New album free of pretense, genre expectations, members claim

“The Age of Shadows” by director Kim Ji-won has been invited to screen under the Special Presentations program at the 41st annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).“The Age of Shadows” follows members of an independence group in the 1920s as they fight for Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule.In addition to the historical thriller, Park Chan-wook’s globally-acclaimed production “The Handmaiden” and Kim Sung-soo’s “Asura: The City of Madness” have also been invited to the Speci

After a 16-month-long hiatus, K-pop group SHINee is ready to unveil new material. The five-member boy band is scheduled to release a new album in September, the official date depending on how the group’s currently scheduled events pan out, a local media outlet reported quoting an industry insider. To promote its fourth Japanese studio album “D×D×D,” SHINee performed 20 concerts throughout Japan from January to May, attracting a total of over a million fans.The group’s entertainment agency S.M. E

NEW YORK (AFP) -- Beyonce on Tuesday led nominations for the MTV Video Music Awards as she basked in acclaim for her film-album “Lemonade.”The pop diva was in the running for 11 awards at MTV‘s annual extravaganza, which will take place Aug. 28 in New York’s Madison Square Garden, a shift from the more common venue in Los Angeles.Adele came in second with eight nominations. All but seven were for the chart-topping English balladeer's “Hello,” which with more than 1.6 billion views is the fifth m

Oh My Girl is returning to the spotlight with a new album.The rookie K-pop girl group released a teaser image for its upcoming summer special album on the group’s official social media channels at midnight on Tuesday. The new album contains four remakes, including the 2000 hit song “Listen to Me” by one of the first generation K-pop girl groups, Papaya. Recorded in collaboration with the reggae duo Skull & Haha, the updated track still boasts the refreshing tunes found in the original version, a

BAYREUTH, Germany (AFP) - Germany’s legendary Bayreuth opera festival, dedicated to the works of Richard Wagner, got off to a rapturous start on Monday with a brand new production of the composer's last opera, “Parsifal,” enthusiastically received by the first-night audience.While this year’s month-long proceedings have been overshadowed by a series of deadly attacks in the country, the performers were tumultuously applauded at the end of the six-hour performance.However, opera critics were less

Though Tegan and Sara Quin of pop duo Tegan and Sara, identical twins and both openly gay, are prominent advocates for the LGBT movement, they’re also aware that “people in other countries don’t always understand.”“We try to be very sensitive to social and religious norms in other countries,” Tegan said at an interview before their first Korean performance at the Jisan Valley Rock Music & Arts Festival on July 22. The sisters have been vocal proponents of LGBT issues for the length of their musi

NEW YORK (AFP) - Kendrick Lamar wrote the unofficial anthem of the Black Lives Matter movement yet, in charged times, the rap star found he could be mellow while staying salient.Lamar, whose live schedule has been surprisingly sparse since he triumphed at the Grammy Awards in February, on Saturday headlined the inaugural Panorama festival, a New York expansion by promoters of Coachella in California.The hip-hop star has won acclaim for dramatic live performances. At the Grammys, he entered as a

Singer-songwriter Yoon Jong-shin and rapper Gaeko are scheduled to release a collaborative single this week, according to Yoon’s management agency Mystic Entertainment on Monday. Since 2010, Yoon has run a monthly musical project which involves him working with artistes from various musical backgrounds. Those he has worked with this year include Epik High’s Tablo, Hanhae, KittiB, K-pop band Seventeen and VIXX’s Ken. The upcoming track “Empty City” is the seventh release of the year. Last month’s

Iconic funk-rock band returns to the country after 14 years

ICHEON, Gyeonggi Province -- With a precocious melancholic voice and a shy demeanor that, in her words, “doesn’t give too much away,” British singer-songwriter Birdy might be best described as the antithesis to chirpy K-pop girl groups.“For me, it’s always been a bit darker,” the 20-year-old replied when asked if she would ever take on a “cutesier” style, before her performance Saturday at the Jisan Valley Music & Arts Festival. “Where I grew up, it was very beautiful but reflective and moody,”

NEW YORK (AFP) -- The latest entrant to the fast-growing global festival calendar is moving beyond crowd-pleasing rock acts, offering a New York audience an immersion in art and technology.Panorama -- put together by the promoters of Coachella, the California festival that is among the world’s most lucrative music events -- opened Friday in Randalls Island off the city’s East River for a three-day run.The inaugural day featured high-energy electronic act Major Lazer, a festival favorite among yo