Talk About You,” which never fails to put a smile on my face.

95.9 FM, the Fish, Driving Through Beverly Hills

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bh

I’m driving a rental in L.A.  It’s a Ford Focus, the cheapest thing I could find.  Still has way more power than my Prius, so I still feel like I’m redlining every time I press the gas pedal.  This Focus has Microsoft SYNC, which is supposed to make connections to smartphones via Bluetooth bulletproof, except my phone, for whatever reason, will not connect.

So I’ve been relegated to listening to the radio.  After clicking through the channels, the one I found I liked the best was 95.9 FM, the Fish.  I found myself liking just about every song from this station.  It might be because many of them have these soaring melodies, almost Jim Steinmanian (that’s the guy who wrote those Meatloaf sagas, plus Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” etc.).  And then the DJ came on, Delilah, and she was talking about such deep, meaningful things, about the difficulties of life, the elusiveness of salvation, how we can find ourselves in this confusing universe of ours.  Wow, was this a cool station or what?  So very different.  Must be an L.A. thing.

And then came on a commercial about a movie I’d never heard before, War Room.

On the outside, Tony and Elizabeth Jordan seem to have it all—great jobs, a beautiful daughter and their dream home. But their appearances are deceiving: Tony relishes in his professional success and flirts with temptation, while Elizabeth resigns herself to increasing bitterness. Their marriage is on the verge of crumbling until their lives take an unexpected turn. When Elizabeth meets Miss Clara, she challenges Elizabeth to create a battle plan of prayer for her family by establishing a “war room.” This new film from the Kendrick brothers is a vivid reminder that prayer is powerful weapon.

The next song that came on was Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take the Wheel,” and then I finally realized I’ve been listening to a Christian Rock station.

One strange thing about me is that I hardly ever listen to the lyrics of any song.  If I like a song a lot, then I’ll eventually pick up on the lyrics, but even with those, it’s entirely possible I just learn the words on a pure sound level; i.e., my brain isn’t actually processing anything.

Even stranger?  I’m still listening to the Fish.  What can I say, I like the music.

Love Love in San Francisco Magazine (9/2015)

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A hearty thank you to San Francisco Magazine for giving some love to Love Love:sanfranmag_ll

The full text:

Get lost in an oversexed San Francisco

Sung J. Woo, author of the highly lauded Everything Asian, has a new novel on a slightly different subject.  Love Love (Soft Skull Press) finds 40-year-old tennis coach Kevin Lee grappling with the discovery that not only was he adopted, but his biological parents were porn stars in ’70s San Francisco — a lot to take in for a man in the midst of a midlife crisis.

The portion of the bald head you see below my little snippet belongs to none other than Salman Rushdie!  If that wasn’t amazing enough, I’m also sharing space with Jonathan Franzen’s Purity and Billy Joel.  The entire page appears below.

sanfranmag

KoreAm Column: Welcome to the Club

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erasure

My bi-monthy column for KoreAm Journal for March/April features the music of my youth, Erasure in particular.  Enjoy!

First-World Problems: Welcome to the Club

This past New Year’s Eve, I was on the second floor of Terminal 5, a concert hall in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen. Leaning over the railing, I screamed, “I love to hate you!” with the rest of the frenzied crowd below me, above me, all around me. As the song reached its end, the singer segued into a countdown, and then he yelled, “Happy New Year!” Gold balloons and white confetti rained down from above, and then we all sang the next song, “I try to discover, a little something to make me sweeter …”

If you are of a certain age and Asian American, there’s a high likelihood that you know these two songs are “Love to Hate You” and “A Little Respect.” This was my first time seeing Erasure. I probably should’ve done this a quarter of a century ago, but back then, I didn’t even know who they were, and more to the point, I didn’t know who I was.

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Favorite Songs of 2014

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“Even though we draw our lines / with very different ends”

Here’s a list of my top songs for this year, in an order that might be surprisingly mixable. These are not necessarily from 2014; I just happened to have heard them in the last twelve months.

Katie Herzig (The Walking Sleep) – Oh My Darlin’
Jessie Ware (Tough Love) – You and I (Forever)
Coldplay (Ghost Stories) – A Sky Full of Stars
Spoon (They Want My Soul) – Let Me Be Mine
Echosmith (Talking Dreams) – Nothing’s Wrong
Katie Herzig (Walk Through Walls) – Drug
American Authors (Oh, What a Life) – Hit It
Angus & Julia Stone (Angus & Julia Stone) – Get Home
Tennis (Ritual in Repeat) – Bad Girls
Delta Spirit (Delta Spirit) – Yamaha
Sam Smith (In the Lonely Hour) – Not in That Way
Ed Sheeran (X) – One
Katie Herzig (Walk Through Walls) – Human Too
Taylor Swift (1989) – Style
First Aid Kit (Stay Gold) – Heaven Knows
Bleachers (Strange Desire) – Rollercoaster
Tove Lo (Queen of the Clouds) – Timebomb
The New Pornographers (Brill Bruisers) – Champions of Red Wine
Stars (No One Is Lost) – This Is the Last Time
Jenny Lewis (The Voyager) – Just One of the Guys
Phosphorescent (Muchacho) – Ride on/Right on
Katie Herzig (Walk Through Walls) – Lines
Adam Levine (Begin Again) – Lost Stars

Katie Herzig makes four appearances here, and that number easily could’ve been ten.  I first heard her music in the show Rectify, the song “I Hurt Too,” which I later found out was also featured in the show Bones.  I guess her music translates really well to TV.  The standout this year is one of hers, “Lines,” which showcases her beautiful, fragile voice.

Favorite Songs of 2013

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“I’ll explore the outer limits of boredom / moaning periodically”

Here’s a list of my top songs for this year, in an order that might be surprisingly mixable. These are not necessarily from 2013; I just happened to have heard them in the last twelve months.

“Tourniquet,” by Hem (Departure & Farewell)
“Run (Feat. Jennifer Nettles & Kristian Bush),” by Matt Nathanson (Modern Love)
“Someone Will,” by Dawes (Stories Don’t End)
“I Remember You,” by Rilo Kiley (Rkives)
“Entertainment,” by Phoenix (Bankrupt!)
“Metroland,” by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (English Electric)
“We Sink,” by Chvrches (The Bones of What You Believe)
“Don’t Just Sit There,” by Lucius (Wildewoman)
“Out on the Town,” by Fun. (Some Nights)
“Black Sheep,” by Gin Wigmore (Gravel & Wine)
“At Seventeen,” by Janis Ian (Between the Lines)
“If I Ever Leave This World Alive,” by Flogging Molly (Drunken Lullabies)
“Fake Palindromes,” by Andrew Bird (The Mysterious Production of Eggs)
“Don’t Save Me,” by Haim (Days Are Gone)
“Lights (Single Version),” by Ellie Goulding (Halcyon [Deluxe Version])
“Love Is a Bourgeois Construct,” by Pet Shop Boys (Electric)
“Picking Up the Pieces,” by Paloma Faith (Fall to Grace)
“The Heart of the Matter,” by Megan Hilty (It Happens All the Time)
“What’ll Keep Me Out of Heaven,” by Brandy Clark (12 Stories)
“Without You,” by Harry Nilsson (Nilsson Schmilsson)

If I had to pick one song that was my very favorite for this year, it would be the Pet Shop Boys’ “Love Is a Bourgeois Construct,” a seven-minute romp that somehow never overstays its welcome.  It’s a playful song with tongue-in-cheek lyrics and a driving beat, the signature of these pop masters who’ve been making great music for more than twenty years.  May they stay boys forever.

Favorite Songs of 2012

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“You are a guest here now…”

Here’s a list of my top songs for this year, in an order that might be surprisingly mixable. These are not necessarily from 2012; I just happened to have heard them in the last twelve months.

“Myth,” by Beach House on Bloom
“Somebody That I Used to Know,” by Gotye on Making Mirrors
“Dakota,” by Wiretree on Make Up
“Classy Girls,” by The Lumineers on The Lumineers
“High Road,” by Tennis on Young & Old
“Brokenhearted,” by Karmin on Hello
“White Nights,” by Oh Land on Oh Land
“We Are Young,” by the Cast of Glee, on Glee Season 3
“Augustine,” by Vienna Teng on Inland Territory
“Dead Oaks,” by Now, Now on Threads
“Hearts Content,” by Brandi Carlile on Bear Creek
“L-O-V-E,” by Nat King Cole on L-O-V-E
“Clown,” by Emile Sande on Our Version of Events
“How,” by Regina Spektor on What We Saw from the Cheap Seats
“King and Lionheart,” by Of Monsters and Men on My Head Is an Animal
“Brothers,” by Tanlines on Mixed Emotions
“Moves Like Jagger,” by Maroon 5 (featuring Christina Aguilera) on Hands All Over
“Dancing on My Own,” by Robyn on Body Talks Pt. 1
“Tongue Tied,” by Grouplove on Never Trust a Happy Song
“Everybody Talks,” by Neon Trees on Picture Show
“Coming Back to a Man,” by Dawes on Nothing Is Wrong
“The A Team,” by Ed Sheeran on +

If I had to pick one song that was my very favorite for this year, it would be Regina Spektor’s “How.”  I’m not exactly sure what it is about this song that really got me.  Possibly the earnestness with which she sings.  Or the plainness of the lyrics themselves.  It’s a sad love song, and a very good one.