nanoomi

In 2004 I came across some pretty fantastic music as I somehow stumbled upon Kafka’s self-titled debut album – I fondly remember a long lost favorite playlist of mine from that time featuring strategically chosen songs from Kafka alongside Yellow Kitchen and ZzzAam (whose 3rd full length album was released about the same time) that I would listen to over and over again. Although as so often when you come across something unique and interesting in Korean music, as time goes by you begin to think that was all you were going to get. Kafka has surprised me twice in that regard: with the release of Nothingless 3 years later, and again just last week – another 3 years later – with the release of The Most Beautiful Thing. I took this opportunity to approach them with a few questions which they kindly answered:

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Got so much catching up to do, especially with the release updates, so I’ll just start with something that caught my interest just now: “electro-trip-hop duo” Kafka is back with a new EP!

Kafka’s self-titled trip-hoppy debut from 2004 ranks as one of the most interesting Korean indie albums I can think of, and I’ve been keeping the duo in high regard since. This EP, The Most Beautiful Thing, is their 2.5 and it has been out since July 1.

Three songs from the EP can be sampled via MySpace and through YouTube: The Most Beautiful Thing is an electronic affair; for When You Wake Up they’ve incorporated a generous amount of rock elements; and Silence shows Kafka just the way I like them best.

And in other news, thanks to Widhi, we can learn that traditional Irish music project Bard will return to Europe this month. The group will play at the An Spailpin Fanac pub in Cork, Ireland, on July 10.

If you’d like to learn more on the band, I’d like to recommend checking out a recent post over at Widhi’s own blog. That post also includes a lengthy review of Bard’s first full-length album, released May 6: [Wiz Players] Bard: A Journey to the Eire.

And if you’re in the mood for something a little more summery to celebrate the season, there’s Ukulele Picnic, which is the subject of much buzz. Today I finally took the time to find out more, and realized that it’s a trio gathering former Broccoli, you too?/current Autumn Vacation member Gyepy, TJ of Hachi & TJ, soundtrack composer Lee Byung Hun, and a bunch of ukuleles.

A first self-titled album was released on June 17 and while it appears to contain a few original songs, most of the material is made up of summery covers. The main track, 작은고양이, is an updated version of the song with the same name from Lee Byung Hun’s former band Voy whereas 우리두리 was originally a Hachi & TJ song.

Also found on the album are new takes on familiar songs Sleigh Ride (featuring YouTube celebrity David Choi),Sugar, Sugar (supported with vocals and instruments from IS), A Lover’s Concerto, Fly Me To The Moon, New York, New York (with Taoka Miki from the Indigo), and Mexican guitar tune Maria Elena.