The Turning Gate

The Korean soundWave, Part II

Christmas is nearly upon us! The Turning Gate now dons a Santa cap and presents part two of my series introducing Korean bands. In The Korean soundWave, Part I, I featured Bluedawn, Clazziquai, Rollercoaster, Humming Urban Stereo, Casker and Jaurim. For Part II, I present another five bands and 13 MP3s to whet your appetite.

You’ll need to have Asian language support enabled on your computer to display many of the song titles. Otherwise, the Korean text will just look like blocks. Regardless, you should be able to download and enjoy the MP3s.

Now, Merry Christmas and on with the show!

Sweater

My girlfriend came over with a handful of CDs one day, handed me one when she came in the door and said, “I think you’ll like this.” It was Sweater’s second album, Humming Street, and of course she was right. It was a great record. Within a week, I’d paid visits to two record stores and had purchased Sweater’s entire three-album discography.

Sweater is a four-piece indy pop/rock band, and a damn good one. They utilize standard rock instrumentation: guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, singer. Unfortunately, information on the band is scarce, though I did manage to turn up a Lunapark6.com interview with the lead singer, Earip.

Officially, the band has released two albums, Staccato Green and Humming Street. The third album was released as a tangent, and is called Sweater 2.5: Songs In Air. The lyrics were submitted by fans, the songs evolved as live gimmicks, and the record company eventually suggested making an informal album release of the songs. Earip apparently regrets releasing the record, and intimates that it should not be considered Sweater’s third album – hence the 2.5 designation. From my perspective, Songs In Air isn’t a bad album at all; it’s just not as good as the other two.

Though Sweater’s website is presently dead-in-the-water, Earip says in the Lunapark6 interview that Sweater plans to renew the site and release a new album in 2007. Also, Earip has released a solo EP, End of Bando (see below).

Sweater’s music rests on a solid pop/rock foundation, but also adopts elements of funk, disco and electronica to create pop constructs of towering catchiness. I heard “You” twice, then couldn’t get it out of my head for days on end. That’s why I bought up their discography so quickly. Hooks! … Sweater has them, and they dig deep. Get hooked on these:

Right-click to download You.

Right-click to download Spring Power, Spring Daze.

Right-click to download 바람.

 

Earip 이아림

Earip, Sweater’s lead singer, takes her solo music to a very different place than Sweater goes. Her EP, End of Bando is lo-fi, quiet and largely acoustic. It’s also very good, though it only amounts to five songs.

Because it’s an independent release, End of Bando is difficult to find, but can be ordered from www.mrkwang.com. I had trouble getting the website to work when I attempted to order, but sent Mr. Kwang an email and had my order processed within an hour, and the CD in my hands a few days later.

Right-click to download Nameless Afternoon.

Earip also appeared on two Lucid Fall tracks for the Bus Stop original motion-picture soundtrack.

Right-click to download Lucid Fall’s 세상은, featuring Earip, from the Bus Stop O.S.T.

 

Misty Blue

Misty Blue is another band signed to my beloved PastleMusic. The label line on the band is as follows:

The melancholic and beautiful modern folk music trio, Misty Blue, have come into the spotlight with their successful debut album ‘The name of your star: Sirius B’ in summer of 2005, as well as their recent EP ‘A sleeping flower under the Lake of Glass at 4ºC’. Misty Blue are some of the most outstanding musicians on the South Korean music scene and they were selected ‘New Currents’ by Gwang Myeong Music Valley Festival in 2005. They were also strongly nominated candidates for ‘New artist of the year’ and ‘the best modern rock album/single’ in the 3rd Korean Music Awards (2006).

My own statement is simple: I love Misty Blue. They remind me every so slightly of the Sundays, and they’re delightful to listen to – calming, but upbeat; upbeat, but low-key; beautiful, wonderful and catchy too!

It’s also worth mentioning that their album covers have thus far featured the incredible watercolors of Kim Ji Yun, whose website is worth visiting.

You can checkout Misty Blue’s MySpace page, or download the tracks below.

Right-click to download Snowberry.

Right-click to download Spring Fever.

Right-click to download Slow Days.

 

Loveholic 러브홀릭

Loveholic is a three-piece signed to Fluxus Music, the same label as Clazziquai. Loveholic recently released their fourth album, and has been featured on film soundtracks in both Korea and Japan. They are the current rock darlings of Korean radio, and very popular.

Loveholic is comprised mostly of the basic rock combo of guitars, bass and drums, with a female vocalist. Their albums are well produced, and I’d peg them as commercial rock, about as far flung from indie as a rock band could be. Despite the commerciality of their music, however, Loveholic still manages to be a very good band, blending music-of-mass-appeal with enough integrity to appeal to discriminating listeners as well.

Acquainting yourself with Loveholic is not difficult. You can sample songs and make friends with Loveholic on their MySpace page. You can also view/download the band’s music videos from their official website. And you can download the tracks below.

Right-click to download Sad Story.

Right-click to download Magic.

Right-click to download 차라의 숲.

 

Sol Flower

A while back, I turned a friend onto Rollercoaster and La Buena Vida, my favorite Korean and Spanish bands, respectively. She countered by recommending Sol Flower, and it only took me about seven months to follow-up on the recommendation by purchasing 10 Million Ways to Live.

Though listed as an R&B artist in the Gracenote database, Sol Flower, her songwriters and musicians paint in warm, enveloping tones, drawing from a palette of blues, rock, jazz and soul. If this is R&B, it’s more the sort you’d find on VH1 than on BET: rich and earthy rather than boombastic or ghetto; soulful rather than trashy. Even without understanding most of the lyrics, the music resonates with honesty and compassion. If this is R&B, it’s enough to silence genre critics such as myself.

Sol Flower sings in both English and Korean, often in the same song, changing languages as she moves from verse to chorus and back again. The music is heavy on guitars (acoustic and electric), bass guitars, and various keys and percussion instruments. This dependence upon primarily traditional instrumentation, rather than samples and electronics, accounts for the lushness of the arrangements and helps to set Sol Flower apart from western singers to whom she might otherwise be compared. What’s more, the album’s production values are absolutely top-notch.

To state my case simply, 10 Million Ways to Live is well-worth the price of admission, even for those who would typically detract from this genre of music. I can attest to this because I am one such person, and I find absolutely no reason to complain about this gem of a record. I wish I’d picked it up months ago when it was first recommended to me.

Right-click to download Kiss the Kids.

Right-click to download Calling.

 

This is the end of part two, but it’s not the end of my series. Part three will be along sometime in the future. In the meantime, if you like what you’re hearing, please patronize the bands by purchasing their records at your nearest Korean record shop, or by ordering online from outside Korea. YesAsia.com is a good place to begin. Check out MrKwang for the Earip EP. And if you have any thoughts about the music, or if you’re enjoying my series on Korean bands, please comment below.

Merry Christmas, and happy New Year!

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