As you may recall shoegazer act Vidulgi OoyoO will be headed for China in August. They'll do so playing seven dates from August 6-13 for a tour going by the name Asian Echo, that also includes Nao from Malaysia, Chochukmo from Hong Kong, and 88 Balaz from Taiwan. For details, click the picture above or check out the Asian Echo promo vid.

Happy days! Long at last, Indieful ROK favorite Sunkyeol will release an EP! Four demo songs as written & recorded by Kyoungmo Kim (formerly of Especially When) and Joe Hollick (of Wolf People) can be found on it, including the beyond fantastic I'll Write When I'm There that can be sampled through MySpace alongside EP track Aphex Convention. And you can trust me when I say the other two songs are just as wonderful. The EP will be released via Electric Muse on August 10. For more on Sunkyeol, here's Indieful ROK's interview from last year.

In her enthusiasm for Dear Cloud Widhi has proposed making a fan video for them, to be handed over at the August 20 release show following the band's upcoming EP. To particiapte, check out [Wiz Project] Episode 1

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.


Chris Park still reviews plenty of good music over at wakesidevision, most recently sharing his thoughts on awesome fuzzy rock act Frenzy's recent album debut and the older ditto from pop punk band Sweet Guerillaz:
- 프렌지 (Frenzy) – Nein Songs Review
- Sweet Guerillaz – Follow the Rainbow Review


This year's Pentaport Rock Festival was held last weekend and Mark Russell wrote a bit on it for his Korea Gig Guide: Pentaport Rundown. On doing so, he also linked to another account of the event over at Footman's Frothings: Festival Frolics, pt 1.


Reminding us that although Pentaport is over for this year, much is still left of Korea's festival season Mintpaper dropped the first names for this year's Grand Mint Festival: GMF2010 1차 라인업 발표.

In related news it seems like this year's theme song will be Daybreak's 팝콘, remixed (as usual) by DJ Lozik of Apls. Joa Band's 북극곰아, used in the balance our eARTh, too appears to have been selected.

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!


Further, it was thanks to Widhi I found out that Dear Cloud vocalist Nine9 wrote a book that was published in May: [Book] Humming & Drawing (허밍 앤 드로잉). The book was followed by a two track digital soundtrack on June 9 and Widhi reviewed the title track and video: [Widz Track] 끝의 시작 (Beginning of an End) - Humming & Drawing OST. And she also translated the lyrics to that song: [Translation] 끝의 시작 (Beginning of an End) – 나인 (Nine9).

Widhi has also written a bunch of live reports recollecting evenings when she caught her favorite band in action:
- [Wiz Gigs] The Bridge, 2nd Episode: Traveler
- [Wiz Gigs] Dear Cloud at 110th The Club Day
- [Wiz Gigs] Joint Performance: Bye Bye Sea & Dear Cloud at Club Ta (打)

The latter event was also attended by esteemed photographer Esthero: 안녕바다 100717 @클럽타(打); 디어 클라우드(Dear Cloud) 100717 @클럽타(打).

For something even more recent in the live section, visit Luminosity where there are a few live clips from last Thursday: [100722] Dear Cloud @ TBS Rock Festival

And finally, for something older the subteam connected to the Korean music/culture oriented Brazilian site sarangingayo has added Portugese subtitles to the music video for Dear Cloud first album main track 얼음요새: ♥ [S2SUBTEAM] Dear Cloud – Ice Fortress (Legendado)

Yoon Sung Hoon of Donawhale fame posted a new demo track today: demo22. Previous ones available here and here.

As you've noticed, I haven't really been keeping up with what's getting released recently - summer isn't really my season as the heat leaves me pretty much useless once work is over... Fortunately wassereis is managing better, and a few hours ago she shared some news on albums in the making, including that from Oh Ji Eun's new project Oh Ji Eun and The Wolves: [New Albums] Musicians at work

DFSB Kollective sent out a press release yesterday concerning Yoon Band/YB's international launch of new EP YB vs RRM today, July 21. RRM is short for Risque Rhythm Machine - a DJ trio I first heard of thanks to their Dead Or Alive on last year's We Love DJs compilation - and as the "vs." in the title implies RRM have been remixing some YB songs.

The mini album features a couple of old YB songs in English versions alongside Victor Tsoi cover Blood Type (first recorded in Korean for YB's 4th full length in 1999) in Russian: Группа крови (Blood Type). Read more at The Korea Herald.

An EP sampler is available on Soundcloud. Learning about it I realized that DFSB Kollective has plenty more songs available there - some really interesting ones even available for download!

Although Underwear Band now lives on only in the memories of fans, some members continue to make music on their own. Jowall released an appreciated album early last year, and July 15 Underwear Band guitarist Park Hyun Min debuted his solo project Ninaian with the release of EP For a little cruise. All instrumental ambient, post-rock-ish music, from what I've gathered.

It's been quiet from MOT for a while, but at least founding member Aeon still has a few projects ongoing. Featuring music not that far from MOT paired with intriguing visuals, yesterday he posted a trailer for author Kim Young-ha's new novel 무슨 일이 일어났는지는 아무도, that'll be available from next week: (Nobody knows) What happened.

Should you not already be familiar with Kim Young-ha, he's considered one of the new generation of Korean writers and is not a stranger to Hongdae, where rumor has it he on occasion can be found typing away in some café. A month ago I attended a Korean literary forum in Stockholm where Kim Young-ha himself read an excerpt from Whatever Happened to the Guy Stuck in the Elevator? (엘리베이터에 낀 그 남자는 어떻게 되었나?) that after also being read in Swedish soon convinced me I have to seek out some of his works. To get an idea of what it's like I'd recommend a visit to KTLIT, that earlier this month posted a review of a novel that'll become available in English translation in a couple of months: Kim Young-Ha’s “Your Republic is Calling You” a Review.

Oh, and speaking of MOT, I realized just now that it's been almost exactly three years since I had an interview with them for London Korean Links: A meeting with MOT. Makes me remember just how much I love their music - now I know what I'll be listening to for the rest of the day.

Many apologies for posting the July edition of Music Alliance Pact a few days late! If it's worth anything, the songs selected by the music bloggers participating worldwide this month are all really nice, so if you didn't already get it elsewhere this collection of songs should be well worth the wait, and if it's not already your habit to do so I'd recommend getting the full set from the bottom link.

July's Korean band is none other than Glittering Blackness, Fall. I've been doing quite a bit of listening to the EP they released back in January and though the band has already gotten some international exposure through The Silent Ballet, I think they're definitely good enough to have their music heard by even more people. The song I picked was the same one selected by The Silent Ballet as it was the song that got me hooked a couple of years ago. Oh, and don't forget to read Indieful ROK's mini interview with the post-rock act if you didn't already.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
The Kyoto Connection - H.E.A.T.
The eighties are back! At least, that's what we felt after listening to No Headphones Required, the cc-licensed brand new album by The Kyoto Connection. This amazing band delivers sweet electronic music mixed with Japanese juice and Flashdance-like synth sounds. If you like it, you can download the whole record from their website.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
Kimbra - Settle Down
I’ve been following Kiwi-now-Melbournite Kimbra’s work for a year now, most of it in the form of either guest performing with other bands or solo with a guitar work. Only recently I’ve heard her new stuff, produced by Franc Teta. The song Settle Down opens with cut up beat boxing vocals - a bit too close to Bertie’s style of production for my liking - but is rescued and lifted by the chorus and soared into lush harmonies, that are all part of Kimbra’s own signature sound.

BRAZIL: Meio Desligado
Dead Lover's Twisted Heart - Where I Am
Where I Am is part of the first full length album of the Brazilian band Dead Lover’s Twisted Heart, released a few weeks ago. Far away from the indie-folk influences that are highlighted in the band’s history, it’s a great pop song which could easily be in any album from She & Him or The Ting Tings.

CANADA: I(Heart)Music
Forest City Lovers - Pocketful Of Rocks
Over the last few years, Forest City Lovers has morphed from simply being a vehicle for Kat Burns' acoustic folk into a full band with a knack for writing catchy folk-pop. On their new album, Carriage, Burns is joined by members of The D'Urbervilles, Ohbijou and Born Ruffians, among others. As this track (on which Burns is joined by Ruffians front man Luke Lalonde) demonstrates, the results are simply magical.

CHILE: Super 45
Maifersoni - La Turbulencia Quiere Hacernos Levantar Hoy
Maifersoni is the musical adventure of young Enrique Elgueta, in which he decides to blend psychedelia and noise in a lo-fi-ish perspective, with a strong pop accent. Taller Deslizante (Gliding Loom) is his first work, released this month on Chilean net label Michita Rex. It captures Panda Bear's contemplative spirit, Sonic Youth's fondness for experimentation and Vashti Bunyan's warmth, creating a resounding weave that - with the likes of El Sueno De La Casa Propia and De Janeiros (both highlighted on earlier editions of MAP) - is giving Chilean pop a new perspective.

CHINA: Wooozy
Lilysay - Last Party
The band Lilisay is a Beijing-based trip-hop band, founded by Lilisay and Shang Shao in March, 2010. At first the band started as a shoegaze duo, but as time went on they have evolved into a trip-hop band. After the first gig at D22, Lilisay met Li Wei. Sharing the same taste in music, they decided to collaborate. After several rehearsals and performances, they settled on Trip Hop/Electronica. Last Party is one of their early songs, which reminds a lot of the 80s shoegaze stuff.

DENMARK: All Scandinavian
Waking Life - Chirango
With The Flaming Lips and The Shins among their influences, Copenhagen based six-piece Waking Life work in uplifting, danceable ways. Here’s first single, Chirango - from their forthcoming debut album Fiction - an upbeat indierock song with ukulele, bells, trombone and whatnot that would make you all smiles if it hadn’t been for the rather serious lyrics.

ENGLAND: The Daily Growl
Wet Paint - Dead Night
Here's a wee MAP exclusive. Ace east London scuzzy rock types Wet Paint are back with another album of great tunes and noisy guitars. No word yet of when the album's going to be released, but here is a track from it. A sneak preview of what's going to be a fantastic record.

ESTONIA: Popop
Opium Flirt - Parade In Chimes
Opium Flirt have been playing live, writing and recording music since 2004. Projects have included music for multimedia installations, films and choreographic performances.
Parade In Chimes is taken from the new album DejaVoodoo.

FINLAND: Glue
Delay Trees - Cassette 2012
Just a little bit over a year ago, MAP featured a song by a Helsinki indie band that shocked the scene with a superb self-released EP. Now signed with an important label, Delay Trees offer the first single off their debut full length, out in September. The dreamy intensity of Cassette 2012 anticipates a new round of tender pop songs that will melt your ears.

FRANCE: ZikNation
I Love My Neighbours - Swedish Babe
Everyone has neighbors. You can hate them or love them… but one thing is for sure: it's impossible not to love these crazy Neighbours. Presented as a big step between Block Party and Nirvana, I Love My Neighbours is a very good acidulated pop/rock band. Instigated by an omnipresent battery and swaying bass riffs, the three boys swing between pop songs and true aggressiveness. A schizophrenia materialized by the guitar riffs and the melodic and tortured voice of the singer. A noted French magazine called Les Inrocks wrote about them : " These Parisians enter by the large door of the new english scene, dance and pop, with a full bag with catapults provided by Nirvana ". Prepare yourself to apply the theory of the "Bang Bang", because there's gonna be rock n'roll...

GERMANY: Blogpartei
Herpes - Keine Experimente
Herpes may be the most 'German' band ever, posted on the MAP. Their straight-forward electropunk with pseudo-political lyrics draw the line from infamous Superpunk to the stepsons of Kraftwerk, like Trio or DAF. Hence, their label has to be Tapete Records, and yeah, of course they live in Berlin. Keine Experimente is the single from their recently released album Das Kommt Vom Kussen.

GREECE: Mouxlaloulouda
Mikael Delta - She's A Boy
Mikael Delta began his career as a member of the band Stereo Nova. He is one of the most prolific and influential musicians in Greece in the past decade. His latest album, Tech Me Away is made of thrillingly danceable sounds and references to techno music scene, disco and electronica.This is music that hits the head, heart and hips all at once. You can dance to almost anything here. She's A Boy demonstrates Delta’s talent for building simple, clattering dance beats and riffs into audio addictions. But what takes you by surprise is Etten's marvellous voice, which pops up like a primary color and paints absolutely stellar pictures.

ICELAND: I Love Icelandic Music
Cosmic Call - Owls
Cosmic Call is a five-piece indie rock band from Akranes, a small town on the West Coast of Iceland. Band members are singer/guitarist Sigurmon, Fjolnir on guitar, synthesizer & backing vocals, Begga on bass and backing vocals, drummer Petur & Asa on violin & synthesizer. They are inspired by Arcade Fire, The Cure, The Pixies, Joy Division & Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They recorded one EP so far, which was released on July 24, 2009. The song Owls is a track of this limited, hand sewed edition of 1000 copies made by the band & family members.


INDONESIA: Deathrockstar
Sir Dandy - Jakarta Motor City
Sir Dandy or Dandy Ramdhani or Acong, is the vocalist of one of the most obscure garage band in Indonesia Teenage Death Star, known for their quirky style on stage. This is his latest project, recording ballads using only his guitar and sunglasses on his garage-band software. This song tells us the story about the motorcycle flood in Jakarta.

IRELAND: Nialler9
Bingo - Cold Without You
Bingo is a 21 year-old producer from Dublin who makes luscious tracks with nods to dubstep, garage and UK funky. His music recalls the likes of Mount Kimbie, James Blake and Burial. If you find yourself in Dublin on a Saturday night, be sure to check the listings to see if Float, Bingo's new club night is taking place in either Twisted Pepper or Tripod. You'll find the likes of the vocal-twisting Cold Without You coming out of the speakers.

ISRAEL: Metal Israel
Ghost Bike - Ghost Writer
Jerusalem, Israel's Ghost Bike will take you on an ambient trip-hop via the vehicle of dub-influenced electronica, spinning your mind in sonic circles with aural tales of dark, intense emotion. Diverse musical elements like Middle Eastern chants and beats mix with spooky haunted house effects and everything in between to create this sonic tapestry. Some Hollywood producer in need of a soundtrack should pick this stuff up.

ITALY: Polaroid
Movie Star Junkies - The Wallnut Tree
It's summer, a damned hot summer. I wanted to sail away on an ocean wave but it's all covered in spilt oil. I don't care. My beloved surfboard won’t let me down. I put the new Movie Star Junkies record on (wild guys, you should see them live) and drink last drop of rum. A toast to The Birthday Party and The Gun Club. Everything is perfect now. C'mon, let's put out to sea. Goodbye.

JAPAN: JPOP Lover
Sputniko! - Google Song
Sputniko! (Hiromi Ozaki) is an experimental electro pop female musician based in London. Since 2007 Sputniko! has shown music, performances and films exploring intersections between technology and popular culture. In 2009 she published the DVD Parakonpe 3000, a collection of eccentric music videos talking about the quirky ways in which we engage with technology, such as google searching your crush's name or desiring to become a cyborg to eliminate periods.

MEXICO: Red Bull PanameriKa
Orlando - Solo Dios Sabe
Orlando is a singer from Tijuana, Mexico with an organic approach to his compositions. He creates memorable pop choruses that rely on acoustic progressions and just released his first formal LP titled Capullo. This is the first single from the record, under production and arrangements from his collaborator El Poeta and additional mixing by the much respected composer Murcof (also from Tijuana). Solo Dios Sabe is a song that ideally represents Orlando's soft acoustic sound and its blend with slight electronic details.

NETHERLANDS: Unfold Amsterdam
Bird On The Wire - Strange Days
Although formed in the harsh winter of 2010, when their first burst of song material emerged, Amsterdam trio Bird on the Wire write laid-back indie pop that's perfect for a sweltering summer. Simple, sweet and ever so slightly melancholic, the soft, lulling vocal harmonies of Rosa, Thijs and Nina remind of Camera Obscura, balancing the folk sounds of the '60s with contemporary lo-fi pop.

NEW ZEALAND: Counting The Beat
The Body Lyre - Pig
The Body Lyre is a multi-instrumental duo putting together an album, Escape Songs, song by song over the 12 months of 2010. Each month a new track is completed and put on-line for download at http://thebodylyre.bandcamp.com/ At the end of the year the album will be released on vinyl. The music is guitar based and reverb heavy, with a touch of surf, a pinch of country and a sprinkling of Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra.

NORWAY: Eardrums
KooKooo Kitchen - Sweet Caress
KooKooo Kitchen is one of Oslo's more interesting new bands. In front are Eva and Marianne, constantly fighting for attention with their vocals and guitars, sometimes nice and harmonic, the next second as rough and edgy as it can get. The girls are backed by Henning and Brox on bass and drums. The combination of their sharp, ringing guitar sound, the heavy use of toms and the in-your-face attitude of the vocals reminds me of the early days of Siouxsie and The Banshees. KooKooo Kitchen has a lot of the energy of The Banshees, but the music is filled with lovely pop-harmonies. As they say themselves "Dirt under their nails, and nail polish to cover the mess." A video is currently in the making for their song Bedsheet. Keep an eye on their myspace page for details.

PERU: SoTB
Kinder - Encuentro Inesperado
Kinder is based on experimentation to create its sound, it has only an EP titled Mini-EP, on which each song is the result of the combination of different rhythms, electronic sequences and some playful samples. These features give Kinder, in several of its songs, a curious relationship to a childlike theme; this line achieves its balance when its sound gets into the instrumental environments. It's probably this style that predominates in its first LP, ready for release sometime this year.

PORTUGAL: Posso Ouvir Um Disco?
Madame Godard - Atlas 1977
The quintet Madame Godard have (on MySpace) one of the best covers of Clash’s Spanish Bombs that you will ever hear. They produce a sound that is a mix of world music, folk and pop but always humorous. After almost ten years of hiatus, they have released their first LP, Galapagos, this year, which has been acclaimed by the Portuguese critics and audience.

ROMANIA: Babylon Noise
Identitate - Alone
Alone. Sleepless nights and lonely early mornings when the lights go down and the dawn breaks. The music is rising in loops, choruses that add up to this beautiful and minimal psychedelia. Identitate is a Romanian artist currently splitting his life between London and Timisoara. His third album called Who I Am and What I Want features songs originally meant to be soundtracks for short films and it can be downloaded from here

SCOTLAND: The Pop Cop
LightGuides - The Lion And The Pocketwatch
It's the middle of festival season and nothing goes down better than a meaty power-rock anthem, which makes LightGuides the perfect alfresco band for the summer. The Lion And The Pocketwatch has a monster chorus that Biffy Clyro would raise devil horns to, while singer Mark Cowan's vocals aren't too dissimilar to Nate Ruess of Fun/The Format fame.

SINGAPORE: I'm Waking Up To...
Cheating Sons - The Last Queen
Look at some Singaporean cliches and you'll be faced with an urban cityscape with sterile modern amenities. But scratch the surface and you'll remember that we were once a humble fishing village that actually remembered how to relax. Cheating Sons sounds like a band that is in the process of retracing those roots, turning over every leaf and scribbling notes in the margins of journals. To say they're updating a nostalgic country-rock sound would be downplaying the creativity behind the band's songwriting. While they're still recording their debut album, they were nice enough to share this demo with us because everyone back home is so excited about the music these boys are making.

SOUTH AFRICA: Musical Mover & Shaker!
Jack Parow - Onder Draai Die Duiwel Joints
Move over Eminem. Jack Parow has arrived. He’s white. He raps. Oh and yes, he’s Afrikaans. Jack Parow truly is original; he is in fact the “original donker dodgy Afrikaans rapper”. His lyrics are brash, brazen and funny and his song Onder Draai Die Duiwel Joints showcases his unique style. He has caused quite a stir in the music scene, locally and internationally alike. He’s set to take over the world. Watch out!

SOUTH KOREA: Indieful ROK
Glittering Blackness, Fall - 3
After playing together for a few years, post-rock act Glittering Blackness, Fall took it in their own hands to release an untitled EP - their first - at the beginning of this year. The septet counts a media graphics responsible to its members, ensuring interesting imagery to go with their captivating music. The song simply going by 3 builds up beautifully during the first half before a strong finale where the listener will wish for it never to come to an end. The whole EP is available for download from last.fm.

SWEDEN: Swedesplease
The Telepathics - 23:59
This little nugget of Italian/Swedish electro disco from The Telepathics is a certain cure for the end of summer blues. This duo is comprised of Cristiano and Isabella. The song is not quite as sunny as their sun drenched faces shown above, yet still it brightened my day considerably.

SWITZERLAND: 78s
Alvin Zealot - Bricks Over Bricks
If it comes to name a current common denominator in the Swiss rock music scene there is no getting around Alvin Zealot - four young guys from Lucerne who made a highly addictive and unpretentious rock'n'roll-record. Tears Of St. Lawrence sounds bold and experienced at the same time. Quite an effort for a debut by four teens.

VENEZUELA: Barquisimento
Tomates Fritos - Perdoname
Tomates Fritos was born in Puerto La Cruz, east of Venezuela and since the beginning, in 1997, the group has edited 4 LPs and have been part of important music festivals like Festival Nuevas Bandas (1998) and Cool Summer Music Festival (2002). Their music comes from mixing Spanish pop-rock with classic rock from the 60s and 70s, developing a unique sound, flooded with energy that has captivated tons of fans. This song, Perdoname, has been played very often in radio stations all over the country and belongs to their latest CD, Hombre Bala.

To download all 33 songs in one file click here

Shawn Despres of Korea Gig Guide has had an interview with Electric Muse's blues infused rock'n'roll band Army for a recent Groove Korea article: Army

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:

Could you please start by introducing Kafka?
KAFKA was comprised of two members, Chaiyoung & Changyeol.
KAFKA was organized and named after Franz Kafka in 2000.
Since then we've had concerts at clubs in Seoul, Korea.
KAFKA's first album was released on March 11 2004. And our 2nd album was released on October 22 2007. And our new album was released on June 29 2010.

When you released your first album, your compelling sound was quite different from just about everything else in Korean music at the time. Who would you say were your biggest influences when creating it?
Well, nobody influenced in our music. In fact, when we create our songs we don't think about anything or anybody. We've created every song by instinct. That's why most Korean people who have known our music tell us our music isn't kind to them.

How would describe the progression of your music since?
We've done artistic work just in Korea for over ten years.
It's very hard for us to do our music work in Korea. Because most Korean people don't want to listen to electronic or something else except Popular music. So we'd really like to do our music career in many different countries in the future if we get the chance.
We hope our next album will be released in other country.

What can you tell us about The Most Beautiful Thing?
The Most Beautiful Thing, it's the title of our new album.
But the true title of this album is Silence.
This album means so much to us.
This is because we could rise from the ashes of despair through working for this album and we found our own label, Moon Song Records because of this album and we did everything we could do to make our this album for ourselves for the first time.
When we were creating all the songs in this album, we had the oddest feeling, a mix of hope and despair.
To be honest, we had had feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, sadness and anger, especially from 2007 to 2009 because of our private matters.
So we hadn't done any music career for about three years.
And then one day we just woke up, and that's when we created this album.
As for the meaning of this album, The Most Beautiful Thing is what we wanted to tell ourselves. All we are saying is that the most beautiful thing is Hope.
Hope for the Silence, all kinds of hopelessness, helplessness, sadness and anger.

---

Quite an instinct for music there, I'd say! 3-6 years later their songs still sound as interesting to me as when I first heard them. "A subtle combination of both experimental sound and pop melodies With the added bonuses of Electro/trip-hop and Dream pop" is how they describe their music on MySpace, where there is much more to read about it. Visit KAFKA's YouTube channel to hear some of their new songs and watch a couple of music videos!

Long at last, fuzzy rock band Frenzy will album debut tomorrow, July 7. The album is called Nein Songs and gathers 9 tracks in total. Those already familiar with Frenzy will likely also recognize many of the songs: Apollo 11 was previously released on the 3rd Live Club Bbang compilation and others have been shared on MySpace previously.

MySpace is where to head if you want to sample the album in question - it currently offers every song on the album and it's recommended listening for anyone into shoegaze/post-rock style music. Indieful ROK's mini interview with the band from last year remains one of my favorites, so if you need to refresh your memory concerning these "elegantly pathetic" fellows I'd suggest giving it a read.

I'm always happy to see the members of Indieful ROK's last.fm listener group finding new things to listen to: Indieful ROK TOP10 artist chart for last week does not only see the newcomers from last time climb a bit but it also introduces a new name that hasn't been around that long. Songs linked below correspond to the song most listened to among all last.fm users from each artist.

Indieful ROK TOP10 - week 26, 2010
1. Nell (-) [Stay MV]
2. Casker (-) [Cross The Roads (no link)]
3. Humming Urban Stereo (re) [Banana Shake MV]
4. Guckkasten (+3) [거울 MV]
5. Han Hee Jung (+1) [끈 YT audio]
6. Neons (new) [별의 노래 YT audio]
7. W&Whale (re) [R.P.G. Shine MV]
8. MOT (re) [Electric YT audio with English translation]
9. Drunken Tiger (re) [One Summer Night MV]
10. Taru (re) [Daydream YT audio]

Don't feel like the chart reflects your taste in music well enough? Join Indieful ROK's last.fm group and maybe next week it'll look a little better!

I hope you haven't forgotten about Amnesty International and Buffetlibre's "music atlas project" PEACE - more than 180 exclusive songs have been recorded by artists from over 50 countries for it, including total art act EE that participated with a song called Talk To Them.

If you have yet to donate and gain access to all those songs (almost 13 hours worth of music!), please consider doing so as it'll only be available another week till July 12. To give you another taste of it, here are five bonus tracks:
• Air France feat Jack Wison - Collapsing At Your Doorstep (new version)
• Chinese Christmas Cards - Dreams
• Mendetz - Freed From Desire
• Sally Shapiro - Hello Goodbye (Beatles cover!)
• The Hidden Cameras - The Mild Mannered Army

Personally I'd recommend checking out Chinese Christmas Cards if you're not already familiar with the Spanish duo. And if you didn't already grab the songs from the previous PEACE post, I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you that Plushgun has since become a favorite of mine, and that song - Mixtapes - in particular has gotten a whole lot of repeated play from my side.

Although I've barely spent any time online over the past few weeks, I still noticed the buzz for Ukulele Picnic. 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.