I am always listening for new artists or writers who are doing things that are interesting. Standing Egg is one of the more interesting collaborations and what they do is amazing, for example, to write a song that uses only four different chords yet is transcendent in its poetry and expression – that is an incredibly difficult thing to do, yet listen to what these guys do in their ballade entitled “모래시계” (Hour-glass). This song is from their second album which was released on April 10th. Here is a bit more about these guys at allkpop and you can find them in the iTunes store.
New Music from Korean Indie: Standing Egg
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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
And nice to see Allkpop actually discussing music.
These guys are amazing!
You guys are really into stuff like that ? I mean it’s not all pretend in order to look more cultured or something ?
allkpop.
ugh.
Can we please discuss music without mentioning that site? Pretty please?
Sounds like garbage to me. To each his/her own.
Thank you for introducing this group. I was looking for a Korean act that isn’t an idol group and judging from the snippets on iTunes, the music is wonderful.
I like it – thanks for sharing.
There are a few Korean bands I like that “break the mold”: Rollercoaster, Casker, Clazziquai, and especially the Peppertones (at least their first two albums, the third one is kind of uninspired).
I’d buy the song off of itunes if I could see it count, but since S. Korea isn’t one of many(22 including Japan) countries shown on itunes I’m not going to buy it…
http://www.apple.com/euro/itunes/charts/top10songs.html
Why isn’t S. Korea shown?
jkitchstk, I just went to iTunes and I see S. Korea in the country choice section. It’s at the bottom of the Asia Pacific category.
@keyinjpop:
I have been spinning Neon Bunny’s debut album like crazy lately. Absolutely LOVE IT.
Some other recommendations:
Broccoli, You Too
Cloudancer
Clazziquai
Creamchou
Dear Cloud
Deb
Donawhale
E.via (hip hop but OMG she’s so cute and funny and amazing! aaaaaaaaa not safe for kids lol)
Fanny Fink
Hourmelts
Humming Urban Stereo
Love & Pop
Lucite Tokki
Loveholic
Misty Blue (pretty much the band that got me into the korean indie scene)
Vanilla Acoustic
Belle EPoque
Swingchair
A bunch more but I haven’t gotten my korean IME to work on Windows 8 yet so I’ll post again later.
If you like minimalist folk pop rock type music from Korea, like Standing Egg, try Small Acacia Band and Adultchild.
Their first albums, respectively, are great. Sad to think that those albums are now nearing 10 years old. It was like just yesterday when I discovered them. It was really 8 years ago in 2004.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJe8TUNhsIE
^ Wait for the solo at the 2:46 mark. It’s like melodic cartharsis. Simple but sweet.
Also try Plastic People. One of my faves!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIzjNkKek1I
Their first EP, Traveling in the Blue, and Songbags of the Plastic People, are all enjoyable albums from start to finish.
And also try Han Hee Jeong (formerly of Blue Dawn and The The):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwmeDzwVeKs
She’s always a solid go-to, for tasteful K indie.
# 10 keyinjpop,
“I just went to iTunes and I see S. Korea in the country choice section. It’s at the bottom of the Asia Pacific category.”
No link? You must’ve gone to the wrong place because this is what you were looking for and still ~ S. Korea isn’t among many other countries. Next time, please provide a link.
http://www.apple.com/euro/itunes/charts/top10countrysongs.html
Here’s hoping all that bubble-gum boy- and girl-band stuff unfit for adults (who aren’t cranky Italian misanthropes) stokes outsiders’ curiosity in the more interesting indie scene. Some enterprising Korean-American should launch a series of label or genre samplers of Korean indie, if they haven’t already.
Also check out Loro’s (로로스).
Here is one by them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qy4UJgqHVk
#14,
I was talking about this page:
http://www.apple.com/choose-your-country/
and apparently on this page, S. Korea is on the far middle left of the Asia Pacific category.
And thanks for the suggestions everyone. I’ll check them out when I get the chance.
Holy schmoly !! I can see the hottest names in the VC game rushin’ to fund this deal with lavish cascades of cash, the likes of which were not seen around the San Jose area since the glory days of pets.com
#10 and 17 keyinjpop,
I’m aware that I could buy a song or find an iTunes S. Korea but if you read my original post, that isn’t the issue at hand. The issue is that if I did, it wouldn’t count. In other words if many people at the M-Hole(say 10 million) bought the song ‘Hour Glass’ as R. Elgin recommended we wouldn’t be able to see it on any top ten iTunes chart, including the two I’ve already provided links to in my two prior comments. Why? Because S. Korea isn’t listed like 22 other countries are including Japan ~ iTunes doesn’t show what S. Korean songs/singers/groups are hot. My question is why ain’t S. Korea on the list?
Everytime a subject like this comes up, I always fail to mention some of the oldies (but goodies). Be sure to check out Sweater, too, for some velvety smooth femme indie pop music, especially their first album, Staccato Green:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tei0PPbQHcY
The lead singer, Lee Ah Rib (Earip), has had a few solo albums that even beter. Be sure to check them out (they are excellent):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah3Xczu-5no
come on, basic stuff. what a mess that “standing egg”…good singers do not enter at that point in the music and the guitar should not follow and change when the voice enters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh44QPT1mPE
“H&T”, what are you ranting about?
You can’t be talking about “Hour-glass”, which is a AABB form that adds instruments with each repetition of the form. That way of building the arrangement by gradually adding instruments is exactly what 신중현 did in most of his work from the late 60′s (“님아” for example). What point in the music do you think the singer should enter?
Giving us a link to “Heart of Gold” is not an answer for anything since both songs use different strategies for achieving their goals.
Neil Young does not have as good a musical arrangement as “Hour-glass” does since Young relies purely upon a straight recitation of his lyric, with no musical shaping through harmonic color or instrumentation. Young does save the highest pitch in the song, for the B section, as a climatic point that supports his lyric. That technique has been used in countless songs through time and is logical and obvious. If you want to hear this technique perfected, listen to Jerome Kern’s music or “서른 즈음에” written by 강승원 (bar 21, 4th beat).
Both “Heart of Gold” and “Hour-glass” do succeed in communicating something that lies beyond the lyrics themselves and that I call “poetry”, but the Standing Egg tune is better crafted and more eloquent in its use of harmonic color (piano and guitar) and counter-melodies which Young does not use. IMHO, “Hour-glass” is a perfectly crafted arrangement and I can argue that based upon the music.
An accompanying instrument *does* change with the instrument/voice it is supporting too.
Please be specific if you are going to critique someone’s music because some of us might actually know something about the music.
Also, as one person mentioned, I’m listening to Casker (“Your Song”) too (from 2009):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnF6zirnNsY
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