Books, blog and other blather
FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS is a rather unusual HBO comedy, featuring a couple of singing New Zealanders running loose in New York City. Each episode is a mix of odd jokes and odder musical numbers.
Season 2 featured one of the most unusual songs yet — a Korean noraebang-style trot tune. Complete with a rockin’ karaoke beat, subtitles, a cheesy background video. It made me do a happy dance. Watch it — you’ll happy dance, too.
(Thanks to All K-Pop for the catch).
The great international music site Radio Diffusion has a brief posting on North Korea. Sadly, the website that has managed to find interesting music just about everywhere around the world finally met its match with our friends in the DPRK.
Great site, though.
A few days ago I picked up the reissue of the first two albums by Devils, a Korea rock band from the 1970s best known today for being the inspiration behind the movie GO GO 70’S.
Devils were a six-man band founded in 1969, and started playing in Itaewon bars like 007 Club and American Club, or sometimes played in Paju at the Paradise Club. They released their first album in 1971 and went on to record three more albums by 1977. The CD re-release that I bought includes the first two albums, along with a couple of bonus tunes.
There is not much information available about the band, though, and until the GO GO 70’S film, I think they were not really well known (even by the forgotten standards of Korean classic rock). You can read a bit about them in Korea here.
To be honest, this is not my favorite band from the era. They have some good songs, but nothing that really blows me away like Shin Joong-hyun’s best stuff can. There is not any crazy guitars or heavy drums solos. No, most of the Devils songs were more straightforward rock, with the layering you would expect from a six-man band. I am not bashing them — they certainly have some solid songs. I am just saying they are a little more sedate and modest than my favorite bands from the 1970s.
Also, there are a couple of cover tunes on the albums, such as a cover of Proud Mary. Strangely, one song is described as “Theme Sound From Shaft,” but I hear few similarities between the song on the Devils album and the famous Isaac Hayes tune.
So call this an interesting album. Not a must-buy, but worth your time if you like listening to old Korean music.
I just ran across this little article about a Western musician who has played in some unusual locations around the world, including in North Korea. Kind of an amusing story.
While I linking there, I should note that Koreanpop.org is a pretty good website, not so much about pop music as the interesting stuff. There are a whole bunch of articles translated from the Weiv Korean music website, interviews and more.
Also worth a read is Inter-Asia Pop, which is a more scholarly look at music around Asia, with a lot of Korean stories.
Big news from the Korean government about plans to support the music industry — the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports has announced a $95 million plan to improve Korea’s K-pop industry, both at home and around the world. That money will be spent over the next five years “to expand the music market to 1.7 trillion won by 2013 from last year’s 844 billion won, advancing it to the world’s top 10.”
Sigh.
First of all, I have no idea how they came up with the figure of 844 billion won ($610 million). CD sales in 2007 were just 75 billion won retail. Maybe you could come up with that figure if you added CD sales, digital downloads (around 300 billion won) and Karaoke sales. Maybe. Regardless, whenever I see the government set mindless targets — world’s top X — that have no real meaning, I get depressed.
Secondly, do we really need yet another music awards show? Korea already has plenty of such shows. But until Korea develops actual music artists (meaning the kind of people who write their own songs, perform them for real using instruments and everything), I do not see how award shows signify anything terribly important.
Much more interesting and potentially useful, imho, is the attempt to create a credible music chart for Korea. Certainly one of the most useful things the Korea government did for the movie industry was forcing it to keep track of nationwide movie admissions. In general, transparency and accountability are a key foundation for any industry. When I was writing for Billboard, I found it ludicrous that Malaysia’s music industry could put together a music chart for Billboard but Korea could not.
On the other hand, what would such a chart track these days? CD sales are pretty irrelevant in Korea now — down to just 75 billion won ($55 million) in 2007 down from around 400 billion won around 2000. Are they going to make some sort of chart that tracks digital downloads and streaming? That could be really useful and interesting.
You know the telecoms would scream bloody murder before they fork over that information. But the movie theaters in Korea put up the some resistance to divulging their sales information to the government, and ultimately, making that information public was invaluable for improving Korea’s film industry. So if the government does manage to make sales information reliable and public, that would be great for the industry.
Two interesting music stories in the news that seem very different, but that both revolve around the issue of audience power fighting with the powers-that-be.
The first and more fun one is about the latest battle between rival fans clubs, as fans of Big Bang and the Wondergirls teamed up to screw over fans of Dong Bang Shin Gi (aka DBSG, aka Tohoshinki, aka Tong Vfang Xien Qi, aka TVXQ). It seems that fans of Big Bang and the Wondergirls got together and reserved nearly all the 1,700 tickets to a DBSG concert. Then, at the last minute, they released those tickets, so they went unsold, the seat unoccupied. Impressively bitchy maneuver.
The more serious story I came across was a talk by Ian Rogers (CEO of Topspin and former head of Yahoo music) about how the CD business is dying and that “I don’t care.” The key point of his argument is that CD sales are down, but that is hurting the record labels much more than it is hurting the artists. In fact, for many artists, the new business model that is emerging is better, with a much broader middle class of artists who can support themselves through Web sales, touring, merchandising, etc.
I suppose his thesis is not groundbreaking these days, but it was a happy thing to think about, as applies to the Korean music industry. Korean music moguls have for the most part recognized this change for some time. After all, the Internet destroyed Korea’s CD sales quicker and more seriously than anywhere else on the globe (that I know of). Which is why almost all musicians in Korea have been signed to 360 deals for ages — the money is in the celebrity, not the music itself.
One thing Rogers recommends, though, is instead of signing 360-deals with record labels, artists should create their own 360 deals with themselves. Labels can help artists, but they are no longer the be all and end all.
I wonder if (and hope that) we are going to see these effects in the Korean music industry? Korean young people have had so little choice for so long, most are sadly unaware of what music can and should be. Not that teen-pop and ballads are terrible, but there are a lot more options in the world.
When are Korean independent bands going to grow more assertive about challenging the status quo? When are Korean music fans going to assert themselves more, and take advantage of the limitless options the Internet age provides? I would like to think that one reason the live music scene has been improving so much over the past couple of years has been because of these very issues.
Hrm… End of the year. I guess I am supposed to offer some sort of wrap-up of 2008. Or top-whatever lists. Or some sort of words of wisdom.
Too bad I don’t really have anything like that. At least nothing earth-shattering or brilliant or controversial.
The movies had their worst year in quite a while, with Korean films dropping to their lowest level of support since 2002 or so (still waiting on the final figures). THE CHASER was probably my favorite film of the year, although it was more of a B+ than an A. THE GOOD THE BAD THE WEIRD was fun but not great (and a little shaky in spots). Hong Sang-soo’s and Kim Ki-duk’s latests were duds. Most everything else felt… well, typical. Some good, some bad (some terrible)… but nothing really weird. Nothing surprising. Artistically, things are in a bit of rut.
But despite their money problems, the fact is attendance is still way up from what it was 10 years ago, new movie theaters are still being built. And, most importantly, good films are still being made. Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook have their new films coming soon. And there are a lot of really interesting, big projects in the works. Sorry I cannot talk about a couple of the more fun ones I know. But things like the cgi animation of Robot Taekwon V or Bong Joon-ho’s Snow Train are just way too cool. Certainly Hollywood’s interest in Korea is bigger than ever. And I would not overlook the behind-the-scenes stuff going on with China and Japan, either.
People claim that financing is so tough, but last year saw over 100 films released — still way more than a few years ago, and probably more than is healthy. Yes, some previously popular sources of financing have dried up. But most of them probably were not so good anyhow, and the industry has a whole is stronger without it. Stupid money investing in bad movies helps almost no one (except the crew members, who could use all the help they can get).
The music industry has, for the most part, completely adjusted to the digital age. I don’t see anyone seriously expecting CD sales to recover any time soon. Now the business is more about all-round celebrities, with money coming from a hundred sources aside from CD sales. Kind of sucks for the indie artists… But then, it always did for them.
The new system just highlights how hollow the business model is for real, live bands. The fact that there are more and better indie bands in Korea than any time I can remember, despite the end of CD sales, indicates to me that something very different drives music. Who knows, maybe with a little luck and hard work, the live music scene might get its act together in 2009 and try to present something to people that the pop music industry is not supplying.
(Since I am not much of a K-pop guy, I will refrain from commenting on the music itself this year, aside from saying it seems pretty much the same as always. But as I said before, my choice for most interesting CDs of the year is posted over at London Korean Links).
Korean TV continues to move toward independent productions. Lee Byung-hun has his IRIS series coming. Bae Young-joon has an interesting new project on the way (which I guess is not necessarily a TV thing… not sure what it is from that article, but I assume it will have a TV angle) (Taewangsasinggi vs. the Wondergirls?).
I guess if I were to summarize 2008, we are in a period of change… but then, aren’t we always? Internationalization is growing ever more important (but again, not really an original insight). I am not saying the stories here are uninteresting… It is just that I have been talking about them all year. It may be the end of a calendar year, but it does not feel like any kind of natural break in the Korean entertainment scene. Maybe by later in 2009 we will have a better idea what the next big things are.
Last Skunk Hell concert ever tonight. Show runs about 6-10pm and is free.
I wrote a little more about the show over at the Gig Guide, if that sort of thing interests you. That venue (in one form or another) has been one of the more important ones in Korea for live music since I arrived in town a long, long time ago. Kind of strange to think about the club closing.
Oh, and Happy New Year.
Hey, Philip finally posted my thoughts about the year 2008 in music over at his London Korean Links. I think 2008 was the best year in music in Korea in ages and really enjoyed writing something so positive.
You can also read Anna Lindgren’s choices for 2008 here. I have said it before, but Anna just amazes me with her ability to discover and write so much about Korean indie music from the other side of the world. Check out her music blog if you don’t believe me.
Someone names Saharial also wrote on LKL about her 2008 choices. Much more conventional Korean pop, but still well written and interesting.
Big thanks to Anna and Orienkorean over at Indieful ROK for pointing out that an amazing 17-CD boxset of Sanullim’s albums is about to be released (Nov. 26).
Sanullim is, of course, the biggest Korean rock band from the late 1970s. Their first album was released in 1976 and was a classic. Their second album was probably their best. After Shin Joong-hyun and the rockers of the 1960s and early 1970s got into trouble with the government for various reasons, Sanullim was considered a much safer band, mostly singing about love and food, nothing political. Later on, they made several albums for kids, too.
Sanullim’s albums were all issued in CD format years ago. I bought a couple but always put off picking up the rest of them for one reason or another until it was too late — everything was out of print. Some details about Sanullim’s albums are here and here. Best essay about them is here.
Hey! Someone even set up a Sanullim Myspace page. That’s kind of cool.
And Shin Joong-hyun at Myspace, too. I fear I am about to be sucked in to a long spell of distraction…
Pop Goes Korea: Behind the Revolution in Movies, Music and Internet Culture (2nd edition) is the only English-language book to examine the whole of Korea's entertainment industry and how it became such a powerhouse over the past 20 years. With profiles of many of Korea's top stars (including Lee Byung-hun and Rain), Pop Goes Korea features chapters on movies, music, television, comic books, the Internet, and more.
On sale now at:
Amazon.com
Kobo eBooks
And hopefully more ebooks stores very soon.
The original edition of Pop Goes Korea is now out of print.
K-Pop Now! takes a fun look at Korea’s high-energy pop music, and is written for its growing legions of fans. It features all the famous groups and singers, and takes an insider’s look at how they have made it to the top.
You can buy at:
Amazon.com
Chapters Indigo
Tuttle (my publisher)
Kyobo Books (in Korea)
Goodreads (not for buying, but still a good link)
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