Away from the corridors of K-pop, South Korea’s indie music scene rages on. Here are five Korean indie rock bands you need on your list.
For most of the world, South Korean Music is synonymous with the glittering, glimmering, sleek giant of K-pop. Expanding at the speed of light, K-pop sometimes seems all-consuming. Looking at the cinematic universes, massive stages, and knife-sharp choreography, it’s easy — and understandable — why people would group all music from Korea into the silo of pop.
Yet, away from the corridors of K-pop, the country’s indie music scene rages on. Flourishing largely in the hipster student hubs and in the virtual world, this is where we dive into loneliness, burnouts, dissatisfaction, cynicism, disappointment, with the occasional burst of cool, breezy, surf-rock that would soundtrack a road-trip perfectly. If you’re thinking of us as loudmouths who need two drinks to go from talking about the mundane to the philosophical, have some patience.
There’s a lot to unpack in the South Korean indie scene, but this should be a nice primer.
Se So Neon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW5h7pCwoOU
There are the cool kids, and then there are the cool kids. The latter, of course, are the very definition of effortless; expression that is so primal and self-assured that it becomes the reflection of a generation. Se So Neon belongs to a place like that.
Helmed by the enigmatic Hwang So Yoon and her androgynous voice, this trio hops from psychedelic to jazz to smooth R&B, each syllable embodying the inner workings of the modern millennial mind. Whether you want to defy the status quo, or are feeling a new loneliness arisen, Se So Neon has got the song for you.
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Say Sue Me
An old Indian proverb goes: “One who has been burned by milk blows twice before drinking something cold.” In their deceptively breezy, light sound—summed up in the phrase ‘indie surf’—Say Sue Me have encapsulated the feeling of teetering on the edge of something vast, but never quite taking the final step, never quite plucking up the courage to achieving it.
From ranting about their sleepy ‘old town’ to not allowing yourself to fall headfirst into loving someone because ‘you’re full of things you hate’, Say Sue Me’s songs talk about that familiar complacency that once might have been forced upon us, but is now begrudgingly familiar.
HYUKOH
While HYUKOH have long surpassed the epithet of indie — the band was propelled into the mainstream spotlight after a particularly entertaining appearance on a Korean variety show, but you might also remember them from a little thing called Coachella — the band’s soul and sound remain thoroughly entrenched in their roots.
Often considered one of the most defining voices of Korea’s troubled ‘Sampo Generation’– the generation that has given up on ‘three essential’ things in life due to a plateauing economy and bleak future prospects — HYUKOH are catharsis for a generation breaking under the weight of expectations and boomer-policies.
Dasutt
Spring and sunshine meet introspection and warm comfort in the sounds of Dasutt, the band that’s been a steady presence on radars for a while now, slowly becoming the voice that guides you home after the end of a long day.
Dasutt is music to let go to, as is evident in their song ‘Like A Sea’, where they assure you that when you lose your way, they will be by your side like the vast and permanent sea. You might stumble upon Dasutt by chance, but you’ll come back to them for the familiarity and simplicity of their artistry.
Night Off
Imagine this: you’re driving home after a shit day. You’re cold, tired, and the pouring rain brings with it a jam that holds you up for hours. The stereo in the car stops on Night Off telling you that ‘Today’s Weather Was A Failure’, and you agree with them.
Contrary to expectations, however, Night Off’s music isn’t what you would term comforting: their soft, sleek, sonorous tracks always tread the line between the ordinary and the weird. Night Off excels at marrying disappointment with poignancy, bringing back the romance that we all attach to melancholy and making the bad days a little better.
