The Turning Gate

The Korean soundWave VII

Sogyumo Acacia Band, Yozoh, MOT and more

I began this article in October, shortly after the Grand Mint Festival. It’s now mid-December, the festival is long past, and I’ve been too busy until now to wrap this up and post it. The festival was great, a grand opportunity to see some stellar bands. I was able to see bands outdoors in the sunshine that I’ve previously only seen in dark, cramped clubs, making for a lot of great photos that I still have gotten around to processing yet. I was able to see several bands I’ve long admired, but had never been able to see in concert, like Sweater, Lucid Fall, MOT and Plastic People. And I was able to experience a handful of new bands as well. I’m gradually working my way through a large backlog of photography, but shots from the festival will eventually begin to appear in the Photography section of the site. In the meantime, The Korean soundWave, Part VII.

Sogyumo Acacia Band

Sogyumoa Acacia Band is one of my favorite Korean bands, and a band I never tire of seeing on stage. Their live shows are incredible and fun, and the only reason I never featured them in a previous edition of The Korean soundWave is because I’d mistakenly thought I’d already done so. Having realized my mistake, I’ll touch on them now. And it’s a good time, because they’ve just released not one, but two new albums.

“Sogyumo” is a word meaning small. Originally, the band was small – only two members – but has now swollen to a stage setup of five players standard (I’ve occasionally seen them play in configurations of three and six). It’s important to note the translation when shopping online, however; you’ll find them on YesAsia.com listed as A Small Group Acacia Band. The band’s first album is hard to turn up, but can still be found. Their subsequent records are released on Pastel Music and are much easier to find. On first seeing them, my friend Zach labeled them creatively; we’ve since forgotten exactly which genres he’d pegged them to, but it was a length amalgam including the terms Baltic and Pop, and I reckon Folk was in there too.

Getting back to the new releases, the first is Sogyumo Acacia Band’s official third album, titled 우리는 소규모 아카시아 밴드입니다. The other is a solo album by the band’s secondary singer and melodianist, Yozoh, on which she is backed by her Sogyumo band-mates. Both albums are worth checking out, albeit with caveats.

CAVEATS, you say?!

Sadly, yes. I’ve heard nearly every song on these records numerous times in concerts, and must report that a great deal was lost in the translation from the stage to the studio. The albums, while good, are sad examples of stellar songs making for less-than-stellar recordings. On record, the songs just sound watered down. My initial response to the records was to come down pretty hard on them; having spent more time with them, though, I’ve found them growing on me, despite their flaws.

Banana Party, from Yozoh’s album, is a good example of the issues I take with these recordings. Live, the song is huge, with a phat, pounding bass line and a deep groove. The album version lacks bass guitar entirely and plays out sleepily. Everytime the song comes around to the phat bass part, I can hear it in my head, but never on the record, and it leaves me feeling hollow and disappointed. The album version isn’t bad; just smaller than it should be, especially when I know how big it can be.

On first playing the Sogyumo album, the first thing you hear is a keyboard. It’s almost disorienting; Sogyumo Acacia Band doesn’t have a keyboardist. And so, from the get-go, you know they’re doing something rather unusual on this outing. In most cases, the keyboards don’t help the songs; in several cases, they hurt the songs. The two opening tracks on the Sogyumo album, in particular, are keyboard heavy. And, for songs primarily written for and performed on guitar, the guitars on the album are oddly downplayed on the full-band songs. In places, the guitar parts are very different from their live counterparts, as on My Name is Yozoh, the opener opener from Yozoh’s CD. Can you hear my Charlie Brown sigh?

I won’t list every disappointment, but suffice to say that, to me, both albums seem unnecessarily crippled by peculiar and questionable arrangements. That’s not to say, however, they are without their saving graces.

On the Sogyumo CD, the best moments are the quiet ones. The songs played without the band, those which focus entirely on the acoustic guitars and voices, really shine. And while I may still miss the energy with which the songs are imbued on stage, not every song requires the full-band treatment, and there’s no denying their tranquil beauty on record. Luckily, these sorts of songs comprise the majority of the record.

But, the record is only nine tracks long, with one track appearing twice – an English and a Korean version. That leaves us with only eight songs. And when a few of them don’t hold up, we find we’ve been waiting a long time for what amounts to an EP’s worth of solid material.

Generally speaking, Yozoh’s record is more upbeat than Sogyumo’s, more folk-pop than pop-folk, and she’s obviously having a lot of fun with it. Giggles and jokes abound throughout the songs, and her efforts at cuteness largely succeed in being cute. Ten tracks, one of them twice in an album version and a radio edit, for a total of nine songs.

Taken as a whole, despite their lesser forms, the songs are still great. I love the vocals, no matter who’s doing the singing. If you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing the bands in concert, then you likely won’t share my disappointments. The albums are polished, pleasant and palatable. What’s more, two of my concert photos made it onto the last page of Yozoh’s liner notes. ;)

Both albums are presently available on YesAsia.com, Sogyumo Acacia Band here, and Yozoh here. While you’re waiting for your orders to arrive, you can listen to these:

Right-click to download 두꺼비 (Dukkeobi, “Toad”) from Sogyumo Acacia Band’s second album, and 너 (Neo, “You”) and Show Show Show from their third.

Right-click to download 그런지 카 and 꽃 (Flower) from Yozoh’s album.

On YouTube, you can check out the official Yozoh promo from Pastel Music, featuring quite a few of my concert photos. And, because Sogyumo Acacia Band and Yozoh are better live than on record, My Name Is Yozoh in concert. There are a number of other concert clips as well, so be sure to branch out from there.

12 Songs About You

Released back in October, the 12 Songs About You compilation album from Pastel Music is a treasure trove for Korean indie fans, and marked the on-record debut of several up-and-coming Pastel artists, and new music from several artists already known. I had meant to write on it back in October when it was new, but that just didn’t happen. Some of the albums that this compilation had previewed in October have since been released in full.

Sogyumo Acacia Band and Yozoh, both debuted new material here, but have since released their albums (read above). Lucite Tokki also made their first on-record appearance here, though their album has also been recently released.

Lucite Tokki’s Cho Ye Jin also contributes vocals on Big Bang’s previously unreleased Yellow Train.

Han Hee Jeong makes two magnificent appearances on the record, once on her own and again singing with Park Jun Hweok on the amazing All Right.

There’s also a new song from Adult Children (a.k.a. Adult Child).

Monolyd’s 스파티필름 sounds promising, but I’ve since seen them in concert and they’re horrible. This is the last time I’ll mention them on this blog.

The album rounds out with good tunes from Moi Caprice, Maximilian Hecker and Ben & Jason. And, just between you and me, the record is 13 songs, not 12. A second Ben & Jason song is tacked onto the end of the disc as a hidden track. Both Ben & Jason songs are from their final album, Goodbye – an excellent record on the whole and well worth checking out if you don’t already have it.

The record is currently available on YesAsia.com, here.

Right-click to download Han Hee Jeong’s 우리 처음 만난 날, and Park Jun Hweok’s All Right (featuring Han Hee Jeong).

Han Hee Jeong / Bluedawn videos

Because I love Han Hee Jeong and Bluedawn, here’s a list of all the Bluedawn videos I was able to find on YouTube. Have at!

1. Love Song
2. 스무살
3. 별의 목소리 #1
4. 우리의 대화는 섬과 섬 사이의 심해처럼 알 수 없는 짧은 단어들로 이루어지고 있었다
5. 우두커니 나의 우주는 (live)
6. 푸른새벽 (live)
7. 푸른새벽 (live, full band)

The video entry for 스무살 even included a rough translation of some lyrics!!

스무살

it has not been saying and moving
the smell of spring that leaves my room when i was twenty

couldn’t hear the noises from the street
the sunlight of the spring puts me into silence

wasn’t leaving, just want to go back
to my tiny room where i hid

the landscape under the shade of the opposite building
will be another world

it will be so fun with rain falling
where will those people will soak to

wasn’t leaving, just want to go back
to my tiny room where i was hide

Han Hee Jeong (한희정)

Han Hee Jeong, a.k.a. “dawny” and former Bluedawn vocalist, seems to be going by her rightful name these days. Her solo album is in the works, she makes two appearances on the recent Pastel Music compilation album 12 Songs About You (see above), and she’s beginning to perform solo material in concert. She most recently appeared at Pastel’s 12 Songs promotional show and at the Grand Mint Festival (photo). She made captivating performances at both; audiences love her and with good cause. She’s magical.

Latest rumor is that her solo album is due for an early Spring release. Let’s hope the date sticks this time.

MOT (못)

MOT is one of my favorite new finds in Korean music. Moody and beautiful, sometimes dark, MOT is a pop-rock duo comprised of Aeon and Z.EE. They’ve released two albums, Non-linear in 2004 and 이상한 계절 (Strange Season) in 2007, both excellent. The band fuses elements of rock and jazz into a melange of incredible sound, and even performs jazz standards like What A Wonderful World on their first album, and Angel Eyes in concert. What’s more, they do an excellent job of it, respecting the material while simultaneously making it their own.

I saw MOT at the Grand Mint Festival in October. They made an underwhelming performance, but there was no denying the strength of the material. They’ve not been playing recently that I’ve seen, and I suspect the band just needed more practice. Nonetheless, their songs are fantastic, and their albums are not to be missed. At the show, the singer made a point to explain the band’s name is a derivation of the Korean word for pond, and is meant to be pronounced as a word, not M.O.T. as people often, incorrectly do. Nor does it mean nail or fabric, which it could be mistaken for.

And, as if they weren’t good enough on their own, Han Hee Jeong appears as a guest vocalist on 서울은 흐림 from the Strange Season album.

In the realm of interesting trivia, I’ve also been told that John Cameron Mitchell performed one of their songs on one of his visits to South Korea. That I’d like to have seen.

The band also deserves commendation for the art direction of their albums. Featuring artwork by The Eyot, the liner notes are meaty with art and lyrics, and something to behold apart from the music. Unfortunately, I haven’t managed to find a website for The Eyot.

Good music speaks volumes to promote itself. With that in mind, I’ll write no more and give you something to listen to.

Right-click to download Cold Blood from Non-linear, and 이상한 계절 (Strange Season) and 서울은 흐림 (feat. Han Hee Jeong) from the Strange Season album.

Watch Cold Blood, 클로즈 (Close) and Love Song (썸 remix) on YouTube.

Coda

New releases from Lucid Fall, Instant Romantic Floor and Lucite Tokki are in stores now. I haven’t listened to any of them yet, but will try to touch upon them in a future article.

During their performance at the Grand Mint Festival, Sweater indicated they would be releasing a new album “soon”. No word exactly when that’s going to be, though.

I’m sorry to report that The Melody has broken due to personal incompatibilities between band members. They were one of my favorite Korean bands, and far too short-lived. I have it from Pastel Music that a digital EP will be released sometime soon, comprised of previously recorded but unreleased material. Hopefully, 유 (Yu) will finally be released. It’s a crowd favorite in concert, and one of my very favorite Melody songs; and I know a recording exists because I was in the studio with the band when they were recording it. They played a new song at the Grand Mint Festival that may or may not appear with the release, and I’m otherwise in the dark. The band’s primary songwriter, Go Eun, will reportedly record another album under the name The Melody when he returns from his travels abroad early next year, albeit without vocalist Taru. Taru is presently penning solo material, though it’s still in a very rough form. I wouldn’t expect an album from her anytime soon. The Melody’s self-titled debut album is available now on YesAsia.com.

And, finally, I’ve heard from a few people looking for Casker’s records. They’re also available now on YesAsia: Skylab, Between, and the compilation album, Story of Cats.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

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