NoiTyPoon released a single called Memory today, July 29. It seems they now refer to their music as "Disney Punk", but before jumping to any conclusions as to what that actually sounds like I'd strongly advise you to hear them out. The single contains five various flavors of 너무많은 너무적은 - sample the original version and the Anomie+ version at MySpace or check out the music videos on YouTube:
너무많은 너무적은
너무많은 너무적은 (Anomie)
너무많은 너무적은 (Anomie+)

Pastel Music is currently celebrating its 7th anniversary. Apparently "issue 1" was the Hommage to Moonrise, and today I learned that "issue 2" is a Moonrise re-issue series. Tomorrow, July 30, sweetpea's first and second album, Neverendingstories and 하늘에 피는 꽃, will get a re-release. As will all 재주소년's full length albums: 才洲小年, Peace, and 꿈의 일부. The third, however, with a new cover but without the second disc.

I don't usually post a lot on Yoon Sang (just let me know if you want that to change!) but this was too good to pass: Yoon Sang has produced the music for KBS documentary Noodle Road (누들로드) and the soundtrack contains 36 tracks, including intriguing titles such as Noodle Dancing, Technoodle.1 & 2 and Noodle Express. Look for it in stores tomorrow, July 29.

Indie rock act Achime uploaded the title track from their recently released 거짓말꽃 on MySpace today.

Nudeviking posted Jang Ki Ha and The Faces related news on his blog today: 인순이 Vs. 장기하와 얼굴들. It seems "Forever Diva" Insooni wasn't all too happy with the MiMi Sisters response to her greeting when they met for a radio program.

This morning I found two lengthy posts on jazz quartet Winterplay in my feed reader: the first one a lengthy artist profile from Dramabeans, and the other a track-by-track review of Winterplay's recently released Hot Summerplay posted on LiveJournal community ongoingmelody.

Looking over the Korea Indie section at Hyang, I found three releases from July 22 not previously covered on this blog:

Nabida has released her second single, 나를 안아주세.요. The title track has an interesting jazz/tango sound (I wish I was better at recognizing genres...), whereas the other song on the single, 우주선, is intriguing electronica. Both can be sampled at Hyang.

Lempicka released a digital single called Burn Incense in 2006. Now the five songs on Burn Incense have been released on CD in the company of four tracks more for a release called Dool. Hyang has samples of what appears to be some kind of slow-paced, instrumental rock with plenty of reverberation and somewhat eerie elongated electronic sounds, kinda like ZzzAaM in their more depressive moments (which is how I like them best).

Incense released a self-titled CD. Hyang has samples for five out of the eight tracks - sounds pretty much like Lempicka, except less rock-ish and more new age-ish. Sorta...

I have no actual proof to back my claim, but I'm thinking that Lempicka and Incense may be two different aliases for the same person(s). Not only do the covers of the albums have the same style, but the music does too. In addition to being released on the same day, both CDs are self-released. And then there's the title of Lempicka's old Burn Incense which is suspiciously similar to just Incense. Does anybody know if there is any actual relation between the two?

New Tearliner song on Liner's blog posted just now: tearliner - 그의 희망. [트리플삽입곡]. A light and bright one minute tune.

Electronica act Unique-Shadow shared another song from first album Diary on his blog a few days ago: incident pt.2.

The first I heard of him he reminded me of Casker, so I'd advice any Casker fans out there to give UNIQUE-SHADOW a chance. Here you can find another couple of samples from the Diary album: 그네타기 : Lovely. And here's a bunch of songs from EP Fermata, release in May: 묘롱이의 심심한 하루 (waltz 4H) : Radio : 빙글빙글. If you want to hear more after that, Hyang Music has got a few one minute samples to check out, including one of Luv Recipe where Heejin is featured.

A couple of days ago, boonga Boonga Record posted bios and more on their bulnabangstarsausage club on the bgbg blog. All in Korean, but it doesn't make it completely uninteresting to those that can't understand the text as they have not only included a couple of YouTube vids, but also offer two desktop images.

The elegantly pathetic shoegazer act Frenzy said in the mini-interview for Indieful ROK that they were hoping to release their first album this July. I'm not quite sure what's happened with that, but those of you expecting to hear some new awesome instrumental music from the band this month are not out of luck: yesterday a bunch new songs were uploaded to Frenzy's MySpace!

There's a new mix of Byeol Ju Bu Jeon (quite post-rock-ish that one, previously uploaded in a Jaym MIX version), several versions of Icarus (including Icarus! and Icarus?), and Lily. Apparently I had missed the time before this when they updated with a Denci Hinji mix of Bye and a tokyorama mix of Just Fucking Night, and if you did too that's even more new awesomeness to enjoy right away.

There was a time when the foremost Korean indie label was called Moonrise Records. Today there's a lot more competition, but I'm fairly certain there's a lot of people that would put Pastel Music in that position. The two labels have seemed fairly close since the beginning of Pastel - when Pastel Music was still young it tied a bunch of Moonrise artists to itself, and Moonrise founder sweetpea's latest album was released through Pastel as well. To reinforce that impression of closeness Pastel will release a compilation called 결코 끝나지 않을 우리들의 이야기 Hommage to Moonrise Pastelmusic presents on July 30.

The compilation will be available both as a 3CD set and as a single CD. The single CD is full of Moonrise covers from Pastel artists, whereas the other two CDs in the set both compile some of the finest Moonrise songs. Aladdin has the full tracklist - I can almost promise you that's an album you will want to have in your collection even if you already own every single Moonrise release. If you want to get a feeling for it right away - why not download the two Especially When songs at the bottom of this interview, or head over to my old mp3 blog for (what is now only a short) sample of Denci Hinji's Aspirin Boy? Also take notice of Yeongene's name on that tracklist. When I interviewed her for London Korean Links she said she was ashamed of her old songs and I got the impression she was not interested in releasing any of them, so unless you can dig up a copy of Raindrop says... (or the original Moonrise Compilation 2, of course) this may be your one chance to get your hands on a recording of Picky Girl.

On to that cover disc then - I'm always up for interesting covers, and this album I find extremely exciting. I'll just add the tracklist so you can see for yourself (original artist in square brackets)
01. Lee Jin Woo - 아스피린 소년 [Denci Hinji]
02. 재주소년 - 농구공 [?]
03. Taru - Kiss Kiss [sweetpea]
04. Epitone Project - 고백 [Delispice]
05. Zitten - 동물원 [Thomas Cook]
06. Cloud Cuckoo Land - 돌이킬 수 없는 [sweetpea]
07. Casker - 떠나가지마 [sweetpea feat. Taru]
08. Sentimental Scenery - Sunday (remix) [My Aunt Mary?]
09. Lucite Tokki - 오, 나의 공주님 [sweetpea]
10. Epitone Project - 기도 [Where The Story Ends/W]
11. Slow 6 - 종이비행기 [Delispice]
12. Yozoh - 귤 [재주소년]
13. Merry Clave - 당분인간 [Denci Hinji]
14. Fanny Fink - 봉인 [sweetpea feat. TOY/Yoo Hee Yeol]

As you may have gathered from that Korean twee pop post, Merry-Go-Round used to be a favorite of mine. And as you may recall from that Especially When interview, on occasion this blog will also be used to shine a little light on great bands and artists that are no longer active. So while sending questions for yesterday's Plastic People interview, I also included a set of question on Kim Mingyu's old band that he answered just as kindly:

What is the history of Merry-Go-Round?
Merry-Go-Round is the folk rock band that Min Kyu Kim (guitar, vocal) and Eun Ho Doh (bass) started in 1999 and released the debut album Merry-Go-Round in 2000 with Sanbi (vocal, keyboard) and Seung Kwang Shin (drum). We had to go our separate ways unfortunately after the first album since the differences of musical tastes of each member.

How would you describe the music you made back then?
Honestly, I don’t think there is much difference between Merry-Go-Round and Plastic People in terms of the songs, since the structures of the songs that I like are mostly based on the early folk rock and rock n’ roll. But the approach to coat the songs with the band-sound is a lot different.

We would arrange the songs through jamming after I brought some ideas of the songs during Merry-Go-Round period. I usually took charge in the melodies but the main riffs of the guitar of keyboard would reflect the members’ opinions. The arrangements were also more focused on the musical performance rather than the vocal sound since the process took place as we jammed together.

Plastic People, on the other hand, complete the songs through recording various versions of the demo, rather than just jamming together. I believe there are pros and cons for each method.

When I look back, I'm just a bit upset about Merry-Go-Round's albums. We weren't flexible or experienced enough to contain all the good ideas in the album.

A large portion of the songs from Merry-Go-Round had a quite distinct sound that has yet to be rivaled by others. Did you have any particular influences when creating it?
The keyboard sounds distinctive to Merry-Go-Rounds was created as we prepared for the first album. In the early stages of the band, we all liked acoustic folk rock/chamber pop like Belle & Sebastian or Tindersticks and also indie rock like The Rentals or Quasi. Our favorite was also BMX Bandits and Teenage Fanclub, the ones founded on C-86. So before recording our album, numerous styles were all mingled together. I played both electric and acoustic guitar, and the keyboard used various timbres of synthesizer like Electric Piano, Rhoads Piano and Organ. But as we’ve decided on making an album, we started studying the styles of music focused more on the "roots" of the music so as not to produce just common modern rock. And Sung Moon Lee from Cavare Sound suggested making music centered on the unique keyboard sounds. Sanbi purchased the effector from Moog, and fell in love with the psychedelic sounds from the keyboard, somewhat reminiscent of The Doors. So we all agreed on the direction towards the acoustic band with special emphasis on distinguishing keyboard sounds.

What are the former Merry-Go-Round members up to nowadays?
Min Kyu Kim is performing as a member of Plastic People, and Eun Ho Doh has been playing as a bass session player for 3rd Line Butterfly, Golden Pops, and Ji Eun Oh. Sanbi and Seung Kwang Shin are not playing music anymore.

---


Downloads courtesy of Cavare:
- 랄랄라
- 주사위

I really encourage you to check out more oftheir music if you get the chance (last I checked the album was just 8900 won from Hyang, or you could get it from mrkwang), but make sure not to confuse them with any of the other Merry Go Rounds around - the one on Cavare's Christmas album is a female duo, whereas the one responsible for last year's 후애 single is some kind of CCM outfit.

Elena, who has relocated to Japan since releasing the ultimate summer album - Say Hello To Every Summer - when the summer of 2006 had passed, updated her MySpace with a new demo song yesterday. When not produced by Espionne (otherwise known as DJ Soulscape) her sound is somewhat subdued, yet equally lovely and her voice is just as sweet. 우리가강아지였던시절 has been playing on MySpace for at least a few months, and now it's accompanied by a demo called Daisy, sung in Japanese. And of course you can also hear some of that summery music when visisting.

If you pay any attention to mainstream k-pop, you are probably aware that Brown Eyed Girls are promoting a bunch of new songs right now. They released their 3rd full length album, Sound G, on July 2 and the second CD of the release contains a bunch of remixes from a bunch of interesting electronica related names. Personally I'm most curious to hear (former?) techno maker Saintbinary's Sweet Purple remix of Hold The Line, but I'm also curious about East4A's remix of YOU (which was actually written by Saintbinary). Check out what e1leen0nt0fu wrote about all remixes for Popseoul.

And almost as difficult to miss is the Epik High x Planet Shiver collaboration Remixing The Human Soul which was released today, July 22. From what I understand a bunch of old Epik High tracks have now gotten a new finish. Included on the tracklist among others are Love Love Loveless featuring Casker's Yungjin; 1분 1초, a little memory featuring Taru, and You Are The One feturing Clazziquai's and Ibadi's Horan. allkpop has a post dedicated to the album, and KoME reveals that those buying the digital version through iTunes will also get a 5 page pdf digital booklet.

In May, Beatball's electronica duo HourmeltS released a digital EP called Meaningful Days. From July 28, the EP, which features Jeeminn Lee and Yeongene, will also be available on CD.

Today the 12th release of boonga Boonga Record's 수공업소형음반 series (you know those ones in clever cardboard sleeves? if anyone can come up with a suitable name for the series in English, I'd be happy to hear it) became available in stores, and it is 거짓말꽃 from Achime. Check out the title track and 불신자들 on YouTube and maybe watch a live performance of 딱 중간 while there, or head over to MySpace to give a listen to 불꽃놀이 and a bunch of songs not on the CD. If you understand Korean and wish to learn more on the band, this is probably a good introduction.

While not usually making much of the kind themselves, the members of MOT are both jazz fans. Today the duo's vocalist Aeon posted what he calls "a sorta electronic tribute to the jazz classic “autumn leaves”" on his blog. The tribute in question is the audio-visual piece Atom Leaves, a fairly experimental one at that. If you enjoyed that it might be a good idea to keep an eye on his Vimeo account in the future.

Tomorrow, Plastic People will release their third full length album - that means lots of good new music to check out for anyone into mellow folky stuff, and already three songs from it are streaming on MySpace. The male half of the duo, Kim Mingyu, was kind enough to answer a few questions for Indieful ROK:

Could you please start with an introduction of Plastic People?
Plastic People is a folk rock band comprised of two people, Min Kyu Kim (guitar and vocal), and Ju Mi Yoon (keyboard and vocal). Jae Han Ahn (guitar), Myung Dong Kim (drum), and Tae Sung Park (bass) help us out as session players when performing on stage. Plastic People started performing with the release of self-titled EP in 2002 and have released three studio albums and two EPs so far, including the third album Snap released on July 22nd. Plastic People wishes to connect Neil Young's folk rock and Buddy Holly, The Beach Boys' rock n' roll with the recent indie pop/rock music.

Plastic People has been around for nearly a decade - how would you say that your music has progressed during this time?
We started from simple acoustic sound. We liked playing folk rock that we can play with only acoustic guitar, bass guitar and snare drum, sort of like Yo La Tengo during their Fakebook period. We started experimenting with the more “band-ish” sounds in a few songs when recording the first album Songbags of the Plastic People and tried to concretize the band arrangements of folk/indie rock for the second album Folk, Ya!. We're still trying to figure out how to combine the charming repetitions of early folk rock with the indie rock of twenty first century. We also love the serene and yet melancholy slow-core of the 90's

What can you tell us about your new album, Snap?
We wanted to capture the four seasons in the city as in the snap shots through twelve songs of the third album Snap. We also wanted to grasp the band sound that we’ve been maintaining since the second album more thoroughly in the new album. We just wished that people would hear the more detailed sounds of the band’s harmony than before.

“그늘에 서서,” “커피와 담배” are our interpretations of folk rock and indie rock, “우리들의 여름,” “농담으로 충분한 하루” are the songs full of our affection for rock n’ roll. There are also acoustic songs like “여기저기,” “구름게으름민요,” “노래하는 달,” and rock songs like “흑백사진,” “역사.” We put all these different genres together in one album because we believed that such diversity is the current state of Plastic People. We wanted to accommodate all the different emotions of every person in the city in different characters of each musical sound. We would be much satisfied if our music can be these people’s background music.

Perhaps it's too early to tell, but I have to ask: will we have to wait another three years before we get to enjoy Plastic People's fourth full length album?
Haha, I don’t think so. There actually was an EP Travelling in the Blue between the first and second studio album, and the reason the third album was late was that I founded a music label Electric Muse, and have been producing other bands’ albums; I had to put off Plastic People for awhile. Right now, we are planning to release one EP focused mostly on slow-core/indie rock and another studio album in two years.

---

Did you read that? Another EP and one more studio album to be expected from Plastic People within the next two years! As if getting Snap tomorrow wasn't enough, I mean.

As you may recall, Plastic People is one of the Korean indie acts with music available on iTunes so if this duo is new to you and you don't mind iTunes too much I'd suggest taking a closer look at debut EP Plastic People (2002) and second album Folk, Ya! (2006) right away. Enjoy!

If you've been curious on that jazz version of Billie Jean that Winterplay offer on their recently released Hot Summerplay album, there's a video on YouTube that should give you a good idea of what it sounds like (via Clazziquai Project blog).

And while we're on the subject of Michael Jackson songs. Eniac posted a mix of You Are Not Alone on his blog a couple of weeks ago: michael jackson - you are not alone(eniac mix).

At the very end of March, I was asked through the shoutbox in the Indieful ROK sidebar to provide a few recommendations on Korean twee pop bands. Now I might not be a master of recognizing genres, but I have seen the connection enough times to know that the first obvious recommendation is Linus' Blanket. And I also know the history of BMX Bandits well enough to know that they more than qualify for the label, thus making Yeongene & BMX Bandits the second obvious recommendation.

Up until then, twee in my world had been about the ultra sweet, simple (yet far from plain) music of acts such as Kawaii, the pancakes and My Little Airport - so as I found myself listening to the similar artists radio of The Orchids, The Sea Urchins, Talulah Gosh, The Cat's Miaow and the C86 tag radio at last.fm I became quite surprised. I ended up recommending five bands in particular, and after having at least four of them approved long at last I will also share my recommendations here on the blog.

So far all of my chosen artists have only had one official release each. For every release I've listed two songs in particular that I consider good examples of the "twee-ness" of the artists in question. If you'd like to suggest any other Korean artists that could fit under the twee pop label you are more than welcome to list them all in a comment. (And should you be looking for recommendations in some other genre I'd be happy to see what I could come up with.)


Sweetsoap (달콤한 비누)
Appetizer (Beatball, 2008)
- 새벽 3시 [download]
- 걸음걸음마다 [download]

I can not recall why I did not include Appetizer on my list of the best releases of 2008 because it's such a sweet EP very deserving of any attention it can get. It might not sound all that special the first time around, but listening to it a few times more should lift it immensely. Lovely, catchy pop pieces with both male and female vocals.

Pirigwa (피리과)
Butane Gas Mon Cher (Beatball, 2007)
- Pajama Party [download]
- 이름 모를 귀염둥이 미용실 언니 [download]

On the only EP ever to be released by the seven member strong Pirigwa, there is cute pop with flute and glockenspiel and keyboard sounds reminiscing hammond organs. The vocals are delivered by an ultra cute, whispery female voice that can only be rivaled by Hockee. Unfortunately Pirigwa is no more, but a few of the members now offer twee pop material in Pigibit5 that EP debuted last month.

The Smiles (스마일즈)
Strawberry T.V Show (Beatball, 2007)
- Cooky Tale [download]
- Love So Fine [download]

I had not yet heard the music of The Smiles (that's another seven member band for you) myself when making this recommendation - which was based on 1) the album cover; 2) occurrences of "60s pop" and "bubblegum sound" in the album info; 3) realizing that people listing The Smiles as one of their favorite artists primarily had other bands falling within the twee category on that same list. In retrospect (that is after actually getting a copy of Strawberry T.V Show myself) I should probably not have included them on the list (and this is the one artist for which I have yet to hear something from the person the recommendation was originally addressed to) as The Smiles offers even more 60s sound than I'd hoped for this time around. (Album review and a generous amount of samples at allmusic.)

Fiddle Bambi (피들밤비)
Bambi Rocks (Beatball, 2005)
- My Melody [download]
- 엄마, 화장실 [download]

Psyche pop with something of a garage sound. Melodies with an appealing retro feeling. Male and female vocals in something like harmonies. Don't really know what else to say about it, except that it's great music.


Merry Go Round (메리고라운드)
Merry Go Round (Cavare, 2000; Dreambeat, 2002)
- 랄랄라 [download]
- 주사위 [download]

Defining the sound of Merry Go Round is the use of a keyboard with that previously mentioned hammond organ reminiscing sound. The self titled album has one lovely song following the other from beginning to end and is truly a gem. I spent years desperately hoping I'd ever be able to find another album like it (and got to hear plenty of the Japanese Merry go round in the process) before realizing they were gone. Kim Mingyu later went on to form Plastic People (perhaps Plastic People too should've been on this list?), but the rest of the members are all unaccounted for as far as I'm aware.


The songs from Sweetsoap, Pirigwa, The Smiles, and Fiddle Bambi have been made available for download with permission from Beatball Records.



The Merry Go Round songs have been made available for download with permission from Cavare.


As you might have noticed, 4/5 bands above belonged to Beatball Records so checking out other Beatball artists - perhaps starting on MySpace - may prove a very good idea if you're looking to find more music of the kind.

A recent band considered for the list, but eventually excluded was Broccoli, you too?. More like "regular" indie pop, I thought then, but now I would've happily exchanged them for The Smiles (not that I don't like The Smiles - they just weren't as perfect for this as I had hoped). This YouTube search should present plenty of videos to give a taste of their music if you have yet to hear it.

Another band I considered was Eunhee's Noul. Some of their songs (Son of a Beach off Noulpop in particular) could definitely be labled twee, I think, whereas I'm afraid many others could not. Still, if you ever feel like looking up some older high quality Korean indie pop it's a name not to forget.

Don't know when it came out, but at least it's available now - the July issue of Groove Korea. Quite the heavy file, that PDF they're offering as online version, but if you have a look on page 14 (which should correspond to page 8 in your pdf reader) you will find an article written by Shawn Despres after an interview with Loro's.

Turns out folk act Plastic People has a presence on MySpace! Visit to sample three songs from the upcoming album, Snap, and one from second full length Folk! Ya.

Seems like the Popseoul writer was right in U and May being the same person. And it seems like Soompi's Mardi09 shares my affection for May, as she was featured in a new Under The Radar post yesterday: Under The Radar: U.

Judging from the google searches leading new visitors to this blog, there seems to be a big interest in music related to MBC's drama series Triple (트리플). Granted most of the searchers are looking for downloads, but since I can offer nothing of the sort I figured it'd be a good idea to collect some old links that might be of interest instead:

Audio
tearliner - Hence The Human Drama
tearliner - 그의 희망 - new! (July 25)
tearliner - 사람은 섬이다 [Guide-2]
tearliner - 슬프지만 현실
tearliner - 하루 안아주기

OST tracklists
June 19 2009: digital single
July 14 2009: full OST

Lists over background music
Episode 1-4
Episode 5-8


(This post will be updated whenever new Triple related posts show up on the blog)

Yesterday, July 15, the OST for KBS drama series Partner (파트너) was released. The soundtrack holds 22 tracks in total, including 내게 사랑이 from pop/rock group Rumble Fish.

Plastic People has done it again! It seems like every time I start to think about Plastic People, and figure that they're probably not active anymore, they surprise me with another release. July 22, it is time for the acoustic dream pop act's third full length album, Snap, to hit the shelves offering at least 12 new songs. Perhaps I should just get used to them releasing a new album every three years...

This month's Korean MAP artist, Dringe Augh has been busy increasing his presence on the world wide web for the last couple of weeks. In addition to his previous Flickr account, he has also set up a MySpace, resumed blogging on a new blog (in Korean), and set up a twitter account (also in Korean).

Music Alliance Pact time! Unfortunately Spain has left the pact, but with Japan and Venezuela joining (welcome!) we're now able to offer 26 songs from all over the world. A big thank you to Jason of The Pop Cop for doing a great job and continuing to expand the pact, and another thank you to Super 45 for the hosting.

Representing South Korea this month is Dringe Augh (as you might have suspected after reading his mini-interview). Though the decision was tough (Individually Wrapped contains nothing but good songs) I eventually settled on Tutelar, that had become delicately beautiful with the addition of vocals from Sogyumo Acacia Band's Eunjie Song. Don't forget that there are plenty of demos to listen to on his site if you want to hear more right away.

AMERICA: I Guess I'm Floating
Spanish Prisoners - Kiss The Lawn Goodbye
Brooklyn's Spanish Prisoners, fronted by Leo Maymind, create fractured power-pop in the vein of The New Porno's Dan Bejar (Destroyer). They're currently working on a new album but in the meantime they've released a free three-song EP - download it here - from which Kiss The Lawn Goodbye is taken.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
Mi Pequeña Muerte - La Música Nueva
Mi Pequeña Muerte means "my little death" so you're probably thinking this is not a particularly optimistic band. That was true for Hospital, their 2004 debut album, which was loaded with melancholic indie-rock tunes and moaning vocals. But this is 2009 and believe it or not, the band's third album is called Un Futuro Brillante ("a brilliant future"). Maybe that was just pure irony, but in this new effort they define themselves with shiny sounds and instruments, including horns and Moog synthesizers.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
Boat Beam - The Rain Pauly
So it turns out that Josephine of Sparkadia is now in this gorgeously gentle folky trio in Madrid called Boat Beam, and they seem to be kinda popular (check their MySpace). How crazy is that? I could listen to The Rain Pauly for days.

BRAZIL: Meio Desligado
Nancy - Keep Cooler
Five-piece band Nancy have played just a few shows in Brazil and may be more well-known outside the country. They were the first Brazilian band on virtual label RCRD LBL and have been featured on BBC Radio's Introducing programme, showing their soft indie tunes. Nancy's members live in different cities and countries so the band's debut album, Chora Matisse!, was composed on the internet through emails and IM.

CANADA: I(Heart)Music
Rah Rah- I've Got Faith
When I had to submit my ballot for the Polaris Music Prize (think a Canadian version of the Mercury Prize), the one album that was toughest for me to leave off was Rah Rah's amazing Going Steady. As I've Got Faith shows, the band combine the best elements of Broken Social Scene (with the constant sense they're just barely keeping everything together) and Arcade Fire (in its epicness), with the end result being a sound that's all their own.

CHILE: Super 45
Pedropiedra - Sol Mayor
Pedro Subercaseaux has been involved with music for almost a decade. Having explored such diverse styles as cumbia, hip-hop, electronica, pop and rock, he has been part of several projects such as Hermanos Brothers, Tropiflaite, Yaia and CHC, gathering a good amount of success along the way. This year Subercaseaux has decided to release his debut solo album, under the moniker Pedropiedra, in which he demonstrates his great ability to craft catchy pop-oriented melodies.

DENMARK: All Scandinavian
The Works - Live And Direct (featuring Jams F. Kennedy)
It's time to bring some urban tunes to all ye faithful readers of the Music Alliance Pact. Enter The Works aka producers Twelve Beats and Terry Tester, whom I stumbled across quite recently and whose intriguing fusion of hip-hop and electronica I haven't been able to shake off since. Minimalist, yet rich on details. Hardly moving, but always taking you places. Their debut release, Yokohama EP, is out now and streamed in full on their MySpace.

ENGLAND: The Daily Growl
Friendship - The Graveyard Shift
Tired of indie bands showing off their 'African influences'? Well, get ready for one more, although this is done with a lot more bite, distortion and general sense of fun than most.

FINLAND: Glue
Neufvoin - Robot
Neufvoin are an up-and-coming indie band who create beautifully-arranged catchy pop melodies with guitars, synthesizer textures and a few other instruments. Apparently, they also like playing with bots and droids. Robot is taken from their debut Robokop EP, six songs produced by Rubik frontman Artturi Taira that journey many different musical landscapes.

FRANCE: ZikNation
Jessica Fichot - Un, Deux, Trois (1,2,3)
Born in America to a French father and Chinese mother, chanteuse and songwriter Jessica Fichot was raised in France in a multicultural environment. She is a lot like her hometown of Paris: French at heart, but with a soul that's truly international. Her multi-ethnic upbringing colors the songs on her debut album.

GERMANY: Blogpartei
Bonaparte - Gigolo Vagabundo
Bonaparte are a Berlin-based artist collective from all across Europe. Their sparkling weird-folk is powered by Balkan pace and electronic rhythms. Outfitted with crazy costumes, they are one of the most exciting German live acts around.

ICELAND: I Love Icelandic Music
Sudden Weather Change - Prey Mode-
Sudden Weather Change are a five-piece rock band from Reykjavik who have been compared to Sonic Youth and Pavement. Prey Mode is taken from their debut album, Stop! Handgrenade In The Name Of Crib-Death 'nderstand, which came out in April on the Icelandic Kimi Records label and will be released in Europe and America in September.

IRELAND: Nialler9
The Holy Roman Army - Elegy
Ireland has already produced its fair share of amazing records so far this year and we can now add The Holy Roman Army's album to that list. How The Light Gets In is the brother and sister duo's debut and it's filled with ambient and electronic flourishes with an organic heart. Perhaps it's not a surprise they are a doctor and a psychologist respectively. Elegy is a perfect example of the band's yearning for something emotional between the city's streets.

ITALY: Polaroid
Iori's Eyes - Anchor
Iori's Eyes are a boy and a girl from Milan who play gentle pop with a dreamy touch. Their music brings together a folk mood and a post-rock background. Their songs sound as fragile and delicate as little toys, but definitely know how to be surprising and poignant. Iori's Eyes just released their debut EP, And Everything Fits In The Yellow Whale, and I can't wait to listen to a proper album.

JAPAN: JPOP Lover
LITE - Ghost Dance
LITE are a Tokyo-based instrumental band who play experimental rock with striking, groove-heavy basslines. Formed in 2003, their spirit is similar to Mogwai, 65daysofstatic, Battles, Toe and Envy. In May, LITE visited America for the first time, going out on tour with legendary bass guitarist Mike Watt.

MEXICO: Club Fonograma
Hello Seahorse! - Universo 2
Hello Seahorse! is the year's most acclaimed Mexican indie band. With their third album, Bestia, the trio have made the transition into a multi-dimensional group with a masterwork under their belt. Bestia shines in between ghosts and hazy sonic beauty, in a universe of its own, and proves Hello Seahorse! have total control over their romanticized and passionate, sublime creations.

NEW ZEALAND: Counting The Beat
Urbantramper - Southern Hemisphere Blues
Urbantramper are a five-piece from Wellington who are part of a loose collective known as Treeninja. The band produce introspective pop songs that reflect an endearing, naive angst about their place in the world. This is a group with a manifesto! They're currently considering issues of music distribution, copyright and the impact of these on the nature of the relationship between musician and audience. Urbantramper have a strong back catalogue and a new album due in September.

NORWAY: Eardrums
Silverdrop - Real Life
It's July, it's summer and it's time for some fresh and shiny indie-pop from Norwegian six-piece Silverdrop. These are definitely sounds for the sunny days and the band's new recordings are even more bouncy and energetic than the songs I've heard from them before. Silverdrop are currently working on their debut album.

PERU: SoTB
Francois Peglau - Spring Lovers Song (Si Tú Quieres)
Francois Peglau's songs do not need much explanation, they just happen. They are simple and beautiful - they could be borne from a whistle on a bus or a nice sunny day with friends. Francois moved to London two years ago and Spring Lovers Song (Si Tú Quieres) is his most recent song.

PORTUGAL: Posso Ouvir Um Disco?
Andrew Thorn - ME Jane
Andrew Thorn is João Pedro Coimbra, a Portuguese composer/musician/producer and founder of the extremely successful duo Mesa. Andrew Thorn is João's way of exploring his creativity beyond Mesa's sound. The debut EP, Brutes On The Quiet, was released independently (Mesa is signed to Sony/BMG) on July 13 and ME Jane is the first authorized download by the artist and a MAP exclusive.

ROMANIA: Babylon Noise
Melting Carousel - Several Other Universes
Melting Carousel are an indie-pop band from Timisoara with an eclectic approach, ranging from alternative pop to jazz.

SCOTLAND: The Pop Cop
Maple Leaves - Easy Speak
Even though Glasgow's pedigree of producing twee, folky-pop bands (Belle & Sebastian, Camera Obscura) is strong, few have been as relentlessly joyous as Maple Leaves. With their dreamy girl-boy vocals and penchant for colouring their songs with flute, piano and acoustic guitar, Maple Leaves are guaranteed to put the spring into anyone's summer.

SINGAPORE: I'm Waking Up To...
Force Vomit - Liberator
Surfing and punk-rock in the city state of Singapore don't necessarily go hand in hand due to the lack of any noteworthy waves (both literally and metaphorically). Enter Force Vomit, the antithesis of Singapore's two shortcomings with their brazen brand of surf-punk that takes the piss out of Singapore's sanitized idiosyncrasies and semblance of normal life. Sounding like a Dick Dale number cut by switchblades, Liberator should easily find a place in a Tarantino film.

SOUTH KOREA: Indieful ROK
Dringe Augh - Tutelar
Singer-songwriter Dringe Augh offers lovely songs full of lively guitar play. Over the years he has recorded several demos and his first official EP, Individually Wrapped, was released in June. On the new version of Tutelar, Dringe is accompanied by delightful female vocals from Eunjie Song of modern folk duo Sogyumo Acacia Band.

SWEDEN: Swedesplease
MAKTHAVERSKAN - German Boy
I was stumbling around the net (MySpace in particular) and came across this band called MAKTHAVERSKAN. I have since learned they are signed to Luxury. Consider this your introduction to the new 'it' band from Gothenburg. They are agit-pop combined with post-punk and a little bit of Joan Jett tunefulness.

VENEZUELA: Barquisimeto Musical
Gonzalo Teppa - De Conde A Principal
Gonzalo Teppa is a musician, composer and a breathtaking double-bass player. Born in Barquisimeto, he has wowed audiences in Mexico, Brazil, Spain, USA, Colombia and Bolivia. Downbeat Magazine has selected him as solo artist of the year twice. De Conde A Principal is a version of an original work from Venezuelan composer Aldemaro Romero. It belongs to his latest work, ConTrabajos De Aldemaro.

To download all 26 songs in one file click here.