nanoomi

Let’s start by saying that we totally want to hang out with these guys. We found out about them via an MTV article about them, and we fell in love with their stuff instantly. Bought their album on iTunes, watched a bunch of their videos, and knew that we’d have to talk about them for K Crunch. This song, 12:00, is a lot different than another one of our favourite songs by them, Troublemaker, but both songs are rock your socks awesome. Side note: we sometimes go dancing at the club they’re playing at in the Troublemaker video: Club FF. Read the full story

It’s time to switch gears from the mainstream scene down to the indie jungle. Last time, I promised to research more about my discovery of a band named Guckkasten. The band’s name is actually German and it stands for ‘Chinese kaleidoscope.’

Turns out they’re pretty famous in Korea and have been together roughly for 11 years – first under ‘The C.O.M’ and finally sticking to the name Guckkasten. First seen as the new kids on the indie block, they’ve since earned national recognition at the 2010 Korean Music Awards for ‘Best Rock Song’ for their single ‘Mirror.’ They don’t perform to the typical ‘basement’ crowd. In addition to performing large-scale concert venues and outdoor events, they’re one of the most well-known indie acts in Korea.

But I’m still surprised at the second award they’ve received: ‘Rookie of the Year.’ Wait, what? If these guys have been together for over a decade, why did the Korean Music Awards decide to give them that? (They also shared the award with another ‘post-hardcore’ indie band Apollo 18.) Read the full story

I first came across the music of J Rabbit on YouTube as I was catching up on the Bugs charts in January. I was instantly charmed by the sweet songs performed by what seemed like two lovely girls but couldn’t get around to follow it up. As I learned that they had an album coming out I approached them for an interview and it didn’t take long before J Dawoon returned with answers.

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Two weeks ago, on Christmas Eve, word of some guy wearing a GMC Records T-shirt on TV started spreading on Twitter. Turns out it was Yang Jungmo, the vocalist of Sweet Guerillaz, showing off some very impressive vocal skills in MBC’s new idol-making show Star Audition: 위대한 탄생. I watched his YouTube clip from the show several times, then asked GMC founder Kyono if perhaps he could help me ask Yang Jung-mo a few questions.

Could you please start by introducing yourself?

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I’m very happy that Tearliner once again agreed to list his favorite albums from the year that just passed for Indieful ROK. See, in addition to being a very talented songwriter himself, Tearliner also has an awesome taste in music with music director work for Coffee Prince and other dramas and movies behind him. I foresee that much of my own music listening will be based on the below at the very least for the next month.

tearliner’s Favorite Albums in 2010.

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A new demo from Donawhale’s guitarist, Yoon Sang Hoon, showed up online today: demo20.

In other news, while Joseph Kim is in Korea he keeps meeting interesting people with the occasional interview for K.O.A. Zine.

Most recently the zine in question offers a chance for anyone to learn more on Ninaian and his former Underwear Band: Hyun Min Park: “You, Me, and Everyone.

Realizing I will never have the time to do something useful with all those Korean indie music-related posts I’ve starred in Google Reader over the last few months, here’s a selection of links from the past couple of days:

Malaysia-based entertainment site Voize has provided its audience with an introduction to The Koxx: Meet the Koxx. In case you have yet to check out the electro/rock band yourself, it just so happens that they have 5 out of 6 songs from their first mini album available on MySpace.

Over at Violet Sweets, wassereis has started a new post series called “infocorner” where I’m sure there’ll be plenty of interesting things to learn on selected artists. First up is 10cm: [Infocorner] 10cm.

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Much thanks to Widhi, there have been a lot of posts on female-fronted alternative pop/rock band Dear Cloud showing up in my feed reader recently.

For instance, earlier today Widhi shared the news that Dear Cloud have announced that they will release a new EP on August 5. I’m sure this will make many people rejoice, seeing as both of their full-length albums are out of print. Her post contains a fair amount of videos for songs that ought to be listed on the tracklist once made official, so do check it out: [Wiz News] Dear Cloud’s EP release date, confirmed!

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