There's still a bunch of things to take care of, like writing that post on why we decided to start a blog and what purpose we aspire to serve, but after about a year of just talking about it me and orienkorean finally got our act together and started a blog dedicated to things that happen in the Korean indie music world: Indieful ROK.
Much thanks to Mark Russell, we've attracted plenty of visitors already so it should stay better updated than this one. And if you not only happen to be interested in Korean music but also are located in Seoul, you are well advised to check out said Mark's fresh Korea Gig Guide.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
chimneycrow
I have to get up in two hours, but for some reason I just can't sleep tonight. Instead I'm up blogging on this Chinese guy I've intended to write about for a year...
I first came across chimneycrow thanks to littleoslo, and nowadays his music turns up on my last.fm radio every now and then. A couple of days ago I was once again reminded of his music as I found a link to download "mooncake song [remix]" in net-label Muxia Records rss feed. While that remix was not what I had expected (in honor of the lunar new year, no doubt) the music of chimneycrow is usually something like post rock or casio pop. Simple and pleasant.
As it turns out, the links for all of his old releases have finally been fixed and you can find them here (see - it was a good thing that I got up again or it would've taken me longer to notice!). I quite like them all, but am particularily fond of september and october.
dandelion
when the leaves outside are turning green to gold i guess autumn is near
Oh, and I find this bio very amusing ^^
I first came across chimneycrow thanks to littleoslo, and nowadays his music turns up on my last.fm radio every now and then. A couple of days ago I was once again reminded of his music as I found a link to download "mooncake song [remix]" in net-label Muxia Records rss feed. While that remix was not what I had expected (in honor of the lunar new year, no doubt) the music of chimneycrow is usually something like post rock or casio pop. Simple and pleasant.
As it turns out, the links for all of his old releases have finally been fixed and you can find them here (see - it was a good thing that I got up again or it would've taken me longer to notice!). I quite like them all, but am particularily fond of september and october.
dandelion
when the leaves outside are turning green to gold i guess autumn is near
Oh, and I find this bio very amusing ^^
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
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 ^_^
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 ^_^
Sunday, January 06, 2008
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
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
Sunday, December 09, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
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
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
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