Slightly campy minimal covers of kraftwerk, punk, etc. - less cheesy than you would think if you're familiar with Senor Coconut. If you don't believe me, then review with Resident Advisor.

Why So Serious - The Misconceptions of Me

First, lets deal with the title track. Why so Serious is another example of Korean prog-pop, a trend that has been infecting composition in the industry with often uneven results. Typically, and Shinee is no exception, all this mixology makes the songs confusing - without clear choruses, verses, structure etc. Unfortunately, Why so Serious has the added onus of hair band bombast as a touch point (is David Lee Roth the next full circle?) But on the other hand, that's exactly what makes the song so sonically distinctive and sets it apart from all the other prog-pop out there.

The rest of the album is just as "experimental" (at least in the Shinee world). None of the tracks really utilize the minor/major formula that is leveraged to the max in the first album. Instead, in terms of production and direction, the tracks reward with detail if not the big hits of Dream Girl. Plus, the album sounds clean and the vocals compliment the music in a balanced way. The producers really took some pains to blow through current trends and past hits while still making the overall feel very Shinee.

Stylistically unusual, Nightmare and Evil seem to reflect different facets of the group - the former with a Big Bang brattiness tempered by orchestral chorus via Thriller, the latter a typical boy band swag song with a beautiful harmonic segue into the chorus and a swath of atmospheric cloud that softens the attitude.

The bubbly arpeggio bridge of Medusa I, though unobtrusive, and the minimalist funk of Medusa II, infectious and very charming, stand out for what I can only describe as a kind of Shinee specificity.

While sleazy slow jams aren't really my thing, Orgel - with a xylophone rainbowing over spare beats and a meandering melody - really seduced me with the swoony daydreaming of a rainy day. Innocent, but not quite.

Excuse me Miss is a classic Excuse me Miss kind of r&b song, but wet chopstick snares and tiny organ riffs transform this most banally obvious of tropes into a gentle come on.

Sleepless Night, I admit, is the kind of song I always have on repeat, but that's not a free pass. The improved vocal abilities of all the boys really get to shine here and they do it with perfect arrangement. Again I'm surprised though. Where did Taemin's big, golden, warbling color come from all of a sudden?

Definitely, Misconceptions of Me is the most grown up and delicately layered Shinee album thus far, and quite probably, the one that will sound even better with age. While they have harder hitting singles, this might be my favorite album in the discography.


Boys Meet U

I don't have high expectations for Korean pop in Japan, but in some ways Shinee is ready-made for the market. All that natural pink and teal fits right in.

Though, I'm taking an immediate liking to the first track - which reminds me of the jrock lite with a little 90's Seal thrown in - perhaps not the most apropos reference - speaking very generously. The second track, Breaking News, has a typical minor to major Shinee structure, but an uncharacteristically abrupt transition from break to chorus. Compared to better offerings earlier this year, this song is relatively passable. Several songs on the album were released as singles previously - no surprises - but they feel at home in the requisite clutch of Japanese ballads. Last on the album, I love you, is uneven, crowded, and maybe overly compressed. Also, the boys are not ideally distributed through the verses. What the song does have going is a christmas-meets-indie r&b sound that feels like good memories for me.

However, Kiss Yo makes up for all the lukewarm with a fun-fun-stupid kind of giddiness. Spun out on rawkus punk and peppered with hollabacks, Kiss Yo is quintessentially Japanese rockabilly with some gabba and a jarring rock/dubstep breakdown. Super fun and unexpected, I always enjoy these left field songs, like 2am's I love you. And... how does Onew manage to sound great in everything?

By far, not my favorite album of the trilogy, but there is a pleasant "bubblegum" lining.

I didn't post the 2011 end-of-year film list did I?
Well, now I did. And anyway, a couple years distance is a great way to make sure that the love is still on.

X-Men: First Class
First Class is obviously the best movie of the current franchise. McAvoy - who you should love because he is Leto Atreides II - and Fassbender - who you should love because he's Fassbender - roll through the emotional punches of X and M with precision and lots of charm. The mindf*&@ comes when you see a young Xavier/McAvoy/Patrick Stewart/Picard actually hitting on a fine bird at a bar, quite convincingly I might add, till he is summarily cockblocked by a petulant Jennifer Lawrence/Mystique - who has more personality in First Class than all the other films combined.

13 Assassins
Billing this film as the best samurai movie ever is far from hyperbolic. Takashi Mike pares down the plot and simultaneously amps up the action. This sounds like a recipe for disaster, but in the case of 13 Assassins, makes for compelling, suspenseful drama that plays out slow and minimally, then turns into a vengeful bloodbath. I'm not sure why we should be rooting for the assassins except that the vaguely historical bad guy is kind of fey and inbred, but I don't think that it matters in the end. A side-by-side with the 1963 original film is in order.


Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
I have nothing thrilling to add to all the positive reviews available on the web.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
If there is one reason to use 360 degree cams and 3D technology, documenting our rapidly diminishing natural and cultural resources for posterity is IT. This is the closest we have right now to going into a holodeck and experiencing/studying a physical location that is extinct or on its way to be. Funnel money into these projects for public edification, please.


Below are other films that were contenders, but above were the films that stood out in retrospect:

Submarine
Moneyball
The Trip
Win Win
The Tree of Life
Melancholia
Nostalgia for the Light