NOS: RUF Project

All rights reserved by the author. Shot by RL Baldwin. Originally published in the June issue of 10 Magazine. Available online at http://10magazine.asia/4930/live-music-review-ruf-and-tumble/

     In a country often characterized by conformity, a breath of the truly strange can be welcome. But you may have to dig deep to find the flip-side of Korean culture. A good to place to see some off-beat performances is RUF Projects. Located in Gyeongnidan, just down the hill from the Hyatt Hotel and near Noksapyeong Stn. (line 6, ex. 2), this venue has a regular rotation of acoustic artists, dramatic performances and traditional Korean dance.

    From 8 pm until late every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night, owner Nam Hyung opens this DIY café-cum-venue for light food, cocktails, and an ever-evolving lineup of performers. A fashion photographer who recently returned from Paris, Nam hopes to expand to two other locations in Seoul later this year but for now is actively recruiting artists who wish to participate in all sorts of concept-driven art. “I want art that allows the audience to explore being something different,” he says of his performers, one of whom recently staged an original one-act play in mixed Korean and English, featuring two asylum inmates conversing with a tire.

    Whether the idea is simple acoustic performances or looped dog barks performed on the keyboard (you’ll just have to trust us on this), RUF Projects offers a great opportunity to witness and participate in something which diverges from the norms of live music and art performance. Nam now opens his cafe during the week as well to give musicians and artists a space to spend time, collaborate, and be exposed to new ideas.

More specific information and the upcoming weekend’s lineup can be found at http://www.MagazineProjects.com(Korean).

NOS: Big Black Boxes

All rights reserved by the author. Shots by RL Baldwin. Originally published in the May issue of 10 Magazine.
Available online at http://10magazine.asia/4587/the-big-black-boxes/

]

Rollercoaster

    Over the past few months, we’ve introduced you to clubs memorable for their quirks and character. Both Lydian and Bowie are such clubs, along with Club TA and Club Freebird. Part of the charm of such a club is its uniqueness, but there’s an undeniable shortfall of clubs like these. If someone wants to create a club that could really make money, be versatile enough to showcase electronic one night and folk the next, quirks and character can get in the way. What you need is the kind of club that I’m going to call a Big Black Box. It’s a plain name, calling such a place what it is: spacious, painted black from wall to wall and ceiling to floor, featuring only large lighting rigs and enormous sound setups and a plainness of space that any good performer will occupy and make their own.
    We have already reviewed one such venue in Hongdae, V-Hall, which is beneath the Seogyo Hotel. But two others, closer to Hapjeong Station (line 2 and 6), offer almost identical opportunities to see performers in a completely undefined performance space. Such halls are Rolling Hall and Rollercoaster. There’s little to say; we’ll let the photos speak for the venues.

Rolling Hall

Rollercoaster
club.cyworld.com/ClubV1/Home.cy/53627398 (Korean), 070-8281-4612

Rolling Hall
rollinghall.co.kr or cafe.daum.net/ROLLING (Korean), 02-325-6071

NOS: Indie Music Sampler

Itta, shot by RL Baldwin

All rights reserved by the author. Shot by RL Baldwin. Originally published in the April 2010 issue of 10 Magazine. 

Available online at http://10magazine.asia/3450/korea-indie-music-sampler/

The Korean indie landscape is full of familiar songs simply sung in another language. Though new and a little unusual, the music there is every bit as evocative and visceral as the beats you know and love. You may even find an opportunity to put your Korean conversation skills into practice. To that end, I present my choices for the top five most interesting Korean indie bands performing today, perfectly matched to your musical preferences.

You like ambient melodies, long songs, and psychedelic influences focused by rhythmic structure. We suggest Vidulgi Ooyoo. This female-fronted shoe-gazing band will give you the lush textures of the past woven into a modern form as spare as a Danish dining room.
www.myspace.com/vidulgiooyoo (English)
club.cyworld.com/ClubV1/Home.cy/52654743 (Korean)

You like bouncy, poppy but rebellious music with an accessible dose of rock star ego. We suggest Phonebooth. Borrowing heavily from groups such as The Libertines, this guitar-driven band will get you moving and satisfy your inner angst without sacrificing a good melody. myspace.com/myphonebooth

You like strange noises, fleeting rhythms, and atmospheric textures that would feel at home in a David Lynch film. Plus a toy accordion. We suggest Itta (image above), who is best with her other half, Japanese noise artist Marqido. Collectively called 10 (no kidding), they’ll give you as much to talk about afterwards as to listen to at the show.
myspace.com/weare10, 10rgb.com

You like accessible pop but hate cheesy music to no end. Originality’s fine, but well-done is better. We suggest Bit Gwa Soum, a Korean indie quartet evoking the Pixies and Air. Smooth, distorted guitars and gentle rock beats drive the mostly English vocals, sung so clearly I can understand the lyrics perfectly well. No “Gosship Gull” here.
myspace.com/bitgwasoum (Korean, some English)
club.cyworld.com/noisemusic (Korean)

You like beats, volume, and thumping bass, preferably in a loud, dark, smoky room. We suggest NAKION of VU Records. This innovative DJ piles on heavy layers (not just mashed-up samples) of polyrhythmic drums, polyphonic melodies, and bizarre vocal samplings to keep your brain awake while your feet stay busy.
myspace.com/naxnaxnax (English), nakion.tumblr.com

NOS: Deep Indie Underground @ Lydian

All rights reserved by the author. Originally published in the February 2010 issue of 10 Magazine. Shot by Daniel Lenaghan

Performers at Lydian by Daniel Lenaghan

    Indie music isn’t exclusive just for the fun of it; rather, it refers to the fact that you have to work hard to find those fleeting moments of musical novelty and innovation. Lydian and Bowie are two Hongdae clubs that are about as far as one can go from focus group-friendly pop. Both are tucked into the same corner of Hongdae, several blocks away from the main club area, and both offer a distinct type of music.
    Lydian features bands so new they may be only half-formed. Known for local university student bands, the club’s chiefly Korean performers and audiences are treated like family. Lydian is working up to record label status as well, finding and building up bands that pass an audition and demonstrate, above all else, a singular passion for their craft. Catch one of these bands in this intimate, magically lit basement club, but get your drinks across the street at the Buy the Way, as there’s no bar service inside.
    Bowie, another basement club with a spacious, sparse interior, is run by Yoshie Kim. Quiet, cute, pigtailed and a self-described “rock junkie,” she spends three nights or so each month hosting local rock bands in her venue. With funky décor inspired by the eponymous musician, Bowie is eccentric without being kitschy, as well as quiet and well-lit on nights without music when the bar is open for drinks.
    If you want to find yourself somewhere off the beaten path, Lydian is an excellent place to discover something new and Bowie is the place to celebrate long-standing local Korean rock bands.

Getting There
To locate Lydian, go to Sangsu St. (line 6, ex. 2) and continue past Honggik University until you reach a peculiar four-way intersection with a Buy the Way. Lydian is marked by a butterfly directly opposite the convenience store. Bowie is at the same intersection on the corner to the left of the Buy the Wavy.

Getting in Touch
Lydian Note that the website is in Korean and the staff don’t speak much English.
lydianmusic.co.kr, 070-8223-9945 (Korean)

Bowie In true underground style, Bowie has a minimalist website and does not post its information on Korea Gig Guide (koreagigguide.com) unless the band playing there has chosen to do so.
clubbowie.blogspot.com, 02-333-8665, kornlove77@yahoo.co.jp

NOS: YACHT at V-Hall, January 2010

All rights reserved by the author. Shots by RL Baldwin. Originally published in the January 2010 volume of 10 Magazine. Currently online at http://10magazine.asia/1997/supercolorsuper-paints-seoul-in-electronic-technicolor/

January 2010 Live Music

Hongdae’s V-Hall is a spectacular venue, all the more so because organizer SuperColorSuper, represented by Sean Maylone and Christine Cho, chose it to host American indie electro-poppers YACHT and psychedelic dreamscaper White Rainbow. Both of these Portland, Oregon (USA) groups visited Korea after touring in mainland China. Seeing YACHT is like seeing James Brown reincarnated as two skinny kids dancing like crazy. Jona Bechtolt, the male lead, shimmies in ways that would make Marvin Gaye proud. In a white suit, shirt, and sneakers, his impersonation of generic TV evangelists is brilliantly rehearsed and yet utterly spontaneous. Joining him is the black catsuited Claire L. Evans, who assumes yogic poses before a video projection of hieroglyphs pulsing in time to the music. It’s impossible to sit still at this show.

Earlier in the evening, local electronic duo Sighborg (of which Sean is a member) performed, creating ravaging, feverish carnival guitar soundscapes. After their set, I spoke to Sean and Christine, who, as SuperColorSuper, have made it their mission to bring independent acts to Korea. As White Rainbow performs in the background, Sean lays out the inspiration behind SuperColorSuper. “I started this because my band was big enough to tour around Korea and garner attention,” Sean says,adding that this is proof that bands from Korea can garner attention abroad. As for the future of indie music in Seoul, he is optimistic, offering the example of SuperColorSuper’s Round Robin series, which promotes and supports local acts. There’s good reason to be optimistic. Judging by the number of bands coming together in recent months and the crowds at the venues, it seems as though Seoul’s underground scene is coming up for a breath of fresh air.

NOS: Halloween in Hongdae, 2009

The following is an article originally published in the November 2009 issue of 10 Magazine and can be found online at http://10magazine.asia/1443/freebird-keeps-the-indie-ethic-alive-in-a-pop-metropolis/.

All rights reserved by the author. Photo by Erika Lippert.

    On Halloween night, Freebird is loud, dark, and crowded in that surreal manner that only a space punctuated with the glow of stage lights can be. Colors reflect off ceiling-strung streamers exaggerating the already outlandish costumes present. A miasma of noise and smoke pours out of the second-floor entry onto those ascending the candle-lit stairwell in a nondescript building tucked into a side alley off of Hongdae’s club streets. Among those there are a blue-painted Kali, a fully uniformed quartet posing as Devo, and a mass of bloody zombies and ghouls. Inside the club it’s crowded, smoky, but as the music rises the sounds of the instruments are tonally rich and well defined, the vocals clear and resonant. Bands speak of Freebird as a perennial favorite due to its cozy size and sound quality, though I have to exit to talk to the performers between their sets as the volume inside the club makes it hard to hear.

    The first act, The Moon, performs an initially acoustic set driven by the urgent vocals of Jason the hairy-legged witch and founded on the melodic bass of head wound victim Ross. Jake, the band’s drummer and the club’s lone chevalier tonight, joins the others, along with a convincing Mark David Chapman on backup guitar for the remainder of the set, pushing their amps to eleven and merging earnestness with a fun-loving DIY recklessness. I sank a bit to hear about the group’s impending demise. They’ve evolved since their inception, fusing simple (even simplistic) noisy rock with pop melodies, making their music easy to enjoy and easy to move to.

Ankle Attack performs.

    The highlight of the evening was Seoul’s own On Sparrow Hills. Evoking the likes of Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene, OSH comprises a mini-orchestra of three guitarists (one of whom sings), a bassist, keyboardist, drummer, and an ecstatically-dancing supplemental percussionist who accentuates the band’s lush electronic texture with tambourine strikes and tom flams. OSH’s well-rehearsed repertoire suggests they aim to carve out a more particular niche for themselves and fans tired of the genre rehash bands all-too-common at Hongdae’s live venues. I applaud OSH’s attitude for being as distant as possible from the comfortable nostalgia which cover bands tend to rely upon for their acceptance.