Song Review:: Seo Taiji (Seo Taiji and Boys): Seotaiji 7th Issue- Live Wire

• Release date: 2004 January 17

• Album tracklist: Intro, Heffy End, Nothing, Victim, DM, Live Wire, Robot, Down, October 4th, F.M Business, 0 (Zero), Outro, Watch Out, Intro (For Zero Tour) - '04 Zero [Live], F.M Business - '04 Zero [Live], Victim - '04 Zero [Live], Heffy End - '04 Zero [Live], Robot - '04 Zero [Live], October 4h - '04 Zero [Live], Live Wire - '04 Zero [Live], Zero - '04 Zero [Live], Outro - '04 Zero [Live]

• Album runtime: 71 minutes

When the YouTube algorithm let me know he was doing a live for a music video because of my Greatest Hits post for Christmalo.win, I though he was giving the world a new offering of music. It was not a new offering. Instead, he decided to re-release the music videos for one of his songs and one of the group's songs in 4K. The man he is. But, I did this for NINE.i, so I'm going to do the same for him. I thought about doing GH posts for both songs (although looking at things, I think this may have been the b-side, not the title track), but because I just did one for him and these haven't been suggested to me, I'm going to not do them yet. I might later. But for now, I'm going to do what I did with NINE.i and just do reviews. But this was the album where he dealt with sensitive issues, and the version of the album I'm looking at is I think the remaster from 2009, so it includes the live performances. 

And I'm not saying that him doing a 4K remaster of the music video for Live Wire and releasing it now was a political statement because I don't know him nor what the pattern of his re-releases is. But given his musical history and everything, if one were to tell me it was, I would absolutely believe it. And looking at his explanations of the songs, I'm utterly unsurprised that he hasn't released music in a decade, particularly with F.M Business and Live Wire. I look at the ninety groups to debut this year alone and I can't find that I disagree with F.M Business. The other two songs given new remasters were Heffy End and the group's Classroom Idea.

This really scratches the itch my rock loving heart has for almost four minutes. You can literally the 80s hairband and the 90s alt rock influence that's seeped into the song like the espresso-soaked ladyfingers in tiramisu. The song has a fascinating sense of rhythm for the instrumentals. The off-beat is used so well, and there are pauses that throw off the rhythm of the song. The amount of time just dedicated to the instrumentals is weirdly soothing, despite the frenetic pace of the song, because it also takes its time to just let the music do the talking with a wall of ever changing music. Just when the section starts to be exhausting, something shifts, subtle or not so subtle.

Even though I don't understand almost any of what he's saying, it sounds familiar enough that I think I understand it. He's just got that kind of voice. And I know that there's no rapping, but I'd love to hear what Stray Kids, for instance, could do with an arrangement of it. I think they could have a lot of fun with something like this. Looking at a translation of the lyrics, it's the kind of song they write anyway about the love of music and the fierceness of their desire for musical freedom. The style of his vocals fully and completely fits with the genre of the song. The artistry on display with this song. It's not overly complicated, but each piece fits together so perfectly that you don't notice it's as straightforward as it is.

I know I just said Stray Kids, but this music video reminds me a lot of the whole ATEEZ concept and lore, but combined with Waterbomb. It's an explosion of free the music. It's also very much styled after alt rock music videos with the slightly nauseating camera movements and strange angles. But the imagery used is potentially pointedly applicable to the current political landscape in South Korea, or at least relevant again.