As a new-found fan of the Brown Eyed Girls, thanks to this year’s ‘Sixth Sense’, I have been tracing back their steps into stardom. It annoys me that there are such few things on Wikipedia about the life of Narsha, Ga-In, Jea and Miryo. Before Sixth Sense, there was ‘Abracadabra’, which I did not like. I did not understand why people fell under the spell of Abracadabra. I didn’t even think that the Brown Eyed Girls could sing before I heard Sixth Sense, now I’m absolutely in love with them and have on my iTunes every major album they’ve put out.

One day, I found myself perusing through the short Wikipedia page dedicated to Brown Eyed Girls’ ‘Abracadabra’. The picture was of low-resolution, disappointingly. Then, although I wasn’t sure why, the lyricist of the song caught my attention. His name was Jinu and he was a member of this group called Roller Coaster. The name Roller Coaster was linked red, which means that it doesn’t have it’s own page. Thankfully, last.fm does.

I soon discovered that they are an acid-jazz band, the first for the South Korean music scene. They are comprised of Jinu (bass and programming), Jo Won-sun (lead vocals and keyboards) and Lee Sang-soon (guitar), and it has remained as such since their formation in 1999 to  present day. One would usually relate acid-jazz to Jamiroquai, and the closest thing I have ever come across when it comes to Eastern Asia’s acid-jazz scene would be Japan’s late Nujabes (If you’ve got any personal favorites, regional or Western, do recommend some in the comment box below!).

An architecture student, I am always on the search for nice, calming albums that I could study to. Although I love Sixth Sense, Rainbow‘s ‘A’, and Girl’s Day‘s ‘Twinkle Twinkle’, I find myself unable to study when I listen to the aforementioned songs. I downloaded Roller Coaster’s albums, one of them ‘Absolute’, and fell in love with them instantaneously upon hearing their first song. It is easy listening and poignant, making you feel an aloofness, as if we actually live in a civilized world where things are in their proper order, where things that make you want to pull your hair off don’t happen (nudge JYP for putting ‘Nu Shoes’ as the closing song for the Wonder Girls‘ ‘Wonder World’). Listening to the other songs of Roller Coaster (I just realized how ironically named they are, since their songs don’t make you feel like you’re on a roller coaster), you would never think that ‘Abracadabra’ was penned by the same person who is a part of the band.

I would love to see Roller Coaster produce an album for HyunA, or for her Trouble Maker sub-unit, because injecting this type of lounge, house, acid-jazz music would envelope HyunA with a higher level of respect. ‘Bubble Pop!’ was great the first time, but she’s going to repeat it once more and it’s going to flop, I can feel it. HyunA’s collaboration with Roller Coaster would create such frenzy since no one would think of HyunA as an acid-jazz artist. People would call her a trouble maker for not doing what the general would expect. The songs Roller Coaster would write won’t be much of a challenge for HyunA to sing, and she’ll win more adult followers. And she’ll help high-school boys calm down and study? Apart from HyunA, Roller Coaster should work with the sophisticated and cosmopolitan Miss A, the sultry AfterSchool Red (this collaboration would definitely be interesting) and porcelain-voiced IU.

So if you’re looking for songs to study or work to, or looking for a different side to K-pop or South Korean music in general, I highly recommend Roller Coaster. Get their whole album, you won’t regret it.

Take a listen to the embedded videos and write us your thoughts in the comment box below!