Pungdeng-E 1st Album - 풍뎅이 풍뎅이 Go! Pungdeng-E Pungdeng-E Go! - Album Review

 Found a backlog of CD's photos on my computer so it's the perfect excuse for another music review. This time it's another classic from the quirky Korean Pop group Pungdeng-E! This is their 1st Album - 풍뎅이 풍뎅이 Go! Pungdeng-E Pungdeng-E Go! Well it's got the word album title but it's more like a single or mini album if we look at the track listing. Let's get straight into it with this fun cover image and CD!

풍뎅이 풍뎅이 Go! Pungdeng-E Pungdeng-E Go! was released in 2013 and is the group's debut physical release. It only came in one version and I'm not sure if it came with photocards as I got mine second hand from Yahoo Auctions. I was excited to find this as it's quite rare and it was in a set with their 2nd album 액션 풍뎅이 Action Pungdeng-E Go! What a steal! 풍뎅이 풍뎅이 Go! Pungdeng-E Pungdeng-E Go! comes with the following:

• CD- 6 track album
• Photobook

I do enjoy the album design of Pungdeng-E's Korean releases as they have consistency and all four of their releases are the same size. The front cover has a photo of the three members in an outfit from the MV for 솜사탕 Cotton Candy. This cover is quite nice as it has a photo of the members that matches the concept of the album and I'm a big fan of covers like this. So over the boring plain colour or logo trend. The back cover contains the tracking listing and sponsorship information for the release. The group's releases are always like this and I assume the group had a ton of sponsors to help fund releases.

On the interior you will find the photobook and CD held in a plastic casing. Once again, I'm a fan of this type of design as the plastic holds the CD in place and the photobook fits nicely into the case design. The CD has a photo of all three members and the text matches the group's logo. This original logo was my favourite of the group and fit the concept of the group well. The newer one was a bit too modern for me but most K-pop group's tend to do the logo upgrade every so often. Underneath the CD, there is another photo of the group which is a cute surprise!

Onto the photobook now! The book features a variety of snapshots of the girls and considering how short it is, it does features quite a number of outfits/concepts! Nice change of pace for a small photobook. If you aren't familiar with Pungdeng-E, the gimmick with the members is that their stage names are colours; Red, Blue & Yellow. It kind of reminds me of J-Pop groups where they give the members numbers based on when they joined or their ranking. The photobook for 풍뎅이 풍뎅이 Go! Pungdeng-E Pungdeng-E Go! is a good one to flick through as the photos are a bit more out there than most idol photobooks and gives you an idea of what the concept of the group is. For a nugu group, the photobook is quite decent! Usually you'd get the only one to three outfits/concepts in lesser known group photobooks but this photobook has a good balance of individual photos and outfits.

The last few pages of the photobook feature behind the scenes and personal photos of the group and their team. This is another common feature of Pungdeng-E's album and it's a cute touch. Looks like the girls had lots of fun making the MV and producing this album! 

풍뎅이 풍뎅이 Go! Pungdeng-E Pungdeng-E Go! features 3 songs along with their accompanying instrumentals. All the songs are great to listen to and sing along with. When the group was formed, their concept was built around regional satoori (dialects) and each member sings/raps in her local dialect. I think this is what drew me to the group when I discovered them because it was so different from the other idol group's I was used to. Listening to the songs, you can definitely notice the satoori idea and this carries on to their later releases. 잘탕 Jal-Tang used to be my favourite song from this selection, but in recent times 알탕 Al-Tang has taken that mantel. The track listing for 풍뎅이 풍뎅이 Go! Pungdeng-E Pungdeng-E Go! is as follows:

1. 알탕 Al-Tang
2. 솜사탕 Cotton Candy
3. 잘탕 Jal-Tang
4. 알탕 Al-Tang (Instrumental)
5. 솜사탕 Cotton Candy (Instrumental)
6. 잘탕 Jal-Tang (Instrumental)

If you like quirky idol groups, be sure to check out this album as Pungdeng-E is probably one of the more unique concepts you'd find in idol groups. Unfortunately the group isn't promoting anymore and the last word was that they were on hiatus. Honestly I think they are disbanded and hopefully the girls are successful in their new endeavours. I've reached that point in my K-Pop life where all my favourite groups are disbanded and you just learn to live with it. The joy of stanning 2nd and 3rd Generation groups. All three songs on 풍뎅이 풍뎅이 Go! Pungdeng-E Pungdeng-E Go! had MV releases so I've posted them below. I was amused to find 솜사탕 Cotton Candy was marked as Youtube Kids with age restrictions. First K-Pop video I've seen to have that title and I hope there is some kid out their enjoying the song!