Since we listed our top concerts of 2010, I thought it might be interesting to also talk about our favorite Korean albums of the year. Personally, I thought 2010 was a really strong year for Korean albums, maybe one of the best ever. In fact, I would say that Korean groups are generally better in the studio than they are live these days. Which is strange, because when I first got into the scene, back in the 1990s, it was definitely the opposite.

That said, the live scene is also really strong these days. Hopefully these lists will inspire people to check out some new and different bands. There is plenty of great stuff worth exploring.

Shawn Despres
Apollo 18 – Red (expanded reissue)
Kwon Woo Yoo – The Greatest Voyage
Sunkyeol – EP
Glittering Blackness, Fall – Untitled EP
Ninaian – For a Little Cruise
(I should point out that, unlike me, Shawn thinks that most Korean acts are better live than on disc).

Dain
Art of Parties – Ophelia
I & I Djangdan – Guidance
Galaxy Express – Wild Days
Verandah Project – Day Off
Phonebooth – By Me for Me of Me

Mark Russell
1. DJ Soulscape – More Sound of Seoul – Actually released in late 2009, but I don’t care. This was such a great release, featuring a treasure trove of hard-to-find tunes from the 1970s, that it gets my top pick for the year.
After that, my other choices are in no particular order:
Apollo 18 – Red
Apollo 18 – Violet
Glittering Blackness, Fall – EP
Jambinai – EP
Lee Sang-eun – We Are Made of Stardust
Lowdown 30 – Another Side of Jaira EP
Oriental Lucy – Midnight Hotel
Sunkyeol – EP
Swimmingdoll – 8winningdoll
For a more complete discussion of my picks, you can check out my post over at the Korean Content blog.

Weiv
Weiv is the probably the best Korean website for indie and alternative music. Each year, they poll their writers and come up with a list of their favorite Korean albums. Here is this year’s list:
1. 9 and the Numbers – Vol. 1 (78 votes)
2. Garion – Garion 2 (41 votes)
3. TV Yellow – Strange Ear (38 votes)
4. Achime – Hunch (36 votes)
5. Siwa – Siwa Vol. 1, Soyo (29 votes)
5. Broccoli You Too – Joleob (Graduation) (29 votes)
7. Epitone Project – Yusilmun Bogwanso (Lost and Found) (26 votes)
8. Hwang Boryung (SmackSoft) – Mana Wind (17 votes)
9. Deez – Get Real (16 votes)
10. Frenzy – Nein Songs (15 votes)
10. Autumn Vacation – Autumn Vacation Vol. 1 (15 votes)

(Weiv’s top international albums were Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs, Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and Janelle Monae’s The ArchAndroid).

UPDATE: Scatterbrain
Kim Jongyoun is the founder of Scatterbrain, another very popular indie music site (he’s also a contributor to Weiv). Despite being crazy busy, he was nice enough to send in a list of his top choices for 2010, along with some very interesting comments about each album. Thanks!

1. 9 and the Numbers – 9 and the Numbers (9와 숫자들 – 9와 숫자들): One of the things that I was disappointed in music of 2010 was that there were not many melodies stuck in my head. But this album has many great choruses throughout the album.
2. Autumn Vacation – Autumn Vacation (가을방학 – 가을방학): Gyepi(vocal, former vocal of Broccoli, You too) sucked the soul out of Broccoli, You too and put it in the debut album of her new band.
3. Supersession – Supersession (슈퍼세션 – 슈퍼세션): The title of the album tells it all.
4. Bamseom Pirates – Seoul Bulbada (밤섬해적단 – 서울불바다): They are the funniest band in entire Korean history by far. Their sense of satire is amazing. Although you should understand both their lyrics and the politics of South Korea to enjoy their sense of humor. The album recorded poorly but you should check their fantastic gig.
5. Thorn Apple – I started to stutter and forgot how to sleep (쏜 애플 – 나는 자꾸 말을 더듬고 잠드는 법도 잊었네): Very energetic.
6. Broccoli, You too – Graduation (브로콜리너마저 – 졸업): Strangely, this album is disappointing and not so disappointing at the same time.
7. Kim Jang Hoon – Letter to Kim Hyun Sik (김장훈 – Letter to 김현식): Sincere and moving tribute album.
8. 2ne1 – To Anyone: K-pop acts are not really interested in releasing album these days. They are more into releasing ‘mini album’ which is a mutant between EP and Single. This album is one of few album that any of K-pop act released in 2010, and proved they are strong enough to make an album.
9. Achime – Hunch (아침 – Hunch): They’ve got some indicators of brighter future on this debut album.
10. Epitone Project – Yousilmool Bogwanso (에피톤 프로젝트 – 유실물 보관소): Epitone Project are good at making Korean-style mellow melodies which can be extremely boring when used poorly but quite enjoyable when used well. This album is the latter.

Last Friday I made it to Club Ta and caught an excellent night of reggae tinged/ska focused madness. Re:Ska, now a 7-piece, kicked things off with an awesome set. With their new fuller sound and great energy they have really grown in all ways since I first saw them last year. Busan Ska outfit Wake Up sadly played their last gig (goddamn military service strikes again) and showed a slightly more aggressive rocky take on ska, without resorting to the overdone punk ska sound – very nice. Then the least reggae band of the night, “Ynot?”, actually announced they weren’t really reggae, but with their positive energy, tights skills and distinct taste in covers they fit right in and had the whole place jumping crazily. Lastly, Kingston Rudie Ska arrived and raised their glasses before they kicked off an awesome set. This was a wicked night that displayed the variety, charisma and love of the local reggae/ska scene.

Did I mention this was the first of two big reggae gigs happening in Seoul in a nine-day period? If you missed last Friday’s one, then this Saturday you get a second chance to hear the love.

Club Blue Spirit hosts a more traditional reggae night on Saturday (Nov. 21), “Let Jah Music Play” with Windy City headlining. The five-piece have had a great year, headlining the tent on Saturday night at Jisan, playing after No Brain at Ssamzie fest, and need little introduction. They mix in a little funk and jazz, but remain Korea’s foremost traditional reggae band. Band leader Kim Bang Jang’s other band, I & I Djangdan, play reggae’s mellowest derivative, dub music. To see them live is to feel them, a great Korean take on this genre. Seoul’s newest reggae group, The Seoul Steady Rockers will also be there with their more uptempo reggae sounds. The lineup is completed with Mama Steppa and Bibim Kingman, and it’s a great night of diverse sounds.

Yes, the local reggae scene keeps growing, and it great to see so many acts working together to put on big nights, so go out and taste the sound – Saturday’s gig is 20,000 from 9pm.

Editor: Sadly, Blue Spirit is not on our map. Blue Spirit is down the tiny alley by Ska Bar, across the street from the 7/11 and Club Evans. I have this one map of the club, but it is only in Korean, sorry. I hope it helps, though.

Also, here is a clip of Windy City for you:

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.

(Cross-posted at Korea Pop Wars).

Actually, with Shinchon Blues Band reunited and classic rockers playing Hongdae these days, maybe the subject of old music is fit for this blog. Next time, maybe.

I have been picking up a lot of CDs lately, as well as listening to albums that I bought a while ago but never got around to listening to before now. Such as the 5TH PASTEL MUSIC ANNIVERSARY album. This collection features 15 songs by a variety of Pastel’s artists, most of which sound like something you might hear in an Apgujeong coffee shop or chillout lounge (as is the Pastel Music style). Some of the songs are a little slow, but overall the collection is quite good, especially the Humming Urban Stereo, Sweetpea and Bulssazo songs. Jileun’s song is pretty good, too.

As usual, I have been checking out all the older Korean music I can find. Recently I ran across a Kim Choo-ja retrospective called Kim Choo-ja Best 20 (Yejeon Media). It originally came out in 1987 and features 20 songs (no surprise there). Although the sound quality is not always the best, the songs are a pretty interesting range (like Kim’s versions of “Geojitmaliya” and “Aniya,” which I had not heard before). It also includes a complete lyrics sheet (good for practicing my Korean). Best of all, the album was less than $10. Totally worth it.

When it comes to older music Riverman Music is one of the most active label at rereleasing this type of music (with Dreambeat distributing). A couple of weeks ago I picked up albums by April & May and The Locusts, both of which are worthwhile. April & May is the group that Lee Soo-man (founder of SM Entertainment) belonged to when he was attending Seoul National University in the 1970s. Hard to believe that the man who gave us H.O.T and Super Junior used to be in a big folk-rock band.

But I like the Locusts more. First song is kind of cheesy, but most of the album has a nice ’70s psychedelic sound. Not as good as Shin Joong-hyun’s best, but not bad.

The spelling of the band threw me off (not to mention my misspelling of their name… I wrote “Vildulgi”), so I was slow to realize the meaning of the band’s name. Bidulgi is, of course, Korean for pigeon (or dove). Ooyoo (or uyu) is milk. Together, bidulgi uyu means pigeon shit (at least I think it does… cannot think of any meaning to the literal “pigeon milk”). Rather cute name. Not sure why they write it “Vidulgi Ooyoo,” but whatever.

VIDULGI is a shoegazer band, featuring Ham Jee-hye (from Juck Juck Haeseo Grunge) on guitar and vocal. Lee Jong-seok is also on guitar and vocal, with Sung Ki-hun on bass and Lee Yong-jun on drums.

Their songs have a painterly quality, long prog-rock tunes with plenty of distortion. Like the more ambling type of SONIC YOUTH songs from around their Diamond Sea period, maybe with a little SIGUR ROS in them. (UPDATE: I just thought of a better comparison — they sound rather like EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY, the band that does the music for Friday Night Lights). When it works, it is a captivating sound. But when it doesn’t work, the band’s light, mumbling sound can seem aimless and a little whiny.

One of the album’s best tracks is the instrumental MURMUR’S ROOM, which is mellow and quite beautiful, with its long progressions and gentle echoes. SEEING ME THROUGH YOUR EYES is pretty good, too, especially when the tempo picks up toward the end of the song, giving the song a sudden punch. The more uptempo songs ELEPHANT and AERO are also solid..

I MIGHT BE YOU, however, is an example of the band’s weaker songs, a formless blob of the song that just sits there, never going anywhere.

There’s also a “remix” of ELEPHANT at the end of the album… I guess their were going for an EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL sound. But in general, I don’t like most “techno” mixes in Korea. I just don’t think their engineers know what they are doing, and the final product always sounds really cacophonic and underwhelming.

In short, a decent debut from a band with some potential. Not as much fun as Ham’s other band, but definitely worth listening to.

You can buy their album here. Or see their music video for ELEPHANT here. (well, kind of see it… pretty bad lighting).

* * *

Hey, there’s a new SUN KIL MOON album out! Did not know that. Mark Kozalek’s band really has the best pseudo-Korean name I have seen. I listened to a couple of the songs on the Internet and they sound pretty good.

* * *

It’s official — no Neil Young at the Flower Power Peace Concert. Promoter claims that Madonna is still considering. Not only would I be shocked if Madonna played here, but at a hippy concert? Really? (Hat tip to B.S.).

Yozoh’s sound is quite reminiscent of Charlotte Gainsbourg, with perhaps some Lee Sang-eun thrown in. Most of the songs are light and very listenable. Mostly just Yozoh singing on top of a guitar and some very light percussion.

First song, MY NAME IS YOZOH, is the catchiest on the album and can get into your head quite quickly. SHOOTING STAR is not bad either. SUM BAKKOKJIL is also quite good.

The biggest problem with the album, though, is that some of the songs are so light that they threaten to turn to mush, with no hook and no structure, just sort of meandering all over the place. Very nice, but not much more. NAJJAM (Nap) is perhaps the worst offender of the bunch.

Speaking of bunches, BANANA PARTY is the most unfortunate song on the album. Not the worst song (in fact it is rather catchy), and the latest in a long line of food-related songs that are so popular in Korea (see Pipi Band’s STRAWBERRY). But the double entendres in the banana chorus are rather disturbing…

Anyhow, I am curious to see what Yozoh is like live. If you are too, there are two more chances to see her live in March. She is supposed to be supporting the Sogyomo Acacia Band at Ssamzie Space tomorrow (Sunday), at a 5pm concert. And at the end of the month, on March 30, Yozoh leads an all-Pastel show at Ssamzie at 6:30.