As part of my station entertainment work, my job and my other job, I can assure you nothing feels better than finding a diamond in the rough that reminds you “Damn, I fucking love music.”

Whether we want to admit it or not, the popscene and by extension, popular music, does not always encompass the tunes and albums of industry mainstays and scenester oldies. More often than not, we receive submissions from acts with zero online presence as equally as we receive the next Arca, Flaming Lips or Hippocampus advance copy. 

This cool dichotomy allows for our listeners to stay up to date on the cutting edge in both artists on the fringe and artists with a corner office on the airwaves.

But what about all that cool undiscovered music that doesn’t get submitted?

Oftentimes, that’s up to us to really put the spotlight on some gems out there. And a lot of times, that is what we do.

왑띠Wapddi is the music project of an unknown South Korean musician. In contrast to South Korean contemporary Parannoul, he embraces the online world and presents himself to his listeners — it’s just that music takes importance over his identity.

These past few years have shown the true potential of bitpop and power pop coalescing on projects like Hey, ILY’s Internet Breath, as well as Anamanaguchi’s USA. Despite his listener-count, Wapddi has seemingly perfected it out of the blue with his latest EP, Jordan Want’s To Play.

Jordan, the titular character of the EP, is a super-intelligent hamster reminiscent of the Overwatch character Hammond. Along with the song’s kinetic sound, is an entrancing and charming music video that was animated by Wapddi himself. 

While the entire EP is a brilliantly jovial work. The second track in particular, “Jordan Wants to Beat,” showcases exactly what makes the duo of these genres so fun, captivating and energetic.

Beneath the clamor of a bustling crowd, ribboning synth chords excavate a staccato synth lead like a hidden WWII mortar. However, this is a false alarm; hanging mid-air, you see that the so-called explosive is but a harmless firework.

At the clap of your hands, it explodes mid air in a dazzling display of color and innocence. Crashing hi-hats clip to the ceiling and bleed into the expanding color in the sky.

“Beat drum and join the stream and play with me/

Unspoiled and raw state sound of the indie /

Until they scatter by that noise with me / 

Until they scatter by that noise with me.”

As the song transitions into the verse, the dynamic synth lead subdues into a subtle chord progression, delivering the energy to the relaxed vocals of Wapddi like an olympic torch run.

“Mad men and extremists were swarming on this town.” 

Faint voices accentuate the end of Wapddi’s refrain like a breathless exclamation of pure joy. 

Wapddi repeats the first verse in a coda, reigniting the instrumental beneath him as it flies into the sky. It becomes consumed in a flurry of vibrant color.

The track’s lyrics are the previous verse and bridge repeated — which against all odds, fails to weaken against its unchanging structure. Wapddi’s music is anything but monotonous. The song is too self-indulgent to be anything but engaging, bolstered by its saccharine foundation that is borderline pop perfection. 

The final third of the track forgoes its head-banging cymbals and synth lead to reveal the root of the song’s structure — the glossy, effervescent tracker that commands your feet to tap to the rhythm. The drums build into a short burst, restoring the ferocious cymbals and revealing a distant, wispy organ lead that is as weightless as it is dense. 

“Until they scatter by that noise with me”

The previous sample of the crowd reintroduces itself as the song fades out. The only problem is, the people aren’t scattering at the sight of Jordan — in fact, they are entranced by his serendipitous appearance and fun-loving personality. Wapddi understands that music doesn’t have to be serious or complex to be enjoyable, and if Jordan continues to be as charming as he is on Jordan Wants To Play, then I see no reason why Jordan won’t be playing in the park, or on the airwaves.