Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
On his debut, Blue Alibi, Kim wears his not-so-black heart on his sleeve, in the mode of such almost-great power-popsters as the dB’s Chris Stamey, Game Theory’s Scott Miller and Freedy Johnston. Blue Alibi is a series of vivid slices of urban life from the love-tossed losers of “Once Upon A Rhyme”…to the hilarious, if surprisingly touching, “May-December Girl”(perhaps the first nod to Alex Chilton that also references Charles Manson)….Blue Alibi has enough high points to mark Kim as a guy to keep an eye on . - Harp
Whiskeytown alum [Mike] Daly checks his alt-country cred at the door, instead creating an ambient sonic context for Kim’s hooks that transcends typical Triple-A power pop. - Artist Direct
Newcomer Kim exhibits an unusual range for a young songwriter in his debut offering Blue Alibi. He deftly mixes irony with pathos in such standouts as “May-December Girl” and “Sarasota.” - San Francisco Chronicle
Hank Kim and the Entanglements play power pop with Americana underpinnings….his debut, Blue Alibi features an array of interesting sounds. - Time Out New York
Discography
"Blue Alibi"--full-length CD release in 2005.
following tracks have received radio airplay:
"So Late", "Candy Bar Killer", "Once Upon A Rhyme", "Sarasota", "May-December Girl", "Partly Sunny", "She's Not The ONe", "happy accidents"
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
It was 2001.
The Dow was floundering and every Starbucks in town was crammed with legions of slackjawed dotcom refugees, performing triage. Told it was finally safe to go outside, reclusive NYC singer-songwriter Hank Kim coaxed himself out of his Uptown hovel to take inventory.
Meanwhile, south of 14th Street, indie rock mainstay Mike Daly was mastering the new flight plan for music--the DNA of Pro Tools. Daly, along with Ryan Adams and Caitlin Cary, had formed the creative nucleus of alt-country fave Whiskeytown.
After the breakup of Whiskeytown, Daly had hunkered down in the downtown New York scene as an emerging producing force. The self-professed "pop guy" in Whiskeytown, he was introduced to Kim by a mutual friend. Daly became intrigued with the singer's raw, idiosyncratic voice and melodic hooks, chronicling the jagged tales of misfits, rebels, and other bruised souls, flailing at the ghosts of redemption, in turns that are both comic and heartbreaking.
Since arriving in New York from Ohio over a decade ago, Kim has been a devoted practitioner of "song noir." His narrative,cinematic approach to songwriting evokes images and characters that are as enigmatic and shadowy as they are vivid and sympathetic. Informed by such masters as the late Warren Zevon, Paul Westerberg, Graham Parker, Andy Partridge and Elvis Costello, Kim had been quietly chipping away, without fanfare.
After months of pre-production, Kim walked into Soho's Magic Shop at the end of 2001 to cut the basic tracks on the first group of tunes that would make up "Blue Alibi." All this while the city outside was struggling to create some semblance of a holiday spirit after the bizarre turn of events that September.
In fits and starts, over the next two years, Kim, Daly and their mafia of ringers--some of the music industry's finest players--went to work. Drummer Dan Rieser, he of Marcy Playground fame, and one of the primary collaborators on Norah Jones' Grammy-sweeping juggernaut, "Come Away With Me", made his presence felt.
Other talents gracing the proceedings included drummer Alan Bezozi (Freedy Johnston), keyboardist John Deley(Dido), bassist Joe Quigley(Ben E.King),and guitarist Sir Tim Bright(Lisa Loeb), the renaissance man of Avenue U, who engineered most of the record at his Brooklyn-based 60 Cycle studio.
"Blue Alibi" was created as a heartfelt homage to the often misplaced musical forms of storytelling and songcraft. It's power pop that's both immediate and ethereal.
So if you're tired of the bully pranks from the kings of bling and you don't really get "American Idol," take a listen to "Blue Alibi."
And, go ahead, dance if you want.
-- Love, Management
Links
