#tayps

Drama Exchange 1: Ghost - Final Thoughts

I have to admit that I had to rush through most of this drama because I was wrong to think I could handle watching this right before and during finals, in addition to graduating next week.  So I didn’t give it the proper attention I should have, and I definitely missed a lot of details.  I don’t think I can give a proper review or response, so I’ll just list some thoughts that stick out to me about it.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I wish Daniel Choi had been the lead. I thought I’d give So Ji Sub another shot, but I just can’t connect with him.

Still miffed they couldn’t tell it was Daniel Choi all burnt up.  Look at his eyes, people.  His eyes.

I like that they didn’t force a love line.

I did not like that they brought up how pretty Lee Yeon Hee is every 2 seconds.  And how people don’t expect her to be a (good) cop since she’s so pretty.  Yes, she’s pretty.  We get it. Now move along with your sexist self.

I feel like the show didn’t expect me to be smart, which I don’t appreciate.  Especially in the first few episodes, it would show me something and then 5 minutes later, the characters would figure it out.  I was one step ahead of them, not because I was smart but because I was given the answer.

As far as cop shows go, it’s a good one.

Rating: 7.5/10 (B-)

First Impressions:

I received my drama recommendation from @tayps.  The first choice was Signal, which I would have chosen had I not already seen two episodes.  So I went with the second option, which was Ghost/Phantom.  I hadn’t even thought of this as one that would be recommended, which is great because it was a total surprise!  I’m a little later than other people in making my first post because last week I had to watch the entire first season of Outlander in five days so that I could catch up in time for season two (of course).  And then I had a paper to write--so now, I finally got the chance to start it today!

Episode 1 Thoughts:

Wow, I did not expect this drama to just hit the ground running like it did!  Most of the time, even in crime dramas, there’s at least a short period of buildup in which we meet the characters.  But, with this one, we start off in the middle of an investigation, so that was really a good way to pull me in.

I was excited to see Daniel Choi show up because I had forgotten he was in a few episodes of this.  We really don’t see enough of him.

I hope we get to see more of Lee Yeon Hee’s character, since, although she’s a main character, she kind of takes a back seat in the first episode.

Goldswing | Good music for bad Days.

→ https://soundcloud.com/goldswing

TAYPS are a recently formed electronic duo from Surrey consisting of Will Taylor and Charlie Tappin. The two were kind enough to answer some questions about themselves and their music:

You only started this project recently, what did the two of you do before?

We have both been playing instruments for more or less 10 years and have always had a strong interest in music. Before TAYPS, Will had played in bands since secondary school (6 or so years), but only wrote music half-heartedly. On the other hand, Charlie wrote his own music under the name Excavate and released a handful of tracks on SoundCloud.

How did you meet and what made you decide to form a duo?

We have known each other since secondary school and were in some of the same classes together, but it was only until the later years of school that our friendship groups merged and we started becoming better friends. As this happened, we recognised that we shared similar tastes in music and we started to share and recommend music to each other.

We have only recently (three months ago) started writing music together, which was off the back of a drunken discussion at a party involving pina coladas and a wonderful sunset. Charlie had a couple of tracks that he had written which he felt needed something more so suggested the idea that Will got involved.

When we eventually met up we realised that we had quite an interesting sound that we wanted to pursue.

How would you describe your music?

This is always a tricky question for a band, especially a newly formed one, as you don’t want to limit yourself to a certain category or genre.

Although we have similar tastes in music, we both write with quite different influences in mind. Charlie’s main influences are jazz, hip hop and dance music. Will on the other hand has more of an acoustic/indie folk background, with influences such as Bon Iver and Efterklang.

As a band we try to infuse these different genres as we don’t want to limit ourselves to one genre specification.

Where do you get your inspiration from and how do you turn that into songs?

Charlie is heavily influenced by everything around him -- sampling field recordings, jazz records and so on. Our friends also have a large influence on us.

When writing music we try to make it as natural as possible by not rushing the creative process. We feel this is how we work best and it allows us to bounce ideas off one another, which helps our live set in which improvisation and vamping is a large focus.

What do you hope to achieve as TAYPS?

Since playing our first show at the beginning of April, we are very keen to start playing more live shows -- we have a few in the pipeline, for example on the 5th June, where we are playing at The Comedy, Leicester Square (London).

Our band works more effectively live and we have recently brought in the skills of Marcus Rexford on guitar to help us develop our live sound, with the intention of expanding the live set even further. 

In your opinion, has the internet and all the possibilities that come with it made life easier or harder for unsigned musicians?

The internet has definitely made things easier in terms of getting your music heard. However, because of the sheer volume of music being created, it has become incredibly difficult to stand out. The internet is essential for promotion and getting your music heard but tracks can easily get lost amongst the thousands made every day.

What do you spend your time with when you don’t make music?

When we’re not writing music we are in the classroom as we both work in local schools. We also have a good local friendship group who we meet up with regularly. Finally, we spend a lot of time trying to think of names for our songs -- often the hardest part of making music!

Is there anything you’d like to add?

Bit of self-promotion, as mentioned before, we have our second show at The Comedy, Leicester Square, London on the 5th June.

If you are interested in collaborations do let us know -- contact us on: [email protected] or [email protected]

Thank you to Find A Song for giving us the opportunity to spread the word about our project!