Nerd-Rock Meets K-Pop

Jang Gi Ha and the Faces seem to be the hot new item on the K-Pop scene, at least according to their fans. I don't know their demographic -- college students seeking Coolness, perhaps? A friend recommended them to me, so I looked them up. See what you think.



I'm not entirely sure what I think about them yet, even after several viewings of this video; I haven't listened to their CD yet. The song itself is sort of abstract: the title ("The Moon Is Getting Fuller -- Let's Go!") sets the tone. Jang Gi Ha, the lead singer, has an interesting voice and sings well. Though I enjoyed his choreography with the Mimi Sisters, it suggests to me a robotic alienation from the body that I both identify with and dis-identify with. Jang's look reminded me of the Feelies, whose first album I bought in 1980 just because of the way they looked:











And of Maynard G. Krebs, one of my most enduring early media crushes:








And the self-conscious oddness of the early B-52s:

Which I guess is not such a bad combination.

(P.S. July 1, 2009: Here's another musical forerunner of this song, and perhaps of Jang's performance style, though David Byrne is buggin' out compared to Jang's introversion:)