Clazziquai

Clazziquai Project
Background information
Origin South Korea
Genres K-pop, J-pop, electropop, electronica, house, acid jazz, groove, lounge
Years active 2001–present
Labels Fluxus Music
Website www.clazziquai.co.kr
Members

Clazziquai Project (Hangul: 클래지콰이), also known as Clazziquai, is a South Korean experimental band that combines several genres including electronic music, acid jazz and house. The group's first short unofficial albums were released online in 2001, spreading its music through words of "netizens," who positively received the group's music. They remained underground until the release of their first album Instant Pig in 2004, selling over 80,000 copies. Since then, their music has been used in shows, commercials, and films.[1]

Clazziquai is known for their songs, "Be My Love" and "She Is", which were featured on the Korean drama My Lovely Samsoon, with the former becoming the show's theme song. The group won an award at the MNET KM Music Video Festival for "Best Soundtrack", and has also been the most nominated group at the Korean Popular Music Awards II(2회), winning "Artist of the Year" and "Best Pop". They have contributed to works by Japanese artists Fantastic Plastic Machine and M-Flo.

History

2001: Formation

DJ Clazzi, described as "a magician at synthesizing different sounds in music into creating one unique [sic] new genre".[2] graduated from Capilano College, and continued his study at Centre for Digital Imaging and Sound (CDIS). After his graduation, he worked as a web designer, uploading his music online during his leisure time. Eventually, Netizens discovered his music and were drawn to its experimental nature, which is the reason why Clazziquai was initially labeled a "project group"[3]

Korean-Canadian siblings Alex and Christina Chu were initially acquaintances with DJ Clazzi and participated vocally on the first three short and experimental albums released online, named "[gray]", "[red]", and "[retro]". Due to the positive attention received from Netizens, Clazziquai released their first official album, "Instant Pig".[4]

Alex's sister Christina later quit due to her work in Canada, and an artist named Horan stepped in to fill her spot. Despite this, she still occasionally contributes vocals to several songs. However, she has not been regarded as an official member, and only as an uncredited guest artist.

2004: Instant Pig

"Instant Pig" gained critical acclaim leading to over 5 songs from the album to be used in 6 television commercials.[5]
"Novabossa" was used as part of the soundtrack for the 2004 Korean film "How to Keep My Love" (내 남자의 로맨스) . Over 30 songs were mixed in the production process .

The remixed English version of the song, in its side Japanese remix album ZBAM was released in 2005, & was later used as a song in a television commercial featuring David Beckham. Fantastic Plastic Machine praised Clazziquai as a new group to lead the "Hallyu".[1]

2005: Color Your Soul

In summer of 2005, Clazziquai's "Be My Love" and "She Is", were featured in the Korean hit television drama, My Lovely Samsoon. These two major theme songs also raised the ratings of the series up 50%.[6] Clazziquai had hoped then that people's imagination towards their music would not 'decrease as a result of their unexpected popularity'.[5]

In 2005, Clazziquai released their second album claiming it had a "raw, funkier feel presenting a combination of electronic music and [an] emphasized acoustic genre".[2] In one week, Clazziquai's second album charted #3 in the Kyobo Hot track list, as well as #5 in the Hanter Album chart list.

2007–2008: Love Child of the Century

In 2007, "Lover Boy" was released for Clazziquai's third album, followed by "Last Tango". As Alex's fame grew after becoming a main cast member for the popular Korean reality TV show We Got Married, so did the track "Romeo N Juliet", which was prominently featured in the series. A Remix album, Robotica, was released later in the year.

After the album's release, the members of Clazziquai grew busy with their own work, which started false rumors that Clazziquai could be disbanding.[7] Alex released his first solo album My Vintage Romance while Horan joined an acoustic music project group titled Ibadi (이바디) as their main vocalist, and released their debut album Story of Us.

In 2008, a video game for the PlayStation Portable featuring many Clazziquai songs titled DJ Max Portable Clazziquai Edition was released.

2009: Mucho Punk and Mucho Musica

In early 2009, Clazziquai released "Wizard of Oz" as part of a commercial for LG, claiming it would be part of the album later in the year. Their fourth album, Mucho Punk was released alongside a single release of "Love Again", which features American fashion model Jarah Mariano.

In concordance to Mucho Punk, Clazziquai released Japanese album, Mucho Musica and later plan to released a remix album, Mucho Mix, later in 2009.[8]

On January 17, 2012, member DJ Clazzi released his debut solo album titled Infant.

2013: Blessed

In February 2013, the group released a new fifth album, Blessed. The release also included MVs for their songs "Love Recipe" and "Sweetest Name".[9]

In September 2014, Clazziquai released their sixth album, Blink.[10]

2016: Travellers

In September 2016, Clazziquai released their seventh album, Travellers.[11]

Members

Discography

Studio albums

Title Album details Peak chart
positions		 Sales
KOR
[12]		 JPN
[13]
Instant Pig N/A — N/A
Color Your Soul 94
Love Child of the Century 72
Mucho Musica 158
Mucho Punk 158
Blessed 8 —
Blink 16 —
Travellers 16 —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Special albums

Title Album details Peak chart
positions
KOR
[12]		 JPN
[13]
Beat in Love N/A 188
Metrotronics with DJMAX —
Taiwan Special Best Of Album 2013 — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Remix albums

Title Album details
Zbam
Pinch Your Soul
Robotica
Mucho Mix
Mucho Beat

Extended plays

Title Album details
Love Mode

Singles

Title Year Peak chart positions Album
KOR
[17]
"Novabossa" 2004 N/A Instant Pig
"After Love"
"Sweety"
"Come to Me" Zbam
"Fill This Night" 2005 Color Your Soul
"Dancing" (춤)
"Love Mode" 2006 Pinch Your Soul
"Lover Boy" 2007 Love Child of the Century
"Last Tango"
"In the Middle of Life" (생의 한가운데)
"Robotica" Robotica
"Beat In Love" 2008 Beat In Love
"Flea" Metrotronics with DJMAX
"Electronics"
"The World of Oz" 2009 Mucho Musica
"Love Again" Mucho Punk
"Tell Yourself"
"Ping" (핑) Mucho Beat
"La La La"
"Can't Go On My Own" (함께라면)
feat. Kim Jin-pyo		 2013 36 Blessed
"Sweetest Name" 38
"Love Recipe" (러브 레시피) 24
"Blessed" —
"Love Satellite" 2014 — Blink
"Madly" —
"Still I'm by Your Side" (내게 돌아와) —
"Call Me Back"
(feat. Baechigi (배치기)		 —
"Crave You" —
"Android" —
"I'm Curious" (#궁금해) 2016 — Travellers
"Speak of Love" (걱정남녀) —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Collaborations

Year Title Artist
2002 "Coming At Me To Disco" Yoo Hee-Yeol
2004 "Even Alone" (혼자라도) Epik High
2005 "Today's Weather" (오늘의 날씨) Yoon Jong Shin
2006 "Don't You Know?" Fantastic Plastic Machine
2007 "Monologue" (독백) Rhyme Bus
"Calling You" Ryohei Yamamoto
2008 "Butterfly" Loveholics

Soundtrack appearances

Year Title Album
2003 "Play Girl" Good People OST
2004 "Nova Bossa" Chocolate Post Office OST
"By The Sea" (바다로) Heong-bu Hurt His Head OST
2005 "Be My Love" My Lovely Sam Soon OST
"Stepping Out" April Snow OST
2010 "Lazy Sunday Morning" Le Petit Nicolas OST

Awards and nominations

Years Awards
2005

Mnet Asian Music Awards

Year Category Work Result
2004 Best New Group Video "Sweety"[18] Nominated
2005 Best Mixed Group "Fill This Night"[19] Nominated
Best OST "She Is..." (My Lovely Sam Soon)[20] Won
2007 Best House & Electronic "Lover Boy"[21] Won
Best Mixed Group Won
2009 Best House & Electronic "Love Again"[22] Nominated
Best Mixed Gender Group Nominated

References

  1. 1 2 Tak, Jin-hyun. Clazziquai, a new Hallyu Star "Sportainment", March 4, 2006.
  2. 1 2 Choi, Seung-hyun (2005-09-23). "푸근하고 정감있게 변신했죠". Chosun Ilbo.
  3. ↑ "Horan goes straightforward. "호란은 직진한다"". Magazine T. 2006-12-26.
  4. ↑ Lee, Jae-Won (2005-10-04). "클래지콰이 다채로운 리듬 '감칠맛'". Sports Korea.
  5. 1 2 Lee, Young Pyo. "Clazziquai comes back with 2nd album(2집으로 돌아온 클래지콰이)", "Seoul Newspaper(서울신문)", October 20, 2005.
  6. ↑ Lee, Hye-Ri. "러브홀릭·클래지콰이 '삼순열풍'에 한 몫", "NoCut News", June 6, 2005.
  7. ↑ "Horan and Alex go solo ("클래지콰이 '줄줄이 솔로'")". Hankooki News. 2008-03-22.
  8. ↑ "Clazziquai will release another Japanese remix album". KoME World. 2009-09-03.
  9. ↑ "Clazziquai Project reveals MV for "Love Recipe" + fifth album "Blessed"".
  10. ↑ "Blink".
  11. ↑ "On a journey with Clazziquai". The Korea Herald.
  12. 1 2 "Gaon Album Chart". Archived from the original on 2015-08-27.
  13. 1 2 "Oricon Chart".
  14. ↑ "2013년 03월 (March 2013) Album Chart" (in Korean).
  15. ↑ "2014년 09월 (September 2014) Album Chart" (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  16. ↑ "2016년 09월 (September 2016) Album Chart" (in Korean).
  17. ↑ "Gaon Digital Chart". Archived from the original on 2017-03-09.
  18. ↑ "2004 MKMF part 1". Mwave. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
  19. ↑ "2005 MKMF part 1". Mwave. Retrieved 2014-08-28.
  20. ↑ "2005 M.net Korean Music Festival Winners list". MAMA. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  21. ↑ "2007 Winners". Mnet official website. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  22. ↑ "2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards Part1". MAMA. Retrieved 2014-12-18.
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