Korea Gig Guide

Liancourt Rocks!

While the Korean newspapers and politicians engage in one of their regular bouts of Dokdo worrying, another far greater case of Japanese cultural imperialism is going on in Korea — a Japanese band is trying to lay claim to Shin Joong-hyun, the godfather of Korean rock.

Okay, I joke, In fact, Sato Yukie’s great band Gokchangjeongol — a band dedicated to covering Korean classic rock music — will be playing tonight at 8pm in Bucheon, and part of the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival. Yukie is a great guy, lots of fun, but this is a rare chance to hear the band that made him famous and brought him to Korea.

The concert is supposed to be held on the grass in front of the Bucheon city hall. No idea what they will do if it rains… Will try to update here in case it gets moved or canceled.

UPDATE: Turns out Gopchangjeongol will have a second concert you can catch — Tuesday, July 22 at Club FB in Hongdae. Club FB is near Hapjeong Station, across the street from the jazz bar Moon Glow.

—-

BTW, sorry the concert calendar is a little sparse at the moment. Have been rather busy lately and have not updated it enough. Will try to do more soon.

Posted in Concert Announcements | No Comments »

Absent and Absinthe

So, you say are you living in Busan and there is no way you can make it up to Seoul for Pentaport, and it has you feeling down. Sure, you can wear black, smoke clove cigarettes and mope, but somehow that’s just not enough. You want something just a little more, dammit.

Well, how about an absinthe party? Yeah, the funky people living down in Busan are getting an Absinthe Party on July 26 at Club Circe (in the Kyungsung University area).

Yeah, Busan gets all the cool stuff. They also have a free, two-day rock concert down on Dadaepo Beach on Aug. 2-3. Sweet.

Posted in Concert Announcements | No Comments »

Envy Coming to Seoul

This Friday will see the Japanese band Envy playing at Rolling Hall in Hongdae, along with local noise band Bulssazo. Show is a little pricey, at 45,000 won (40,000 won if you buy ahead of time), but it should be fun.Starts at 8pm.

Envy is a trippy/hardcore band out of Tokyo, quite good (if a bit of an unusual combination of sounds). You can hear their music at their Myspace page.

Posted in Concert Announcements | No Comments »

Mixtape Party Saturday

Sean at Mixtape just asked me to add the latest Mixtape party to the calendar, so I am adding. Besides, his party poster features Kim Choo-ja, so how could I say no?

Mixtape party at Club Mint, Saturday July 12, starting at 10pm.

Posted in Concert Announcements | No Comments »

If You See Just One Show This Weekend… (July 11-13)

A bit of an usual weekend for shows coming up, with plenty of great choices on Friday and Sunday, as well as Saturday. Gogo Stars and Seogyo Group Sound both have album release parties (Gogo Stars on Friday at FF at 7:30, Seogyo Group Sound on Saturday at FF beginning at 6pm). Sunday even features the classic Korean rocker Yang Byeong Jip singing at a special Burma charity show at Club Bbang.

But if I had to vote for just one show, it would be the I&I Djangdan concert at Club Cargo on Friday night. Doors open at 9pm and the band starts around 11-ish. I&I Djangdan is a reggae dub band, and judging by their Myspace page, a pretty good one.  Plenty of Youtube videos available, too (here and here and here, to get you started).

Posted in Concert Announcements | 3 Comments »

Pentaport Final Line-up

Pentaport organizers just announced their “final” line-up for this year’s rock festival, adding a few new bands to the bill — Copy Machine, The Vines, Oh! Brothers, Jaurim, Peter Pan Complex, Double Famous, Sweater, DJ Rap, Lowdown 30, DJ Psyko, and DJ Flamenco. You can see the new schedule on the image below.

Go to www.pentaportrock.com for more information.

Posted in Concert Announcements | 1 Comment »

ETP Update

Two new bands just added to Seo Taiji’s ETP Fest concert in August — Maximum the Hormone and Death Cab for Cutie. I have never heard of Maximum the Hormone before, but their Myspace page is here. Reminds me a bit of Ministry. Death Cab for Cutie could be fun (although I am more of a fan of The Postal Service). This is turning into one of the best summers for music ever in Korea.

Posted in Concert Announcements | 2 Comments »

Some Other Gig Guides

While I think the Gig Guide has gotten off to a slightly better than expected start, obviously this is not the only game in town for learning about events and things that are going on. So I thought I would mention a few other options that I know about.

- DJCJ: More for clubs and dance music, but the DJCJ forum  offers a pretty good selection of dance club parties that are going on around Seoul (and sometimes Busan).

- Seoul Sounds: Another site for clubs and dance events. Also has a forum.

- Party Luv: another club-focused website, but in Korean.

- Sadly, Seoul Steves does not seem to be updating much anymore. And Groove magazine lists very few events happening in Korea.

- Seoul Selection’s website features more upscale and high-brow events, but it too has an events listing.

- Weiv was perhaps the best online music ‘zine in Korea for several years, but these days it is not updated very often and seems to be running on life support. Plus no concert listings.

I am sure that I have missed some other sites. I certainly hope I missed some. Feel free to write in and berate me for not mentioning your favorite(s). But that is all I can think of for now.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

If You See Just One Show This Weekend… (June 28, 29)

Plenty of shows going on again this weekend. Next Floor, going on at the Han River, near Sangam in western Seoul, is obviously the biggest gig — 30,000 won for a whole bunch of live acts and DJs (poster here, schedule here).

There is also an interesting looking show at Yardbirds in Shinchon in the evening, at 8pm. It is organized by the very funky Sato Yukie and will include the up-and-coming band Plastic Day, Japanese band Kawaguchi Masami New Rock Syndicate and Sato Yukie himself. Expect pleny of feedback.

Sato Yukie and Kawaguchi also play on Sunday, at Yogiga Gallery in Hongdae.

But the single best looking show to me (imho) is the midnight show going on at Club Ta in Hongdae — Oriental Lucy, Plastic Day, Galaxy Express and Stretching Journey. Actually, I do not know Stretching Journey, but I really like the other bands. Seems like a really solid show.

Posted in Concert Announcements | No Comments »

June Club Day and Han River Festival

In addition to the usual end-of-month Club Day, this month there is a huge, two-day festival going on at the Han River this weekend. Called Next Floor 08 (and the Hangang Club Festival), there will be oodles of international DJs and great bands playing all night long, just west of Hongdae in Sangam (technically in Hangang Park, Nanji).

The full schedule is here (in a mix of Korean and English).

Day 1 (Friday, June 27) goes from 6pm to 5am and features Rock Tigers, Belle Mafia, Oh! Brothers, No Brain and more. Around 9-ish, live rock gives way to dance music and DJs.

Day 2 (Saturday) goes from 2pm to 5am, and features Kingston Rudieska (4pm), Windy City (5pm), Nell (6pm), Cocore (9pm) and more.  Around 9 or 10, again live music changes to dance.

Friday costs 20,000 won, Saturday 30,000 won, and a two-day ticket is apparently available for 40,000 won (limited quantities, though). There is a shuttle running between Hongdae and the party location… but a taxi should only cost you around 5,000 won.

In addition to the Han River party, there will be a full Club Day going on in Hongdae (although, to be frank, the list of live bands does not look to be the strongest ever). You can see the list of who is playing on the following chart (in Korean only, at least for now, sorry).

(Note: I see the Club Day and Next Floor posters both have a “No Entry Under 19’s and GI” sign. I did not know that was still an issue. Shows how little I pay attention).

Posted in Concert Announcements | 1 Comment »