Jazz songstress and recent KMA winner Nah Youn Sun is touring Europe again. Already tomorrow, March 1, she will be making a performance in London - something already noted over at London Korean Links: Nah Youn Sun at Pizza Express Jazz, Soho.

The other dates on the current tour are the following:
March 8: Stockholm, Sweden
March 10: Göteborg, Sweden
March 11: Sint-Truiden, Belgium
March 15: Yzeure, France
March 17: Paris, France
March 18: Ibos, France

Nah Youn Sun will then return to Korea for a few dates before returning to Europe in April, when she will also visit Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Italy. Details are available on the official site.

The March issue of KoreAm will be out shortly and this month the journal has a music focus. Oliver Saria wrote a piece on the state of Korean indie music that was also published online: ROK Heavy

There's a few quotes from Apollo 18, and of course it also mentions Galaxy Express, Idiotape, and Vidulgi OoyoO. I was interviewed for the piece myself and it contains some insights from Shin Hyunjoon, Mark Russell, and Bernie Cho as well. Go read!

Attendees of Apollo 18's fundraiser show yesterday all got a special Apollo 18 US tour album with the ticket, an album that will also be used to promoted the album on the tour in question.

This is the tracklist (click title to check out the songs on YouTube - full playlist here):
1. Warm
2. End
3. Discharge
4. Emit
5. Time
6. High Stepper [EBS Space]
7. Discusting [EBS Space]
8. Iridescent Clouds [MV]
9. Magnolia [EBS Space]
10. Orbis [MV]
11. Manic Depressive
12. Trampoline
13. FTL
14. Song A
15. Lygerastia

Fans will note that all songs are from the previously released color triology (1-5 from Red, 6-13 from Blue, 14-15 from Violet), however the band does plan to get to writing and recording some new material once back in Korea after the tour. Hopefully we'll be able to enjoy some new Apollo 18 material on record by this summer.

January 27 a new release in Beatball's digital singles series came out. This time it was rock band Look & Listen that offered three songs with a single titled Wake Up. The title track as well as the other two songs, No Yeah! and Super Man are all available on MySpace. If you're into the sound of Mama Guitar, Shonen Knife, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts and other female fronted bands of the kind Beatball figures you may fancy Look & Listen as well.

A few days ago the trio appeared in an almost 50 minutes long live studio performance on PAG TV.

With the release of her second single, Lady Jane again moves even farther away musically from her time singing acid jazz/reggae songs in Aquibird. The name of the single is 친한 사이. It was released online on February 21 and on CD a day later, February 22.

According to the album info her sound should now be classified as emotional modern rock. The title track has a music video, but the single also includes the songs Go Away and Life Is as well as instrumental versions of all tunes.

I've been meaning to post this for little over a month already, so I hope you subscribe to the whole 'better late than never' idea.


Seoul based singer/songwriter IDA released her EP the seoul experiments via Bandcamp on January 1. Folkish and melancholic it makes for a good listen and also offers a possibility to hear some of her native Swedish through the track som morfar sa.

Busan based electronic duo Lhasa put out an EP, that recently changed names from /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ to ^​^​^​^​^​^​^​^​^, via Bandcamp on January 22. Each track is interesting on its own, but they are also well played as a unity with the titles throughout golden fortresses of indiscriminate size and shape. Personally I'm particularly fond of of and and.
Update 7:50pm: Just refound the link to this Lhasa interview I had forgotten about: Best of What's Next: LHASA


Washington based Korean-American singer/songwriter Joanne Kim sent me an email introducing me to her music at the very beginning of this month and I found it to be lovely. Equipped with an acoustic guitar she sings sweet and charming lyrics as can be heard through the demos posted on her website. Hear more through Joanne Kim's YouTube channel.

I was just reached by the news that Apollo 18 have added two more Austin shows to their upcoming US tour:
- March 17, 6pm @ Zhi Tea Gallery (Zhi Tea presents: SXZT!)
- March 18, 4pm @ Hoeks Death Metal Pizza

This effectively means that the hardworking guys will be playing a total of 16 shows in just 13 days.

   [read more ...]

Wanna find out about some more artists worthy of attention or just looking for a bit of weekend reading? Here's a collection of links I didn't get around to posting sooner.

Recently Kamala-Chan launched a new weekly feature that goes under the name "Wonder-Girl Wednesdays" over at K-RoK Rocks!!!
She started with Storyseller, that was my own favorite girl rock band back when they were still known as Bloody Cookie, and this week the Wednesday was dedicated to the bassist of industrial metal band Schizo:
- Wonder-Girl Wednesdays: Story Seller
- Wonder-Girl Wednesdays: Spicy Soda
- Wonder-Girl Wednesdays: Schizo

Last week Kamala-Chan also made an attempt at introducing the artists making videos with friendz.net, whose YouTube channel offers an abundance of lovely videos: Indie Spotlight: Friendz.net


I have since long lost track of all "Hongdae <something>" out there, but apparently there is now one more Goddess: Hongdae Goddess' 송희란 (Song Hee Ran). Having sung songs for various dramas at least since 2007, Song Hee Ran released her first digital single, 이해할 수 없는, on December 14.

   [read more ...]

In the land of the morning calm, Saturday February 26 has already begun. As the evening nears, a group of very lucky people at Live Club Ssam will get to experience a live show with performances from some of Korea's very best. If You are in Seoul You can be one of those lucky people. And while spending a mere 20,000 won on the ticket to what one of the stars of the evening promised would be "a really great night" you will also get a special CD with some of the best songs from the world's best rock band. And as if that wasn't enough - treating yourself to such fantastic aural pleasure - those 20,000 will also be of great help to the band in question as they take their music to the US.

The video above will give you a taste of what's to be expected. 10 Magazine wrote about it yesterday: 2/26 Apollo 18 Fundraiser Concert and March US Tour. Korea Gig Guide offers more details on the fundraiser show as well as what the funds will be used towards: Help A Local Indie Make Strides Abroad

If you are not in Seoul but still wish to do a little something to support Apollo 18 in their endeavors to bring their music out to the rest of the world, trying building a bit of buzz by telling The Guardian why they should keep their eyes and ears open for Apollo 18: Nominate your favourite artists at SXSW 2011

So, the winners ofKorean Music Awards 2011, the 8th edition of this annual event, were announced yesterday. I take it readers of this blog will be familiar with most of the winning names already, but still feel like I should take a bit of time covering some of the artists/releases not previously mentioned here.

First up Rookie of The Year: Gate Flowers

Four member rock band Gate Flowers has been around since 2005. They were the Hello Rookie winners in October 2009 and the same month they got to kick off one of the days at that year's Grand Mint Festival playing from the grand stage. However it was not until October 19 2010 that the first self-titled EP was released. According to the album info, Gate Flowers has a vocalist influenced by Seattle grunge and progressive metal whereas the band itself is more of a jazz/funk hybrid.

Best Pop Album:
Cho Kyu Chan started his musical career as the vocalist in Shade Blowing New Wave (새바람이 오는 그늘) in 1990 and went on to release his first solo album in 1993. His 9th full length album was released in 2010 on July 27 and one of the songs on the album, WOW, features last year's pop winner Lee Sora. Although not included on Tearliner's list of favorite releases in 2010, he did mention this as his favorite Korean album of the year.

   [read more ...]

Since at least one person would like to see more of charts around here, here's Gaon's digital chart for last week. 10cm continue to have an impressive presence, some songs moving up others falling slightly in the ranking. No new korean indie music additions to the chart this time.

k-indie @ Gaon Digital Chart - February 19, 2011
46. Humming Urban Stereo - 넌 그날 (feat. Yoo In Na) [MV]
52. 10cm - 그게 아니고
80. 10cm - 사랑은 은하수 다방에서
118. 10cm - Talk
121. 10cm - 우정, 그 씁쓸함에 대하여
126. Lucid Fall - 우리 아름다운 시간은 [MV]
128. 10cm - 죽겠네 (Album Ver.)
137. 10cm - Beautiful
142. 10cm - 아메리카노
144. 10cm - Kingstar
151. 10cm - 오늘밤은 어둠이 무서워요
155. 10cm - Beautiful Moon
160. 10cm - Hey Billy
161. 10cm - Rebirth
162. 10cm - 곱슬머리
173. 10cm - 살

Yesterday, February 23, the winners of the 8th Korean Music Awards were announced. Thanks to the many Korean indie musicians on Twitter it was possible to follow the awards in real time even for those that couldn't watch the video streaming from the official site. The Seoulsonic even offered a few photos on tumblr, starting here.

Here are the results (more after the jump), via Sports Chosun

Album of the Year: Garion 《Garion 2》
Song of the Year: Hot Potato 〈고백〉《Seesaw》
Musician of the Year: Galaxy Express 《Wild Days》
Rookie of the Year: Gate Flowers 《Gate Flowers》

   [read more ...]

New unique aritst chart from Indieful ROK's last.fm listener group! This week I was so happy going through the track chart scouting for good sample titles as it had me listening to some fantastic songs it's been way too long since I last listened to. Why not try the playlist to hear them all for yourself?

Indieful ROK TOP10 - week 7, 2011

1. 10cm (-) [Hey Billy live]
2. Han Hee Jung (-) [입맞춤, 입술의 춤 live]
3. Fanny Fink (+7) [Love Is You YT audio]
4. 푸른새벽 (re) [친절한 나의 길 YT audio]
5. Clazziquai (+2) [사랑끝에 YT audio]
6. Humming Urban Stereo (-3) [난 그날 YT audio]
7. Nell (-3) [Fisheye Lens live]
8. Donawhale (re) [아카시아 YT audio]
9. Misty Blue (-4) [슈게이저 YT audio]
10. Adultchild (new) [Star 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!

Bugs Indie Music Chart is not the only place where 10cm is having success right now. I just took a quick look at Gaon's digital chart and while it has yet to be updated for last week the week prior to that showed remarkable success for the acoustic duo. I'd be curious to know if there was ever any other act with as many tracks in the top 200 before.

k-indie @ Gaon Digital Chart - February 12, 2011
33. Humming Urban Stereo - 넌 그날 (feat. Yoo In Na) [MV]
64. 10cm - 그게 아니고
95. 10cm - 사랑은 은하수 다방에서
112. 10cm - Talk
119. Lucid Fall - 우리 아름다운 시간은 [MV]
120. 10cm - 우정, 그 씁쓸함에 대하여
124. Whale - 그대라서
135. 10cm - Beautiful
136. 10cm - 죽겠네 (Album Ver.)
142. 10cm - Kingstar
149. 10cm - Beautiful Moon
158. 10cm - Rebirth
159. 10cm - 곱슬머리
160. 10cm - Hey Billy
162. Zitten - Sunshine [MV]
165. 10cm - 살
170. 10cm - 아메리카노
176. 10cm - 오늘밤은 어둠이 무서워요
191. Standing Egg - 넌 이별 난 아직 (with 한소현 of 3rd coast)
192. AshGray - 못됐다

As previously mentioned, Lucid Fall has recorded a song for movie I Love You (그대를 사랑합니다). The soundtrack was released on February 9. In addition to the Lucid Fall track and a few other songs, the soundtrack also included a new song from Dalmoon called 들꽃처럼. Check out the music video here.

Whale recorded 그대라서 for SBS drama Sign (싸인). It was first released as part 4 of the digital single OST series on January 27, but will get a CD release along with the rest of the soundtrack on February 24.

Rock band AshGray released a digital single called 못됐다 on February 8. The single is number 6 from the band and holds 3 tracks. Personally I've become quite fond of this unplugged performance of the title track.


Let me know if you'd like me to make these charts a regular feature by the way! I've been checking them out every now and then without finding anything that caught my interest till just now, but perhaps that's about to change.

Some minor variations in the top since last week.

Bugs Indie TOP10 - February 19, 2011
1. 10cm - 그게 아니고 [TV recording fancam]
2. 10cm - 우정, 그 씁쓸함에 대하여 [@ Anthracite]
3. 10cm - 사랑은 은하수 다방에서 [@ Another Place]
4. 10cm - 아메리카노 [recandplay.net]
5. 10cm - 오늘밤은 어둠이 무서워요 [MV]
6. 10cm - Good Night [@ Anthracite]
7. 10cm - 새벽 4시 [@ Veloso]
8. Bye Bye Sea - 별 빛이 내린다 [MV]
9. 10cm - 눈이 오네 [recandplay.net]
10. Art of Parties - Recover [live]

The new additions to the TOP100 list are the following:
12. Hyunjhin Baik - 오후만 있던 일요일
21. Jaejoo Boys - 방갈로
29. Humans - 누렁이
31. Ynot? - Livin' In Today
39. Simply Brown - Funky Town
90. Casker - 물고기

See the full top 100 list here.

Modern rock band Humans debuted with a self-titled mini album on February 16. It seems like the band started out with a female vocalist, female drummer, and male guitarist, but grom the album info it seems like the group has since transformed into an all female quintet.

On February 17 Ynot? released third full length album What The Funk?. This time around the band's music is described as a meeting between powerful rythm and electronic sound.

More music that appears to come from the same vein is offered by Simply Brown, that debuted with a mini album called Funky Town, also on February 17. This band is described has having both "funky groove and rock appeal".

Did you miss experimental duo 10 when they played in London last week? Don't worry, you'll get another chance already this Sunday, February 27. Details on the Facebook event page.

Not in London? If you're in Paris on March 3 you'll have a chance to see them anyway as they'll be playing a free event at La Gaîté Lyrique. Details here.

February 22 has barely gotten started in my part of the world, but I'm having a hard time believing I could find any news better than this today: Mot and Huckleberry Finn have both recorded covers for an upcoming Deulgukhwa remake album. Mot have taken on the classic 매일 그대와 whereas Huckleberry Finn tackled 아침이 밝아올 때까지. The songs were both released today via a digital single simply going by the name 2011 들국화 리메이크 앨범 Part 1.

Today I was very happy to find that Chris Park has gotten started doing interviews for his wakesidevision. First band up is post-rock act Glittering Blackness, Fall: Glittering Blackness, Fall Interview

Apollo 18's US tour schedule has now been completely confirmed and during 13 days they'll be playing a total of 14 shows. The US tour video seen above has been finalized and was launched today on the new official Apollo 18 YouTube channel.

This is the complete tour schedule:
March 15: Dallas, TX @ Double Wide
March 16: Austin, TX @ DMI House @ 219 West (6 pm) [Dart Music International]
March 16: Austin, TX @ Official SXSW showcase [Headhunters (10:40 pm)]
March 17: Austin, TX @ Zhi Tea Gallery [Zhi Tea presents: SXZT! (6 pm)]
March 18: Austin, TX @ Hoeks Death Metal Pizza (4 pm)
March 18: San Marcos, TX @ Triple Crown
March 19: Austin, TX @ Aussie's (1 pm) [WeAre78704.com Party]
March 20: Austin, TX @ Cheer Up Charlie's (1 pm)
March 20: San Antonio, TX @ Night Rocker Live
March 21: New Orleans, LA @ Dragon's Den
March 22: Houston, TX @ Super Happy Fun Land
March 23: Denton, TX @ Andy's Bar
March 24: Hot Springs, AR @ Low Key Arts [The Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival]
March 25: Memphis, TN @ Stash House
March 26: Tulsa, OK @ The Eclipse
March 27: Fort Worth, TX @ 1919 Hemphill

Here are some reviews published in the week that just passed.


On February 11, super rock band Yellow Monsters released a digital single called 벤자민. In addition to the title track, which was also featured on the band's self-titled debut album, the single also includes an acoustic version of the same song. Kamala-Chan was the first to give it a mention: K-RoK Song of the Day: Yellow Monsters - Benjamin (Acoustic). The acoustic version was also recently spotlighted over at Live Journal community Soulvirtue: Yellow Monsters - Metal Gear + Yellow Monsters - Benjamin (Acoustic)


Much like Yellow Monsters, Standing Egg took a song from their first full length album and released it again as a digital single in an acoustic version. The song in question was 사랑에 빠져본 적 있나요 and the single, which features R&B guy Ra.d, was released on January 17. Over at Bump This it was found ridiculously cute: First Listen: Standing Egg Releases “Have You Ever Fallen in Love?” And mellowyel figured Korea must really be a beautiful country after having a look at the music video: Standing Egg asks, "Have You Ever Fallen In Love?"


Woo Mi Jin (not to be confused with jazz pianist MiJin Woo) is a female singer/songwriter that has been active for near a decade already. On August 17 last year she released an EP called Cocoonature. Chris Park thought maybe she was playing it a bit too safe: 우미진 (Woo Mijin) – Cocoonature Review

   [read more ...]

Indieful ROK's favorite contestant in MBC Star Audition has been doing well since our interview. In the Friday episode, Sweet Guerillaz vocalist Yang Jung-mo sang the Lim Jae Bum and Park Hyun Jung duet 사랑보다 깊은 상처 together with fellow contestant Baek Chung-gang. Because of their efforts both were picked to be mentored by Boohwal's legendary guitarist Kim Tae Won, who is a judge on the show.


A Friday earlier Yang Jungmo had once again gotten on stage sporting GMC gear, including a Vicious Glare t-shirt showing support for the band where he's a bassist. Much like his first TV performance he was singing a Boohwal song, this time Never Ending Story. However as this segment has not been uploaded to the official StarAudition YouTube channel there are no English subtitles.


And though I've previously posted it on Indieful ROK's Facebook page, I never got around to mention this video here as it took me too long to find out the result. The video above shows Yang Jungmo singing 이유 from SBS drama Secret Garden (시크릿 가든).

For his first time on the show, singing Boohwal's 아름다운 사실, check out the video on top of this interview.

Following Charlie from a couple of months ago, Slow Fuzz - the new project from former Misty Blue bassist Choi Kyung Hoon - published a video for new song Silent Blue yesterday.

Having now gotten into February, here's yet another recently published album sales chart from Hyang Music - arguably the best CD store for anyone looking too purchase a disc of Korean indie music.

Hyang Chart - 1st week of February, 2011
1. 10cm - The First EP
2. Various Artists - Save The Air: Green Concert
3. Autumn Vacation - 가을방학
4. Broccoli, you too? - 졸업
5. Guckkasten - Tagträume
6. Sister's Barbershop - 비둘기는 하늘의 쥐
7. Vodka Rain - Faint
8. Sister's Barbershop - 후일담
9. IU - Real
10.Jieun and The Wolves - 오지은과 늑대들

No new k-indie related releases had made it into the TOP100 this week.

Today 10Asia posted an English translation of a recent interview with Walrus:
- [INTERVIEW] Rock band Walrus - Part 1
- [INTERVIEW] Rock band Walrus - Part 2

As expected model/actor/frontman Kim Jae Wook answers most of the questions, but his band mates participate in the interview as well, answering questions about their music and how the band formed.

A few days ago the band launched another video for their recently released debut single: New Video: Walrus - Seoul Witches

As promised, here's the latest album sales chart published by Hyang Music.

Hyang Chart - 4th week of January, 2011
1. Various Artists - Save The Air: Green Concert
2. Broccoli, you too? - 졸업
3. 10cm - The First EP
4. Guckkasten - Tagträume
5. Vodka Rain - Faint
6. Autumn Vacation - 가을방학
7. Jieun and The Wolves - 오지은과 늑대들
8. Sister's Barbershop - 비둘기는 하늘의 쥐
9. Sister's Barbershop - 후일담
10. D.O.T - Candid Breath

The new k-indie oriented additions to the TOP100 list were the following:
67. runaway9oose - 취미입니다
69. LasToast - 기분탓이겠지
72. The Black Skirts - 201 (special edition)
73. Bamseom Pirates - 서울불바다
75. Lee Seung Joo - 그런 사람으로
93. Bulnabang Star Sossage Club - 고질적 신파

See the full top 100 list here.

The first two full length albums from one of Korea's most significant indie acts, Sister's Barbershop, were reissued by Stonage Record in January. The two albums were first released in 1996 and 1999 respectively, both filled with a fantastic modern rock sound typical for that era.

Lo-fi electronica act (hobby project?) runaway9oose's self-released first full length album 취미입니다 on December 7. Both 마음병동 and 교환환불불가 can be downloaded from SoundCloud, and Hyang Music offers a couple of short samples more.

LasToast revives some of that aforementioned modern rock sound of Korean indie in the late 90s, early 00s. On January 27 the band's first EP, 기분탓이겠지, was released. Visit the official blog to sample 로봇즈/로봇 Z.

Noisy left-wing punk rockers Bamseom Pirates self-released an impressive 42 track strong album called 서울불바다 on July 10 last year. Hyang Music offers a few samples and there's plenty of live material on YouTube, including some recandplay.net vids, for anyone to see if you want to check out their music.

Today DFSB Kollective sent out a press releaseannouncing the schedule for its Seoulsonic North America tour. The tour, which is focused around Galaxy Express, Idiotape, and Vidulgi OoyoO, has been confirmed for the following locations:

March 9-12: Toronto, Ontario @ Canadian Music Week (CMW)
March 16-20: Austin, Texas @ South By Southwest (SXSW)
March 24: New York City @ The Knitting Factory Brooklyn
March 31: San Diego @ The Tin Can
April 2: Los Angeles @ The Roxy Theatre

The New York date also offers a chance to catch both Kite Operations and Big Phony in action.

Korea Times has published a related article that is well worth a read: [Weekender] Korean indie bands to rock North America. It has DFSB's Bernie Cho talking about the thought behind Seoulsonic, but also mentions EE and contains excerpts from an interview with all three guys of Apollo 18. And Song Kyoung-kun of Gong Myoung, that played SXSW last year, gets to share a few of his experiences as well.

After a while's hiatus, Hyang Music finally posted another album sales chart this week. No albums that wasn't already covered on Indieful ROK were featured on this chart, but there'll be some more news when I post the chart for the 4th week of January tomorrow.

Hyang Chart - 3rd week of January, 2011
1. Guckkasten - Tagträume
2. Broccoli, you too? - 졸업
3. Autumn Vacation - 가을방학
4. 10cm - The First EP
5. IU - Real
6. Jieun and The Wolves - 오지은과 늑대들
7. Bye Bye Badman - Bye Bye Badman
8. 정원영 - 5th
9. Joyumn - 흐르른다
10. GD & TOP - High High

The new k-indie oriented additions to the TOP100 list were the following:
71. Jambinai - 잠비나이
87. Purple Haze - Outstanding

See the full top 100 list here.

As was mentioned in the recent Groove article on Apollo 18, the band plan to hand out iPhone cases while at SXSW a month from now. Today the design was revealed on the official Facebook page.

If you checked out the Indieful ROK chart below you may have noticed that besides the Humming Urban Stereo listing was a new track called 그날. The song in question is the title track off the electronica act's most recent single, released February 8. It's been getting a lot more attention than is common for HUS releases and I dare say the reason is that another track off the same single, 넌 그날, features Yoo In Na on vocals.

The actress said last year that she wanted to work with Humming Urban Stereo, and now it has actually happened. allkpop first posted on the release the day it was released: Yoo In Na & Humming Urban Stereo collaborate for “You That Day”. A couple of days later they followed with a post on Yoo In Na's thoughts on the collaboration: Yoo In Na chats about Humming Urban Stereo, IU, and her ideal man.

Mellowyel reviewed the single and also shared a few opinions on the new 10cm album in a recent post: More New Music - The Sounds of Mid-February. Check out the music video to hear 넌 그날 for yourself,.

Much like the most recent Bugs indi chart, the most recent track chart from Indieful ROK's last.fm listener group is dominated by 10cm. As usual sample songs for each artist are picked based on the number of total number of listeners within our group.

Indieful ROK TOP10 - week 6, 2011

1. 10cm (new) [Hey Billy live]
2. Han Hee Jung (+8) [어항 YT audio]
3. Humming Urban Stereo (+5) [그날 YT audio]
4. Nell (re) [Separation Anxiety live]
5. Misty Blue (re) [여름 궁전 MV]
6. Lee Sang Eun (new) [비밀의 화원 (The Secret Garden) live]
7. Clazziquai (-3) [초콜릿 트러플 YT audio]
8. Casker (-5) [Scully Doesn't Know live]
9. Epik High (re) [따라해 (Wannabe) MV]
10. Fanny Fink (re) [Love Is You 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!

This week the indie chart from Bugs makes it seem like there is only one duo that really matters in Korean indie music right now. As some songs have a tendency to hang around the top for long I'm very curious to see how long this will last.

Bugs Indie TOP10 - February 12, 2011
1. 10cm - 그게 아니고
2. 10cm - 우정, 그 씁쓸함에 대하여 [@ Anthracite]
3. 10cm - Talk
4. Art of Parties - Recover [live]
5. 10cm - 아메리카노 [recandplay.net]
6. 10cm - 오늘밤은 어둠이 무서워요 [MV]
7. 10cm - Good Night [@ Anthracite]
8. 10cm - 새벽 4시 [@ Veloso]
9. Broccoli, you too? - 사랑한다는 말로도 위로가 되지 않는 [@ Sketchbook]
10. 10cm - 눈이 오네 [recandplay.net]

No new additions to the TOP100 list besides the top 3 tracks.

See the full top 100 list here.

It's February 15 and so Music Alliance Pact is back! From now on Venezuela will be represented by Música y Más and Birds Sometimes Dance that has been standing in for Eardrums to represent Norway these last few months is now a permanent member. Two countries didn't offer any submissions this month, but that still leaves 33 glorious songs from all over the world gathered below for your aural pleasure.

This month's contribution from South Korea introduces the world to the wonderful soundscapes of auhm. The songs with post-rock influences were always my favorites from Donawhale so to hear Youn Sung Hoon continue down that road on his own is quite a treat. Check out this interview to learn more about his project and don't forget to drop by SoundCloud to hear more.

To download all 33 songs in one file click here

SOUTH KOREA: Indieful ROK
auhm - Hide In The Fog
So far, Youn Sung Hoon is best known as the guitarist in the beyond lovely indie-pop act Donawhale, but with the band on hiatus that may well be about to change. In addition to occasionally supporting former MAP artist Apollo 18 on stage, he's been making some music under the moniker auhm. Hide In The Fog is a glorious post-rock track that is far from as shy as the title implies. Hopefully an EP will be out before the summer, but for now we'll have to be satisfied with auhm's wondrous demo recordings.

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Last summer Donawhale's Youn Sung Hoon began updating his blog with some of his own demo recordings. I already had the greatest respect for the music he'd made with Donawhale (아카시아 being one of my very favorite songs) and was thrilled to hear what he could make all on his own. A few weeks ago he made the name for his solo project official while launching both MySpace and SoundCloud pages. I wanted to find out more about this new project so I asked him a few questions and in return got a set of answers translated by Ryu:

How would you like to introduce auhm?
auhm is the name of my solo project. (ambience guitar player and songwriter Youn Sung Hoon - better known as the primary guitar player of Donawhale)

auhm is an abbrevation of 4 words. It stands for something, but I'm not gonna tell you in detail at this moment in time. That's kind of secret. It could be a sort of pleasure to find out and imagine what it means.

How would you describe the sound of auhm?
Well, essentially, I could possibly tell you that auhm is without a doubt well-suited for post rock. I often avoid the common pitfalls of so-called "post-rock" by maintaining a standard form of its genre. To stop perpetuating stereotypes and prejudices about my work as auhm, I do not want to define 'auhm' in detail. But in this sound of auhm, evolving development with a rock sound and not having any lines of vocal and so forth, could be some elements of post-rock. Recently, I guess the genre of post-rock straddles instrumental music with its various elements.

I tried to describe and develope those things that coexist with "intensity/feebleness of feeling", "delicacy/rowdiness" and "beauty/ugliness" or something like that in the sounds. I also wanted to express the amplification, the development and the extinction of energies in this world. All this, as well as the hidden side of everything we belong to. Y'know, the sun gives us light but it also contains the dark. Each has its opposite side. Through auhm, I attempted to express those things as much as I possibly can.

You're a guitarist, but listening to your demo songs there are also other instruments. Is it all you or have other musicians been involved too?
All demos are made and recorded by myself. And I made the whole drum part on the computer. But it's just like drawing up basic guidelines, so I need to change a little more.

Especially while recording, there might be a drummer or other musicians I'll be able to work with. Not working with the computer & doing all parts alone :) Most likely, it would bring a change. I hope that the change could become precise/original, more positivie, much more dynamic.

What are your current plans for auhm? Any EP or album in the making?
I've been conducting some musical experiments in private, and I've made lots of demo songs so far. But I haven't completed my work yet, so I have got to concentrate and get some work done. After this, I'll make progress in releasing new album or EP and doing extra works. And I want to find well-matched members of auhm and practice and record my works together. If I don't find anyone, I would have to do it all alone. That sounds so tough! lol

Well, at any rate, I hope to release my EP album before this summer and then I'd like to perform live on stage as auhm. It'll be my honor to communicate well with each other through auhm's lively soundscape. Thanks.

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I'm already so excited about his plans for an EP and hope to one day get to see auhm on stage. Donawhale fans need not worry too much about their favorite guitarist getting too occupied elsewhere just yet however. Although Donawhale is on a hiatus right now Youn Sung Hoon expressed a wish for them to become active again soon.

Check back tomorrow to download an mp3 of one of my auhm favorites so far, but already now you can listen to plenty auhm demos on SoundCloud. Any guesses on what a.u.h.m. stands for?

DJ Soulscape continues to work with cosmetics brand belif under his Espionne alias. The first mini album was launched in August, and now it's been followed by Music Treatment vol.2, that also goes under the title Raindrops. This new release includes christmas special Toys & Bells as a bonus track. All tracks on Raindrops can be streamed from the belif site.

Jeong Sanghoon's Asphalt Music is now available for sampling via last.fm. I got my copy of the CD earlier this week and fell in love immediately on first listen. A lot of it sounds like the soundtrack for some painstakingly beautiful movie, and there's also a lot of The Invisible Fish feeling on the album even though he chose to release it under his own name. Had I heard the album sooner it would've definitely ended up on my list of best releases of 2010.

For the curious, the book that the CD is sold with has been written by Kim Yeon Seo and it is called 7번국조 Revisited. It's a paperback novel on the theme of love, from the look of it not of the happy kind.


To hear more music from Jeong Sanghoon, you can check out the trailer for new movie Come Rain, Come Shine (사랑한다, 사랑하지 않는다). The movie opens on March 3, and in the trailer you can hear two songs he made under the alias The Invisible Fish, namely 후 and former MAP song 저물다.



As you may already be aware, Jeong Sanghoon was once a member in what may have been Korea's finest modern folk duo, Bluedawn, and his partner at the time was Han Hee Jung. Although this video advertises her Korean solo concert Two-faced woman, I found it interesting enough to use this post as an excuse to share the link: 2011.03.12 한희정 단독콘서트 '두 얼굴의 여자'