Song Review: xikers – DIENAMITE

For the first time while listening to a xikers album highlight medley, I had the pleasant sensation of feeling like their agency chose the correct title track. For context, there’s usually at least one great track on every xikers album, yet it rarely gets chosen for promotion. DIENAMITE comes a little late in the season (this should have been out before Halloween!), but it’s one of the most convincing mash-ups of rock and dance a recent K-pop group has delivered. This is my preferred mode for xikers’ music and (importantly) it distinguishes them from their many 5th gen peers. The song won’t be for everyone, but that’s a good thing. It zigs when others zag and stands out as something quite different. The entire track is driven by a pounding industrial beat. It’s noisy and big but always intentionally doled out for maximum effect. And those looking for ambition in your K-pop are going to love the electric guitar solo (!) that pops up to flavor DIENAMITE‘s finale. The only area I’d dock DIENAMITE is its chorus. The songwriters take the easy route here, riding the beat for a repetitive — somewhat flat — hook. For a song like this, which is basically an explosion of energy from start to...