Mark James Russell

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Category: Korean music (Page 3 of 11)

New Music: Juck Juck and Pigeon Milk

November 4, 2013 / / 0 Comments

It was a great weekend for new music in Hongdae last weekend, as two of my favorite Korean bands, Vidulgi Oooyoo (“Pigeon Milk”) and Juck Juck Grunzie, both had album release parties.

Vidulgi Ooyoo is a very good post-rock shoegazer band. Their album Aero was a favorite of 2008. And at last they’ve released a new full-length album, Officially Pronounced Alive. The show I went to was at Badabie, but the group plans on having two more album release parties, so you still have plenty of time to check them out.

Hey, someone posted a video of Saturday night’s concert already. Here’s the opening song (like many Vidulgi songs, it takes a couple of minutes to really kick in):

Another long-time favorite of mine is Juck Juck Grunzie (né Juck Juck Haeseo Grunzie). How much do I like them? They were the first band I ever wrote about over on my Korea Gig Guide website.

Juck Juck Grunzie came out with an EP a couple of years ago, but despite their being together for seven years, Psycho is their first full-length album.

Shawn has a great write-up about their new album over at the KGG, btw. You can buy Psycho at Hyang’s Music (and hopefully at iTunes before too long).

Busker Busker’s latest is number 1 number 1

September 29, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Four days after Busker Busker’s second album was released, it is still dominating the local music charts. Pretty impressive, considering all the competition these days, from K-pop and whatnot.

Here is a screen capture of Busker Busker with all three top songs on the Melon real-time streaming chart. Certainly all the coffee shops in my neighborhood seem to be playing the album heavily.

Wednesday morning links

September 25, 2013 / / 0 Comments

A few links and notes today:

  • 77-year-old gayageum master Hwang Byung-gi (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • Another branch of Seoul Museum of Art has opened, this one in the north of the city, in Nowon District (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • T-Ara, Davichi and other K-pop acts went to Mongolia and played for nearly 20,000 people in Ulaanbaatar. That’s kind of amazing. (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • Face Reader had an awesome Chuseok, including a 900,000 admissions Saturday (nearly a record). After two weeks in theaters, Face Reader now has 7.1 million admissions, and has made 52 billion won ($47 million). (Numbers from KOBIS, of course).
  • From yesterday, here is my review of Andrei Lankov’s The Real North Korea. Excellent overview of North Korea. (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • I can’t get enough of stories piling on former dictator Chun Doo-hwan. Now he’s been forced to give back the medals he awarded himself in the 1980s. (Chosun Ilbo)
  • A Pyongyang amusement park has gotten a “4-D” movie theater. (Chosun Ilbo)

Monday Morning Links

September 16, 2013 / / 0 Comments
  • More than 100 years of “Arirang” recordings, on display until Feb. 28 at National Gugak Center (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • Terrible suggestion for fixing problem of lending Korea’s National Treasures — just lend replicas! (Korea JoongAng Ilbo)
  • At least one left-wing group wasn’t guilty of insurrection (Hankyoreh)
  • Not good — Hankyoreh claims evidence linking Blue House to resignation of Korea’s head prosecutor (and NIS foe). (Hankyoreh)
  • Fascinating look at the Korea Crime Victim Support Fund, a badly flawed (if well-intended) program (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • Has it really been 10 years since Daejanggeum? Lee Young-ae looks back on the pivotal drama and her career. (Chosun Ilbo)
  • As cool as it is that Drunken Tiger’s new release, The Cure, is doing so well, it feels more like a Yoon Mirae album than a Tiger one. Her vocals really define it, not just on “The Cure,” but also tracks like “Beautiful Life” and “Time Travel.” (Billboard) (Soompi‘s not bad either) Buy it on iTunes!

 

Exploring Hongdae 1

September 12, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Against my better judgment, I descended into the heart of Hongdae last Saturday evening. I mean, I like the Hongik University area a lot, but Saturday night the center of that neighborhood can get a bit out of control.

But Saturday, the Sangsang Madang arts space was holding a screening of the short films by Namkoong Sun, a talented young filmmaker, so I decided to check it out. You might know her music videos for Byul.org (“Pacific” and “Secret Stories Told by a Girl in an Opium Den”), as well as Neon Bunny and others. The screening was good fun, and several actors from her shorts showed up.

The after party was evidently going to go a lot later than I had the energy for, so I excused myself around 11 and took a walk through Hongdae, just to check out the neighborhood and see what it is like these days. No surprise, things were pretty crazy. Can you believe that, way back in the late 1990s, you could hit most of the Hongdae bars in an evening (well, at least the good ones)? But somehow the neighborhood keeps growing.

The park was, as usual, full of people and music. Perhaps this sign is as good a metaphor for Hongdae as anything:

It reads, “So not to inconvenience local residents, please no more live music in the park after sunset.” This photo was taken about 11:30pm, as yet another band started a set.

Anyhow, what I was there, a group called Monster People were playing. They are quite good — kind of an Interpol-like modern rock sound — so if you have the chance to catch them, I quite recommend it. Here’s some of their music over on Soundcloud:

The vibes were all pretty good that evening, at least while I was there. People were pretty blitzed, but I guess drunks don’t get belligerent and start fights until after midnight.

Looking at all the changes to Hongdae, the explosion of restaurants and cool things, I think I might start blogging about the neighborhood with some regularity. Every time I walk down an alley, I’m amazed by what I’m finding (in a good way, mostly). It’s fun to be back.

Monday Morning Links

September 2, 2013 / / 0 Comments
  • Tom Coyner’s column today is an insightful look at historical preservation — or lack thereof — in Korea. He’s not just criticizing Koreas for not preserving their culture in the “right” way. Rather, it is more about two very different approaches to preservation. (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • The positive, upbeat world of Korea’s only privately-run prison. Cheaper than regular prisons with a much lower recidivism rate (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • The new, 800 km trail that goes around Mount Halla on Jeju Island (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • Want a job at a Korean company? They’re looking for passion and diligence. Creativity? Not so much. Tough news for President Park Geun-hye’s “creative economy” plans. (Chosun Ilbo)
  • If “credibility” and “capability” become necessary to bringing criminal charges against Korean politicians (e.g.: charging the UPP with insurrection), I fear you might as well give all Korean politicians blanket immunity. (Hankyoreh)

As for this weekend’s box office (Fri-Sun):

Title – Weekend tix – total tix – Weekend revenue – Total Revenue
1. Now You See Me – 626,000 – 2.2 million – 4.5 billion won – 15.2b won
2. Elysium – 573,000 – 708,000 – 4.3 billion won – 5.4b won
3. Hide and Seek – 563,000 – 5.1 million – 4.07 billion won – 36.0b won
4. Snowpiercer – 159,000 – 9.1 million – 1.16 billion won – 65.3b won
5. The Flu – 159,000 – 3.0 million – 1.11 billion won – 21.1b won
(Source: KOBIS)

Amusingly, DESPICABLE ME 2, even though it does not open until Sept. 12, was the No. 6 movie on Sunday, and has already made 531 million won.

  • Which reminds me: August was the biggest month ever for movies in Korea, with nearly 21 million admissions — which blows away the old record of 18.1 million, set in February. Korean films were more than 78 percent of the box office. (Chosun Ilbo)
  • The Korean government is creating a practice space for indie musicians in Hongdae (Yonhap)
  • Here’s G-Dragon teaming up with Missy Elliot for G-Dragon’s new song “Niliria”:

Morning links

August 26, 2013 / / 0 Comments
  • I had no idea Yeomni-dong (not far from Shinchon in Seoul) was such a crime-ridden area. I used to live close to there. (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • Korea’s organized crime targeting … universities? (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • A summary of the weekend’s hip hop “wars” in Korea (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • 3,000 Koreans living in Mongolia these days as Mongolian economy and Korean investment there keeps climbing (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • It’s always nice reading sensible thoughts on the Korea-Japan relationship (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • The second KCON (or K-pop convention) was held in Los Angeles last weekend (LA Times)
  • I always hate to see schools restricting access to books. In Japan, 39 schools have restricted access to Barefoot Gen, a famous graphic novel about surviving the Hiroshima nuclear bomb (Japan Times and here). The classic comic book just turned 40 in June (Japan Times).

 

Vinyl Underground

August 18, 2013 / / 0 Comments

I love finding dingy old LP bars.

 

This is Old Music, located across the street from the Jongno District Office. Tiny, incredibly musty, nothing on the menu but beer and whisky, but a very good vinyl collections. The owner tells me it has been around about 10 years and occasionally gets folks from the nearby embassies.

Morning Links

August 10, 2013 / / 0 Comments
And in non-Snowpiercer things:
  • Choe Sang-hun takes a fun look at K-pop hagwon in the New York Times. As long as kids treat the schools like a hobby — like taekwondo, say — they seem fine to me.
  • Korea’s Bodhisattva in Pensive Pose (National Treasure No. 83) is heading to the Metropolitan Museum in New York after all. The new head of the Cultural Heritage Administration had vetoed a decision to include it in the exhibition, and the Met was kind of threatening to cancel the exhibition without it (Korea Joongang Daily).
  • These tourism trains look like they could be fun, traveling into Korea’s mountains (Korea Joongang Daily).
  • A preview of Kim Sung-soo’s new film, The Flu (Korea Joongang Daily again). It comes out Wednesday.

 

More Snowpiercer, and Other Things

August 10, 2013 / / 0 Comments

I’ve been thinking more about Snowpiercer over the past few days, wondering why I had the reaction I did to the film. And I’m beginning to think it might be a comic book thing.

I’ve only glanced at the comic, Le Transperceneige (in Korean translation), not read it in detail, but I get the sense that it was a dark, more horrific story. With black-and-white, high-contrast art, the comic feels very stylized and ominous.

Oh, once again, SPOILERS.

You can do things in comics that are much harder to pull off in film. World-building is easier, as the reader can fill in more details mentally than movie audiences can. Especially for darker-toned works, comics allow for some striking symbolism and contrasts that don’t always work in a movie.

So, when you see the cockroach grinder … in the comics, I could imagine it being a really striking revelation. But in the movie, it just seemed silly. Same thing with the children in the engine — I could imagine it looking grandly terrible in the comic, whereas in the movie, I was just thinking, “That’s kind of dumb.”

As for monologues and exposition, they can be presented very differently in a comic. Reading text is just another way of telling the story in a comic, and it can be quite compelling. In a movie, it grinds the story to a halt.

And, of course, there is size. At around 252 pages, Le Transperceneige was not huge, but that’s about the equivalent of 11 or 12 regular comic books, which is bigger than a two-hour movie can hold. I’m sure Bong Joon Ho had to make a lot of cuts and changes to turn that story into Snowpiercer.

Bong’s movie is his movie, it was not the comic book. That’s fine. But a lot of the choices he made were sloppy, and some of the more ridiculous parts of the graphic novel seem really over-the-top in a film. Sorry, but for me it just did not work.

Look at Watchmen, which was as close to a frame-by-frame adaption of a comic book as anyone has ever done, but totally rang false as a movie (well, except Persepolis, which was wonderful).

Feel free to pick up Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics for a great explanation of how comics work and what makes them unique. Much better than anything I could write.

Some other things:

  • Snowpiercer had 368,000 admissions Friday to bring its total to 5.2 million (that’s 37.2 billion won). That is 41% drop from last Friday.
  • Terror Live had 252,000 admissions to bring its total to 3 million. Terror Live dropped just 24% from last Friday. It will be very interesting to see how both films are doing in a couple of weeks, as their audiences drop and The Flu joins the fray.
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