This year can definitely be marked down as one for the less inspiring years for discovering new musical talent. Korea is packed full of vocally gifted teens all eager to make the break into stardom and this year saw various girl and boy bands pop up from nowhere as companies vied for more of the … [Read More]
Category: Pop, rock and indie (page 40)
LKL Critics’ Choice 2009: Anna Lindgren
Anna Lindgren of Indieful RoK provides her pick of the best albums of 2009. Since finally giving up my life as a student to get out into the real world a couple of years ago my relation to new music has changed a lot. I see an interesting looking album or single, place an order … [Read More]
Girl bands through the ages
A disappointing piece from the tabloids – Five Decades of Korean Girl Bands http://bit.ly/608Pro #. Fortunately Mark Russell over at Korea Pop Wars rectifies the situation. [Read More]
TVXQ’s “slave contract”
“K-pop fandom going batshit crazy today,” says @suzyinseoul. “Will someone tell me what’s going on with TVXQ and SM?” Source: AllKPop and, for background, Korea Times # [Read More]
True to Younee – a review of Younee’s international debut album
“It’s not my kind of thing. Why don’t you have a listen?” So said a well-connected jazz buff to me a couple of months ago. He happened to have a promotional copy of Younee’s debut Western album. “She’s coming to London later this year to do some gigs at Pizza Express.” I was happy to … [Read More]
Tearliner revisited
Anna Lindgren of Indieful ROK gets in touch with Tearliner again, two years after her first interview. The past couple of years, my favourite Tearliner has gone from being the loveliest of indie musicians to becoming the excellent music director that perfectly sets the mood for any scene. Working on popular dramas he’s largely responsible … [Read More]
The Indieful ROK MySpace Directory
Anna over at Indieful ROK has done us all a great service. Ever wanted to explore new Korean indie music? Never figured out how lastFM works? MySpace is a good place to sample new music for free. The problem is, where are all the cool Korean musicians? In the course of her blogging on Korean … [Read More]
Younee on Radio 3 Jazz Line-up
Great pre-gig publicity for Younee, courtesy of the BBC: an interview with the amazing singer Claire Martin on Radio 3 Jazz Line-up, and the chance to perform a couple of numbers live. http://bit.ly/yi96h # From the BBC website: Claire Martin presents as South Korean piano virtuoso Yoonee talks about her current career in jazz and … [Read More]
Younee’s autumn UK tour and CD release
News of a UK tour by Korean singer-wongwriter and pianist, Younee, in collaboration with British-based musicians: Younee, from Seoul, Korea is ‘beyond category’ as a singer, songwriter and pianist and known as “Key’s Piano” in her native Korea and has 2 albums to her name. Her exquisitely vulnerable voice can also express raw power. An … [Read More]
Korean singer-songwriter explores London pub
Fun evening with Younee at the Golden Eagle yesterday #. She entertained the regulars with an impromptu rock ‘n’ roll version of Summertime on the piano. [Read More]
BoA’s US album disappoints
Oh dear. I thought BoA’s US album was going to be a bit better than that. If you have to use a vocoder to make it in America, stay in Asia. #. I suppose the sound production is geared towards a US market. Shame. [Read More]
Konglish in K-pop
Does Epik High have the same language coach as the Wonder Girls? “-t you” ≠ “choo” #(Epik High: No reason to live withow choo / Wonder Girls: I want nobody nobody bah choo) [Read More]
Yoon Bok-hee comes to Kingston
Koreans seem to keep some of their favourite stars well hidden from the West. Google singer Yoon Bok-hee in English, and you don’t find much. The Kpopwiki is able to provide a discography but no biography, while the occasional article in the Korea Times mention her only in passing: recently for performing the role of … [Read More]
Tomi Kita – In Dreamz
Review by Saharial Tomi Kita: In Dreamz Pony Canyon Records, 2008 Having seen them perform at ‘The Peel’ and the Dano festival last year I succumbed to the temptation of buying the one album available at Yesasia.com. ‘In Dreamz’, released in February 2008, is Tomi Kita’s third album and consists of 14 tracks all composed … [Read More]
Map the Soul – a revolution for the music industry
Saharial shows her appreciation for the way in which hip-hop group Epik High’s new album is marketed: international fans are included, and even welcomed. On 21 March 2009, a website went live and promptly crashed under the weight of 300,000 hits. It was unexpected, but the kind of unexpected that you almost hope for in … [Read More]
Happy music, Happy people
We want to make people in this world listen our music and feel happy 😉 Nina Lee from Happy Robot Records talks to Anna Lindgren. Over the past few years, Happy Robot has become one of the finest indie labels in Korea. Several of their artists made it to the finals of AVIMA 2009 – … [Read More]