Yun Jakjun

When reading Kite Operation's Korea Tour Diary over at koreanpop.org, this intriguing MySpace message I got from Yun Jakjun in early December suddenly made a lot more sense: you might already have heard of us before... ;)

I don't really keep track of my MySpace account, but I do log in every few months to see if there's anything interesting hiding among my friends requests. Upon encountering the one from Yun Jakjun I had headed over to the band page and had a listen right away - the one song there, Ichasun Dari was great! It's a cover of a trot inspired Cha Tae Hyun song, but with the fuzzy guitars and the almost desperate sentiment in the vocals I'd say this version is far better.

So what did I want to say with this? Not much really, I'm just spending time while waiting for other people so I can continue on my thesis work... But the song is good so you might very well want to hear it too. And as a lover of trot (and other corny music intended for people my parents' age) I'll hope that next time new stuff is added to Yun Jakjun's MySpace it will be another cover and not that noise stuff added recently.

Liner Guides

Seeing as Tearliner was the first artist to reach 1000 plays on my last.fm overall top artist chart I felt like I should do something to celebrate. And since his second album has been pushed forward at least a year and that EP that should've come in its place has not yet been released, I figured I should compile some of his liner guides to make my own EP with unreleased tracks.

Now these songs are all samples of the tranquil Tearliner as that's what I've been in the mood for recently. They are not necessarily the best liner guides, nor are they necessarily the best liner guides in this particular category. These songs are just here because I like them, and listening to them in this particular order pleases me. Perhaps I should've made some artwork, but graphic design isn't really my area - if nothing else at least Liner has an illustration for most of these songs at his blog ^^

(click song titles to go to the blog and have a listen)

1. 너는 내게 [Guide-1]
Going out strong with my very favorite liner guide. Absolutely lovely song.

2. 상처 [Guide-1]
An instrumental with 오수경 by the piano.

3. Love Traveler [Guide-1]
The most recent guide. Lie again to me~ keeps getting stuck in my head.

4. 너를 보며 Part.2 [Inst.]
Looking At You was my very favorite Tearliner song, pre-함께라면. Of course I love part 2.

5. Red Forest [Guide-C]
Featuring "The Girl", this song is great to listen to while traveling on a cloudy day.

6. She's Lovely [Guide-1]
Instrumental with a piano and a violin. How could I not like it?

Bonus Track: Forsythia Helicopter [진달래 헬리콥터]
Because every Korean release needs a bonus track. Just looking at the title it should be pretty obvious why I chose it (though 헬리콥텔 is more like how I pronounce my misspelled sn), but that's not all there is to it: This song was written by thy, when Tearliner had yet to become a one man band (Liner's contribution is the guitar play), and it has this quality that I love in a final track; this air that just makes me want to listen to everything straight from the beginning one more time. Forsythia fly, like a helicopter, in the sky.

Enjoy listening and have fun if you decide to find some liner guide favorites of your own ^_^

Puredigitalsilence

OK, so this is not what I had planned to post on next (nor is it posted as soon after my previous post as that next post should've been), but since most people seem to come here for Korean music anyway...

After reading another interesting interview over at K.O.A. Zine (this time it was Sangchul of Bulssazo, though I highly recommend also reading the earlier Cocore interview) I ended up downloading a full album over at Balloon & Needle. Now, I feel so-so about Balloon & Needle - while I highly respect them as a label, only a few of their artists actually appeal to me. That album, however, most certainly does!



In 1998 there was this four member band called Puredigitalsilence, or simply PDS. That year they released their debut album, Circumfluence, and two years later they had gotten another member and did a split CD-R with Piwacot (피와꽃). It seems they disbanded after that, but I don't really know. One of the band's members, 양용준, was also in Delispice for a while, but none of that light and cheerful music can be heard from PDS - instead this is some eerie, yet somehow relaxing, sorta experimental music. They sound kinda like Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words (who was supposed to get his own post when I returned after the summer...) in his more melodic moments.

The lightest (and shortest) track off Circumfluence is linked below. Visit Balloon & Needle's album page to grab the whole thing.

The thaw

The Invisible Fish & Birdy Bitz Alien

Realizing that I hadn't made a proper post here since spring I felt really bad... There are several reasons for this hiatus, the main one being I'm only at home a few days/week drastically decreasing the time I have to discover and download new music T_T Still, there are a couple of artists I plan on making posts on in not too long. Till then, I'd like to tell you about two Korean artists that have made some wonderful music under new aliases. (And the reason why they don't get "proper" posts is that they only have streaming wma files available for sampling right now)

First up: The Invisible Fish. The solo project of sorrow/ssoro (now slowzz) of Bluedawn fame. Bluedawn fans are sure to enjoy The Invisible Fish as well - it's as lovely as 보옴이 오면, though with male vocals instead. Cosy guitar play, mellow electronics and beautiful, somewhat careful, melodies that is. Do visit his homepage to stream the wonderful 순간.

Second: Birdy Bitz Alien. The space travel project of Jelly Boy (of everybody's favorite Korean indie label Pastel Music). Under this alias he makes songs with dreamy electronics and a sweet space travel feeling. Should be suitable even for the music listener that prefers to understand whatever lyrics there are. Go visit Birdy Bitz Alien's label, Ruby Salon, to sample the title track of his recently released digital single Tomorrow where fellow Pastel colleague jinyong (of donawhale) assists with vocals.

나의머리카락뭉치 article

Remember blog favorite 나의머리카락뭉치? I made my first post on him here, saying I couldn't find any info on him. Thanks to icq4ever I was able to learn some more through a 나의머리카락뭉치 interview for London Korean Links - the resulting article was posted today: A meeting with My Hair Ball.

And in case you didn't notice already, 나의머리카락뭉치 has deleted his old millim account, transferring only those songs that "fit his new hairball personality" to hairball.millim.com

MOT article

Finally I'm back by my own computer in Linköping, but there'll be no updates the next couple of weeks anyway because of those pesky exams I need to take care of first...

If you haven't already read it, however, I suggest a visit to London Korean Links for the article I've written based on an e-mail interview with MOT! Fans of Radiohead and Portishead will probably find their music very interesting, as will any Nell fans out there ^^

Hiatus and Random Updates

First of all, I'd like to apologize for the lack of updates the past month. I'd love to say it's because I've focused on my studies for the exams I've had to take recently, but unfortunately it's just life that has come in between both blogging and studying so I'm gonna have to deal with those exams again later on...

Second, just like last year I'll be going offline over the summer. That means this will probably be my last post till mid-August, so here's some random updates on some favorite artists I've posted on before.

Detektivbyrån should have released their new single, Lyckans undulat (~ the budgie of luck), yesterday. I have had the pleasure of seeing them live three times since I first wrote something on them and can now state that they are my favorite Swedish band. When I saw them a couple of months ago, I was told the single should be available from their site at release so let's hope that it'll show up soon. Also, let's hope that Om du möter varg too, my favorite out of their new tunes, will be available for purchase and/or download in not too long ^^

Greenwich Resident posted a demo track called Eastwards on their MySpace a few days ago and have obviously added another new track, A low Hum, since then too. In case you do not remember them, I first wrote about these guys here after loving them on Siamese Flowers.

Paper Route now offers most of their songs from last year's self titled EP (my very favorite release of 2006, all categories) as well as some songs from the A Thrill of Hope as full streamable samples on last.fm. The song that got me, City Trucks, is unfortunately not available, but if you didn't get it when I mentioned it a first time you can get it now as it seems it's still possible to download the PureVolume's Holiday Sampler.

나의머리카락뭉치 uploaded another demo to millim a week ago. If you liked what you heard last time you should get this as well.

Swimmin' Fish article

My second post on Korean music on this blog featured a set of bands I had found out about through Red House Studio. Rocket Diary has gained a lot of attention since and now I'm hoping Swimmin' Fish will be next - they have already released another EP and are about to release their first full album. Today an article I wrote on them is posted at London Korean Links: Read!

Tearliner article

There's a new article written by me up on London Korean Links right now. This time I subjected Liner to my questions and the result is (what I consider) my best piece yet: Check it out!

While visiting Liner's blog (click 블로그 while there to get to the actual blog) there's a few categories to have a look at if you're interested in sampling his music:
"Liner Songs" for Tearliner songs
"Liner Guide" for unreleased songs in progress
"LP[LowEnd Project]" for a Low-End Project song
"MBC'태릉선수촌'OST" for songs from Taerung National Village
"MBC'동네한바퀴'" for songs from 동네 한바퀴

Tearliner highlights includes 함께라면 (from the new EP), Watch the Star (from the first album) and this early version of Rainy Day (piano ver.).

Especially When

Two weeks ago I gave one reason why I once thought that Moonrise Records was the best label around. Here's another.



Granted, Kyoungmo Kim's Especially When had moved on to Espousal Records before they came to release any of the two EPs they made prior to disbanding, but that doesn't change the fact that the best song on the Moonrise Compilations was theirs. Kyoungmo's vocals aren't perfect, but they work really well his band's fuzzy shogazeresque modern rock.

That song from the first Moonrise Compilation can be found below. If you visit Espousal's EW page you'll also find the link for the Especially When song on the second Moonrise Compilation ^^

Clare

Denci Hinji

When I first got into Korean indie music I thought that Moonrise Records was the best label around. Here's one of the reasons why ^^



전자양, or Denci Hinji (Japanese for "electric sheep"), is just one guy making some dreamy pop music with electronic elements. His first and only album, Day is Far too Long, was released in 2001 and is now out of print, but... last year Taiwanese White Wabbit Records released it again! I found out about a month ago and I'm so happy since I didn't have a chance of getting it the first time ^^

Down below are two of the best songs from the album. Head over to White Wabbit's album page to sample another track. Also drop by sheepraiser's blog to have a look at a video featuring 오늘부터 장마 :)

보름 (15 days)
아스피린 소년 (Aspirin Boy)

Omega 3 article

Another month, another article on London Korean Links. This time it's based on an interview I did with the drummer of my favorite band, Omega 3. Check it out!

If you haven't heard them already, drop by YouTube to have a look at the 세잎크로바 music video. And while there, check out orienkorean's channel for more great Korean indie music vids ^^

나의머리카락뭉치

Here's something my dear orienkorean told me to take a listen to a couple of weeks ago. I really, really like it! ^_^



Korean artist 나의머리카락뭉치's name translates to something like "my hair ball" or "my lump of hair". The music is some kind of laid back rock with guitars that makes me think of Kent when they were still my very favorite band. And there's a touch of shoegazer in it too!

I'm thinking it's a solo project, but I really don't know since there is very little info available... So far nothing is available on CD, but a digital single called 생각만으로도 두려워 was released in October 2006 and there are currently three 나의머리카락뭉치 demos over at millim ^^

Below is one song from the most recent demo, uploaded only a week ago, as well as a couple of great tracks from the digital single. Get them all and head over to millim for more!

잊은기억 [left click]
너때문이야 [left click]
시간이지나가는공간속 [left click]

itta Article

London Korean Links now has another article of mine. This time itta is the featured artist: Check it out!.

A real post here should come either tonight or some time tomorrow ^^

Bloody Cookie article

London Korean Links now features a short article I wrote on Bloody Cookie: check it out!

Bloody Cookie

I've mentioned them earlier on this blog, but it's not until now, thanks to my favorite store owner mrkwang's connections to the band, that I am able to feature a downloadable mp3 of theirs.



The four Korean women of Bloody Cookie released their second mini album, A Curer, a couple of weeks ago. Their original gothic/grunge/nu metal style has softened a bit since their first release, The Immature Flower, but they're still awesome.

Down below is a promo mp3 for Bloody Cookie's latest release. I'm not particularily fond of promo mixes, but this one I even put on the playlist together with their real songs, so even you too don't like promo mixes I'd suggest you give this one a chance ^^ Also check out their MySpace where the three songs off their first release is available for streaming!

Bloody Cookie 2nd mini album sample version

SunRadio & Kim Doo Soo

This is something of a failure, sorry. Since I haven't written about anything originating from Korea for a while I had decided to make a post on indierockers SunRadio today. They've been playing at the venues that Korea's punk scene usually frequent and have recently been in the process of finishing their debut EP, Free Robot. I guess they're done now, since in the past 36 hours all four downloadable songs have been replaced with just one streamable song. I wanted all of you to hear Before your Eyes, but Hot Stuff will have to do for now.


And here's something that took me by surprise this morning: Said the Gramophone has made a post on the foremost of Korea's singer/songwriters, Kim Doo Soo! Damon & Naomi have apparently compiled songs for this intriguing compilation album called International Sad Hits, Volume One: Altaic Language Group, and upon it four songs (보헤미안/Bohemian, 산/Mountain, 해당화/Sweet Briar, 들꽃/Wild Flower) from the artist edition of Kim Doo Soo's 4th album, 自由魂/자유혼/Free Spirit, are featured.

Go here to read what the gramophone has said and download the "one-point-stereo live recording" of 들꽃. Also make a visit to Paper Thin Walls to hear the almost two minutes shorter (and in my opinion not as good) 4th album version of 3rd album song 보헤미안.

Itta

And that's how it goes when I think everything will work on out it's own... At least two times this week is better than no times at all, but I did say I would to 3-4/week. Anyway, here's more stuff from my favorite Korean site, millim.com



Korean Itta is another millim artist picked up by my favorite label, Pastel Music. Her first EP, 나는…있다, was released in 2002 and in mid-August this year her first full album, 11, was released. Itta's music is somewhat experimental and I've even seen some describe her as an avantgardist.

Unlike most millim artists that has released a "real" album, most of what Itta's had on millim is still on the site. The song below is the one I think is her most accessible, but don't be afraid to check out her other stuff - it just needs some getting used to. To hear what she sounds like nowadays - go check out the video for the title track off her new album at YouTube ^^

바람 (wind) [left click]

BEIT

And here's another millim oldie, before I move onto something newer tomorrow ^^



While I know next to nothing about yesterday's artist, I know even less about BEIT. I think they aspire to make power metal. They have male vocals in Korean. I assume the few songs available on millim are from 2001. That's about it.

Well, I do like power metal, which their song The Murder is a pretty good sample of. And I love rock ballads like the song below. They too should've made it by now. I'm gonna have to ask mrkwang to see if he knows what happened...

비 (Rain) [left click]

Protein Puppet

Here's another old millim favorite of mine. I don't think anybody that asked me for recommendations on Korean music a couple of years ago got away without hearing them :p



Sadly, I know next to nothing about Protein Puppet or 단백질인형, which is the actual name in Korean. They've been on millim since at least 2002 and late 2004/early 2005 they were still active as the original "demo" suddenly was replaced by two "demos". What I like the best about Protein Puppet is their amazing shoegazer influenced rock songs, but their modern rock and trip hop stuff too is incredibly good for a band unsigned this long.

Unfortunately, again, my favorite song is no longer available at millim. In fact, Raining isn't even listed on the site anymore. Well, the songs below aren't that bad either. The first song is a great example of the Protein Puppet rock style while the second represents their more electronic side ^^

Cry [left click]
To heaven(추모곡) [left click]