I'll admit, I didn't know Korea even had other music other than what was shown on TV for the longest time. You know, the flashy, shiny, pretty boys and girls dancing for your entertainment trying so hard to charm you (and looking really creepy in the meanwhile like Super Junior).
Then thanks to last.fm and a few other people, I've discovered some interesting Korean music that you probably have never heard of (if you have heard of them, good for you!), that I want to share. Of course, this is also an experiment for me since I'm pretty bad at writing about music.
So, here's a sampler and a try. I'll attach a megaupload link in the end with the songs included. I'll introduce four of my favorite artists so please let me know what you guys think! (and maybe i'll do more since there's a lot of good music IMO out there!)
Broccoli, You Too I honestly only started listening to this band (actually, first Korean music of this type that I listened to) simply because of the name. 브로콜리너마저 is just a really funny name, so I checked it out simply based on that.
I was honestly surprised by the quality of music that I got hit with. I loved the lyrics, the situation they tried to convey with their songs. 보편적인노래 (A song for everything), 앵콜요청금지(Encore Requests are not Allowed) , and 유자차 (Yuja Tea) are just songs that all stuck out for me. They're relaxing, singing about little things about relationships that I found quite cute, like all the things you feel and think about when you're a teenager, even though I'm far from a teenager now
Loveholic Actually, you probably heard of them. They've done so many songs for Drama and Movies that it's really hard not to hear of them. And honestly, they're great. One of the qualities that I look for in music is when songs begin creating atmospheres that make you forget about everything else and only think about the world painted in the songs, and they do that perfectly.
What I've included, however, are not songs done by them for movies. I've included 차라의 숲 (Forest of Chara), which is pretty much my favorite song of all time. I've also included Sunglass, Loveholic, and 리버풀 키드의 생애 (Life of a Kid from Liverpool)
자우림(Jaurim)
Jaurim means "Purple Rain Forest", which is a pretty funky name. They've been around for quite a while, performing everywhere, and they have a really playful style that I enjoy. Their style also varies from song from song, unlike Loveholic where nearly all their songs sound similar or you know what to expect from them.
Included is 격주코믹스, a song about a comic book hero and his villain, Orange Marmalade, one of their more famous songs, Love Rock'n Roll, song from my favorite album of theirs.
Rumble Fish
They have a very simple and very clean sound, and quite upbeat most of the time. They're one of the more famous performers around, getting a name for themselves before releasing albums. One of the bands I'll 100% check out live when I go to Korea for sure!
Included in Don't Stop, which honestly could be an Anime Opening song somewhere, 웃어봐요 (Give Laughing a Try), 으라차차, 성냥팔이소녀 (The Little Match Girl)
Let me know how you guys like it! I'll try to do this for other Korean bands and Japanese bands at a future date, perhaps once a week. Enjoy the music!
On June 15 2010 03:21 LosingID8 wrote: i can't get myself to like rumblefish because the vocalist's voice annoys me. i do think the actual songs are good though.
On June 15 2010 03:03 Milkis wrote: ... I've discovered some interesting Korean music that you probably have never heard of (if you have heard of them, good for you!)...
Don't be surprised, but such people exist! XDXD
I LOVE Korean indie(ful) rock (and pretty much everything k-indie related). My fave bands are 도나웨일 (Donawhale), 파니핑크 (Fanny Fink) and 푸른새벽 (Bluedawn) /though, they aren't active anymore, I freaking love the vocalist 한희정, which is probably my fave female singer./
And yes, this is such a relaxing and mellow music~ I actually prefer it over typical kpop stuff, but yeah..
Btw, do you only listen to bands with female (lead)singers or?
On June 15 2010 03:03 Milkis wrote: ... I've discovered some interesting Korean music that you probably have never heard of (if you have heard of them, good for you!)...
Don't be surprised, but such people exist! XDXD
I LOVE Korean indie(ful) rock (and pretty much everything k-indie related). My fave bands are 도나웨일 (Donawhale), 파니핑크 (Fanny Fink) and 푸른새벽 (Bluedawn) /though, they aren't active anymore, I freaking love the vocalist 한희정, which is probably my fave female singer./
And yes, this is such a relaxing and mellow music~ I actually prefer it over typical kpop stuff, but yeah..
Btw, do you only listen to bands with female (lead)singers or?
Mostly. I tend to like female vocals a lot more. 한희정 is one of my favorite singers, haha, I was going to put her on the next set. But yeah... I think the music I listen to is predominantly female vocals.
In terms of male vocals, I like 이승철, 김종국, Swallow, Lucid Fall, Deli Spice, and Bulldog Mansion. There are a few other albums that I was supposed to check out that I haven't bothered to listen to yet, however
yeah i used to automatically discard any korean music because i assumed it was shitty k-pop, but then i heard some of their more underground/indie music and realized that they have some really good stuff as well
electronic music as well: ESTi and pretty much every producer in the DJMAX series
EPT
