The Wiz of Widz

[Wiz News] Spring… Spring… Spring…

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 08:32:00 +0000

It has been a long time since the last post that I made this year. Somehow, I personally thought that I will spend more time working than playing this year compared to the same period last year. Well, I hope that I can still manage some times not to miss this spring and its fabulous season and festival though. So, here I am writing as a reminder to myself how I should not let my spring go without coming to these music festivals.

Oh, here is my favorite spring song from my favorite, Donawhale for you to listen to before going under the cut!

1. Beautiful Mint Life 2011

I went to this festival last year and I really had a great time. I watched some of my now-favorites for the first time in the festival, like Zitten and Daybreak. I even have to say that this festival did not disappoint me that much compared to its sister festival in fall, Grand Mint Festival. I think the only problem is the location, Goyang City, which takes around 1hr by subway to reach which means that is quite a long time.

As I expect some of the well-known names in the Korean indie music participate this year. Those who participated last year like No Reply, 10cm, Okdal, Joa Band, Zitten, and Monni. Well, this year line up is very tempting (again) for me since it includes The Black Skirt, Sister’s Barbershop, Autumn Vacation, Brocolli, you too? and my favorite female soloist, Park Ji Yoon! I am also looking forward to The Koxx (analogue set), Sugyumo Acacia Band, and Hi Mr. Memory. Well, looks like I just really want to see them all. Check the pics and other stuff in Facebook here.

It does not mean that when I had a great time, I came without any disappointment. When I got the chance to watch No Reply for the first time last year, I truthfully had a very high expectation on their performance. It turned out to be the least performance that I like. It was just not right for me at that time. They are popular and their songs were good but the live performance was not as good as I expected. Well, since they are going to perform again this year, I hope I will see better from them. And yes, I should just keep my expectation low. Be subtle, that is better.

The festival will be held from April 30 to May 1 in Goyang Aram Nuri Outdoor Theater. The ticket costs 44,000 KRW for 1 day and 77,000 for 2 days. Check it here or here.

2. Greenplugged Seoul 2011

I also went to this festival last year. Well, this one was one of my favorites music festival that I had last year. The other will be Playground Music & Camping Festival 2010, which I have not got any information so far. I really had a blast. It was tiring but I get to see all the stages that I want, that is good! Compared to the other festival that disappoint me last year (*cough Grand Mint Festival), I enjoyed every stage very much. Since I am not a person who really needs to be at the front line, so it should not be a problem to see my favorite acts playing from afar.

This year, I believe it is going to be a very exciting festival again! The line up is good! You will be able to see a lot of genres in this one music festival, compared to the previous one. So, if anybody is interested to see more acts with a lot of variation, I think this one is better.

The stages are located quite far from one another, so this one really needs quite a lot of energy. Last year, they had five stages consists of Moon, Wind, Sun, Sky, and Earth stages. I am not really sure how the will divide the stages again this year but it looks like it will be divided based on popularity and genre (?) Really I was not sure too last year except for the Sun stage which was a special stage for rock, punk, and metal bands.

It says that the 3rd line up will be announced tomorrow. I am getting excited! I hope that more interesting acts will be announced and maybe more international acts will be more exciting. They have Sarasa and Paris Match this year, so maybe another one or two from Japan or from other country?

If you visit the site and click the ticket section, you will see somehow a very detailed ticket packages explained there. Well, the regular ticket price is 55,000 KRW for 1 day and 88,000 KRW for 2 days. Check it here or here.

[Widz Review] My Favorite Albums in 2010

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 03:54:00 +0000

Happy New Year! Best wishes for me and for you. To mark the 1st day of the new year, I decide to catch up with the blog and write about a couple of my favorite things in 2010. I was encouraged to make this post after I read Esthero and Anna posts. Well, I thought that I have never made that kind of post so it is worth a try.

Looking back, it was not that easy to actually choose my favorites albums among all that I listened to last year. Anyhow, I try. So here goes the list! (in no particular order)

Autumn Vacation – Autumn Vacation

When I heard about them for the 1st time, I really had no interest listening to their album. Yet, I decided to change my mind and give it a try when I saw that the album got a lot of good reviews. I was so curious why. Then, BAM! I instantly liked this album. Maybe it is because of the voice or the music, or the simple lyrics or the happy feeling that I always get whenever I listen to this album. It is just lovely! My favorite track from this album should go to this.

Utada Hikaru – Single Collection Vol. 2

She will always be my favorite Japanese female singer. No matter how many times I hear her songs, I always have the nostalgic feeling. When I heard that she is going to go on an hiatus next year, I was both happy and sad. To be happy because I think she deserve a break but then I am sad that I have to wait for her new songs not anytime soon. This album is a compilation of her well-known singles from 2002-2009 and her new materials packed in 2 CDs. I love all the songs! The new material that becomes my favorite should really go to this one.

Bump of Chicken – Cosmonaut

Got introduced to this Japanese band by my friend a few years ago. Though the name may look and sound funny but their music is super nice! Supernova was favorite song from the guys. After releasing their last album back in 2007, this new album is really a treat for fans who have been waiting patiently for their comeback and they did not disappoint me. My favorite track from the album should go to this one.

Monkey Majik – Best

The lyrics are just super! Every time I hear their music, I always amaze of how good these guys are making every single word sounds lovely. Two Canadian and two Japanese and they can blend their music very well. Inspiring for me to study language even harder. This album really summarize all those my favorite songs all in one. I like all the songs, but I should pick this one as my ultimate.

Dear Cloud – Take The Air

I have been waiting for this album. Got to know them for the very first time this year and regretted that I missed their two previous albums that had been completely sold out. Nine’s voice is always be my favorite, a deep and strong one! My favorite from this album should go to this one.

Asian Kung fu Generation – Magic Disk

I still cannot believe that I missed their gig in Jisan Valley Rock Festival 2009. I should have come earlier to catch their performance. Anyhow, I just hoped that they will somehow stop-by again in Seoul sometimes this year. This album comes as a reconciliation. Especially love the opening of this favorite of mine.

Bye Bye Sea – City Complex

They finally made it! Bye Bye Sea must have been very happy that they were finally able to release their first album this year. I think that the live versions sound much better than the album. Yet, this album serves as their token of improvement. I particularly like this track from the album.

Jamiroquai – Rock Dust Light Star

The only non-Asian album in this list, yay! This album really helps me a lot to balance my emotion. The sound of Jamiroquai is always unique. My favorite track to dance around is this one.

Sorri – Mingle

Love her voice and love her guitar. Relaxing and fun whenever I heard this album. My favorite should go to this one.

Daybreak – Aurora

This 2nd album made my feeling turn upside down. I really like this one compared to their 1st album. Many variations and I can feel the energy! Jazzy and groovy. My favorite from this album is this one.

Yay! So there goes my favorite album in 2010~ :)

[Wiz Project] 30 Days of K-Indie: Part 10

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 06:14:00 +0000

Finally! The last part of the 30 Days of K-Indie. I really enjoyed doing this project because I could get to know my own preferences. As it is the last post for this project, it turns out that I rounded out one particular band out of those favorites.

Thanks to wassereis and Indieful ROK for letting me know about the project. It’s been so much fun!

Day 29: A K-indie song you never get tired of

This song is my favorite song from Dear Cloud! I am so in love with the song that I even use it for my cellphone’s ringtone and alarm. This song makes me feel strong but not necessarily due to its lyrics. Well, it must be the vocal, the guitar, the music whatsoever.. go Dear Cloud!

Day 30: A k-indie musician that has amazing eye smiles

Isn’t she lovely? When Nine9 of Dear Cloud smiles she can really look lovely and cute at the same time, shedding her androgynous style. Esthero is always the best at taking these kind of moments. Thumbs up!

-THE END-

[Wiz Project] 30 Days of K-Indie: Part 9

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 05:41:00 +0000

It’s been a while since I updated the 30-days K-Indie project. It’s September 11 already and I just remembered that I still have two more batches to go, which are Part 9 and 10. So, this 1st batch is Part 9, where I unveil some of my favorite covers and collaboration.

I have been enjoying taking pictures lately. I might not be a very good photographer, but I would just like to share them. So, I will begin to put one picture for every post that I made. Hope both the picture and writing will be enjoyable.

Day 26: Your favorite cover of a K-indie/K-pop song by a(nother) K-indie artist

I have been listening to Mate since their debuted in 2008 and I can say that I am one of their fans. When I listened to this version of Kissing You, I think Mate successfully delivered this song to a quite different feel. This song is supposed to be cutesy but when I heard the guitar and the voice of the Jung Il & Hon Il from Mate, this song turned to be a lovely serenade. Just nice!

Day 27: Your favorite collaboration

MBC’s Music Travel Lalala is the name of the program where this performance was aired. I can say that this one is one of my favorites performance of the show. We have Soy from Raspberry Field, W from W&Whale, Yozoh, No Reply, and Serengeti jamming on the Simon & Garfunkel’s classic ‘April Come She Will’. I like the ambience, the setting, ultimately the guitar! I always love acoustic guitar session.

Day 28: Your favorite cover of a non-korean song by a k-indie artist

BARD is known for their Irish trad music but they never really limit themselves to only performing Irish music. In most of their live performance, they really like to perform their rendition of Glenn Hansard & Marketa Irglo’s Falling Slowly from the OST of Once. Ruvin & Heyli’s voices and the addition of violin and percussion give the song a very different feel from the original version. Nice!

28 down, 2 questions more to go!

[Wiz Project] 30 Days of K-Indie: Part 8

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 05:40:00 +0000

These two questions in this part really gave me a hard time to even come up with an answer. I even come up to a conclusion that I might have not listened a lot, so I really have to broaden my knowledge before I can really answer the questions about those who are underrated and overrated.

Day 23: A picture of a k-indie musician/band who you think is underrated

Pass

Day 24: A picture of a k-indie musician/band who you think is overrated

Pass

I hope I might be able to answer these two questions in the future.

Day 25: A k-indie song you wish there would be a music video for

This song might just an instrumental song but I just really like the feeling that I have every time I listen to this song. I even imagined that Bard took the video in Ireland, where the root of their music comes from. Again, I really can only imagine they play in the middle of a beautiful scenery with a solo shot accompanied by the wind breeze. Maybe with some people dancing to in the middle of the video with so many happy faces. Hmm….

25 down, 5 more questions to go!

[Wiz Project] 30 Days of K-Indie: Part 7

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 05:29:00 +0000

It says that ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’. Yes, I am agree with this statement. So, instead of rambling around with words, I will just let you enjoy some of this beautiful pictures from my favorites.

Please go under the cut to see.

Day 20: Your favorite picture of your guy k-indie bias

Kim Jong Wan (Nell)

source

Day 21: Your favorite picture of your girl k-indie bias

Nine9 (Dear Cloud)

Day 22: Your favorite picture of your favorite k-indie group

Bard

Dear Cloud

[Wiz Project] 30 Days of K-Indie: Part 6

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 05:20:00 +0000

I have decided that I wanted to make in in parts based on what I have planned before. So, instead of making one post to cover all questions. I have nicely divided the questions into 10 parts. So now, this is Part 6. The questions become more personal as it goes further. I do like it, but I think my bias becomes more vivid. XD

Day 17: A k-indie musician you wish was your older sibling

Since I am the oldest child in the family with sisters and brother, I sometimes wonder how it feels like if I had an older sister or brother. If I had the chance then I would have Ruvin or Kim Jung Hwan from Bard as my older brother. He plays guitar and sings very well. Ever since I listened to Yiruma’s River Flows In You, I really liked his smooth vocal and guitar play. Nothing more I can ask but probably if he is also a good cook then it will be just perfect. Hahaha…

Well, when it comes to an older sister… I think it will be hard for me to choose between Park Hyeri from Bard and Nine9 from Dear Cloud. They have different style that I really like. Every time I see them, I always feel that their style really match them well. Park Hyeri (left) comes out with a more bohemian and gypsy girl feminine style. On the other hand, Nine9 (right) is really charming for her androgyny style but she can still look awesome being feminine too.

Day 18: A k-indie musician you wish was your younger sibling

Now, when it comes to pick who I can really pick as my younger sibling, Namu of Bye Bye Sea just directly popped in my mind. Well, he is actually older than me in real life haha… but I think he will pass being my sibling anyway with his dorky style.

Day 19: Your favorite interview or newspaper article of a k-indie musician or band

Among all the interviews (in English, of course), I have to pick this one as a very nice one that I found to be very informative and quite complete about Zitten. Just pay a visit and you will know the reason why behind this lengthy interview.

http://www.kome-world.com/uk/articles-7463-interview-with-zitten.html

19 down, 11 more questions to go!

[Wiz Project] 30 Days of K-Indie: Part 5

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 04:50:00 +0000

Woow… I still have like a half way to go with this project. It must have been very late considering that it is August 29 already! So, it will be like a batch of updates that I’m going to post in the following. Just read it with a big smile. Hahaha…

Day 13: A k-indie group you dislike and why

So far, I should say that I do not have any k-indie group that I dislike. I think for me it is most probably because I just do not listen to their music. I actually quite open to listen or watch any performance but at the end of the day, I will have to choose whether I want to continue listen to their music or not.

Day 14: A k-indie song that makes you smile

I LOVE this band! Hahaha… Their music is very fun! I will cover about them in the near future. They are 좋아서 하는 밴드 or Joa Band. Quite a unique name, right? And this song is about… Hiccups! I just love how the vocalist, Jo Jun Ho is making the drama while singing and everybody else makes fun of him. :)

Day 15: A k-indie song that reminds you of someone you miss

I think this song is very explicit. So, no need to give any further explanation.

Day 16: Your favorite k-indie lyric (and a translation if available)

I really like this part:

It's quite hard being me
I've just become broken I know
But if you didn't just give up on me, that'd be nice
If I could only get fixed
I'd actually be quite beautiful
And so I wish you wouldn't just leave me to myself]

This song is so beautiful every time I hear it. It carries the emotion very well. Enough said… Nell is just awesome!

16 down, 14 more questions to go!

[Wiz Project] Dear Cloud Fan Video Project

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 14:11:00 +0000

First of all, I would like to send my deepest apologize for being MIA and late to show the final result of Dear Cloud Fan Video Project. I would like to apologize for not being able to get it through before the show and hand it directly to Dear Cloud at the EP release as I promised in the plan I released for the video. I had some other works that I have to finish, so I ended up doing both works at the same time.

Even though I could not hand it directly to Dear Cloud and showed them directly at the show. I put this video at Dear Cloud’s Cyworld Club website, so that they can access the video. I wrote it down as a gift for Dear Cloud to congratulate them for the release of ‘Take The Air’.

Without further ado, I would like to present you the ‘Dear Cloud’s International Fans Video Project 2010’!

I would like to say my deepest gratitude to all the people who have been participating in this project: Ashley, Emma, Ester, Esther, Hdhi3, iLu, Luis Changmin, Maggie, Mailys, Mardi, Mharielle, Tracie, and Zagero for the entries, I love every single entry that each one of you send me. They were very precious. Next, I would also thank Esthero & Mardi for the lovely pictures, Indieful ROK, Un0m3 and Mardi (again) for their support of publication, Soompi for the Dear Cloud’s thread, and others that might have not been mentioned.

So, what do you think guys? :)

[Wiz Project] 30 Days of K-Indie: Part 4

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 02:01:00 +0000

Time surely flies so fast. I just hope that I will be able to use my time wisely before the summer holiday ends in two weeks. *shocked*

Anyway, here’s another post of my favorites stuffs from the K-indie world. This post comprises my favorites of: song that makes me cry, song that I know all the words to, favorite performance, favorite music video, and the first song that I heard. Enjoy!

Day 8: A K-indie song that makes you cry

This song from Ignite is somehow very personal for me. Every time I hear this song, I will have to go through all the reminiscence of a particular event happened in the past. It was a mixed feeling that will drive me to shed tears if I listen to this song. It was also a song that actually helped me to also get through the hard time.

Taken from the 1st album of this one man band by Shin Ik Ju, ‘Look So Good’, it is the only which goes well with me. Featuring different artists in different songs, the album itself consists of different type of genres. Just do not expect to hear the same style of ‘Good Memories’.

Day 9: A k-indie song you know all the words to

This song is the simplest song that I have ever heard and I just can remember all the words instantly after I heard it after two times, yet it is very meaningful and beautiful. The reason why I knew about this song was because it was because of Ruvin, a solo project of Kim Jung Hwan from Bard. He was once a member of this trio which was debuted in 2006 with their first (and the last) album ‘Maiden Voyage’. One of the song from the album, ‘Maiden Voyage’, was also featured in the infamous drama ‘The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince’.

Day 10: Your favorite k-indie performance

Every time I see Bard plays their music, I always feel the energy. I always feel refreshed and am being able to ‘travel’ along with their music. Before they released their 1st official album, they usually played some Irish traditional tunes with their arrangement. I love the way they interpret the music and play it with their own style. This song performed in their live session at Cafe Veloso showed how they have successfully recreated a Korean-style Irish music by combining their own creation of slip jig and a traditional Irish reel.

Day 11: Your favorite k-indie music video

Thanks to Anna, I got to know this one cute video from Peppertones. This song was also my favorite from their 3rd album ‘Sounds Good’, which also happened to be my favorite album from this group. I just love to see the cute dog wandering around by itself and meet the boys acting clumsily along its way. It is just adorable!

Day 12: The very first k-indie song you ever heard

It was actually hard for me to remember the first ever song that I heard. Yet, after some careful consideration, I believe that it was (again) about Nell. This song was the 1st song that introduced me to the band and at the same time, opened my journey to explore the Korean indie music. This song is also one of my all time favorite songs. I can never get bored listening this song. Props to the boys, especially to Kim Jong Wan’s for his charming voice.

12 down, 18 questions left to go!

[Wiz Gigs] Jisan Valley Rock Festival 2010

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:18:00 +0000

Two weeks ago, I went to the 2nd annual Jisan Valley Rock Festival which was held from July 30 to August 1. It was not quite a short journey to reach the site. I had to go on a subway trip continued with a shuttle bus ride to go to festival area, it took around two and a half hours to get there. Yet, it was surely a very great time I had there!

Day 1 - The Warming Up

I came right to the Big Top Stage when Belle and Sebastian hit the stage. With their cheerful tunes, they captivated the crowed. They tried to engage with the crowds and they did it very well. Not only from their music, but they also approached the audience by inviting some people on stage to dance along together. I came to a surprise when I saw the vocalist, Stuart Murdoch, went off the stage in the middle of the performance and walked into the middle of the fans. He did a good job there and the crowd loved it very much.

Belle and Sebastian

Done with Belle and Sebastian, I decided to take a stroll to the Green Food Zone just right at the upper hill in front of the Big Top Stage. Besides the food stalls that provided all the food and beverages, this zone also comprises of stalls for sponsors and merchandises. In between there were also beer stall and the fire zone and some small stalls that sold accessories.

Later, I moved to the Green Stage, which was unfortunately quite far from where I was before. The lengthy distance between the Big Top Stage and the Green Stage quite consumed my time and energy. It was supposed to provide a bigger space for the pool that also became one of the attractions in the festival to beat the heat. After about 10 minutes walking, I got to the stage. I missed the beginning of Diane Birch’s performance but it was not that much. Performing her songs from her debut album ‘Bible Belt’, Diane Birch captivated the audience by her soulful voice. The performance itself comprised of some upbeat and lowbeat tunes. She tried to engage to the audience in between songs, so it was nice to capture the lovely side of her. The lovely performance was a little bit annoyed by a delay at the close-up big screen.

Diane Birch

Vampire Weekend surely did not disappoint. With their stellar performance, they successfully made the crowd follow their flow. Open up their performance with the songs from their 2nd album ‘Contra’, they really know how to make the audience released their energy. Another problem came up when a technical problem on the main vocalist Ezra Koenig’s microphone, so his voice was cut off. Yet, he continued the performance and left no worries to the audience.

Vampire Weekend

When the night approached, the party had just only started. Making my way back to the Green Stage to watch the last performance of the Korean pop-band ‘Brocolli, you too?’, I could see that many people had just came and made their way uphill to the camping sites bringing along their bags and itineraries. The food stalls also got crowded with people. The weather was a little bit cooler compared to the day yet the humidity was still unbearable.

‘Brocolli, you too?’ showed that they already had a legion of fans. Singing their songs like ‘No calling for encore’ and ‘Dance’, I was pleasantly surprised that many people sang along with the band. The first half of the performance was nice but I got bored when it came to the 2nd half. They played nice but I was not quite a fan of the order of the setlist, it did not lift my expectation to finish their performance.

Brocolli, you too?

The last performance of the day was from the main headliner, Massive Attack, with their experimental sound and their political-social messages represented by the backdrop of the stage. After the crowd was pleased by the full energy in Vampire Weekend’s performance, the mood was toned down and the audience was left to have some time to digest the sound. It was interesting, however, since there were some vocalists took turn to sing. The feeling of each featured song was changing in many ways to deliver the feeling of haunted, depressed and even with some elements of African ethnic sound on the vocal. It was enjoyable but probably did not satisfy many of the expectations for their first performance in Korea.

Massive Attack

Day 2 - When It’s Getting Hotter, Literally

The weather was surely hotter than the previous day, not to mention the humidity too. After the exciting first day, I had some expectations for the performances on that day. Yet, my first performance of the day already turned upside down. Mate was probably not on their lucky day. They had to delayed their performance about half an hour and cut half of their performance due to some technical problems on the set. It was somehow still a very enjoyable performance when they played their upbeat songs like ‘It’s All about Love’ and ‘Fly to the Sky’.

One of the special performances highlighted for that day was ‘Crazy for Crash’ at the Green Stage. With a line up consisted of Matzka (Taiwan), Apollo18, Pia, and Crash, it was surely a stage which had its own crowd. One of the highlighted performances of the special stage had to go to ‘Pia’. Their lighter sound compared to the other performers also became a reason why it was also accepted easier by the audience. One of my awaited performers, Apollo18, did not lift my expectation. They played more of their ‘Blue’ album songs which were of course more suited to the theme. Yet, I still felt something was missing from their performance.

The boys from Kingston Rudieska hit the Big Stage with their skanking melody. With a very agile performance from the vocalist, it successfully made the crowd danced along with the melody amidst the already high temperature. It was also another treat when the vocalist bravely got off the stage and sang in the middle of the crowd. Continued with another stellar performance by Jang Kiha & The Faces. It was a great treat for people who had been missing these boys. With the absence of Mimi Sisters and the more casual attire, Jang Kiha proved to be loved by the crowd when people massively danced along together and waving their hands to the music. With some humor, spoken song and some acts in the middle of the performance, Jang Kiha proved to be a true entertainer for the crowd.

A surprise came when Sister’s Barbershop started to play. It was more like a cooling down performance. With some mid tempo songs combining their old and new songs, people were extremely pleased to enjoy ‘Beautiful Things’, ‘100 Years of The Heart’, and ‘The Most Common Being’ among the setlist.

The last headliners, Mutemath heated the crowd at the Green Stage and The Pet Shop Boys followed at the Big Top Stage. The Pet Shop Boys successfully pleased the crowed with their complete audio-visual treatment and their music. The beautiful backdrops of the stage and the dancers really brought up their music to another level of enjoyment. They truly left a very deep impression to the audience at their first ever show in Korea after three decades. Therefore, it was so memorable that it was even emotional for their some of their Korean fans.

The Pet Shop Boys

Day 3 – The Finale

Another day to enjoy the festival and unfortunately the weather was getting hotter. More people seemed to come on the Sunday, the 3rd and last day of the show. People might have expected to see Third Eyed Blind, Kula Shaker, Corinne Bailey Rae and Muse. The performances of the day were a mixed of loud and calm sounds. Yet, it was toned down compared to the 2nd day.

At the Green Stage, Korean bands like Bye Bye Band, Achime and Neons started the day with their modern-rock sound. Then, Taru showed up with her cuteness and cheerful melody. Later, Im Ju Yeon delivered a very lovely performance featuring Lee Neung Ryong from Sister’s Barbershop, who had already performed on the previous day. She got a very nice combination of pop and jazzy sound in her music. Then, Jeju Boys calmed out the crowd by their breezy guitar sound and vocal. It was also nice when they asked the crowed to just sit down while enjoying their performance, which made all the people even got more relaxed while listening to their music.

Next performer was Toe from Japan with their unique performance. With their instrumental sound without any vocal, a mixed of experimental, jazz and modern rock, they performed in their own mystical way, especially when the guitarist seemed to be very much absorbed by the music. He began to play with his guitar and moved around with his head banging. Lastly, the lovely Corinne Bailey Rae as the main headline at the Green Stage also had a very good performance. In her first visit to Korea, she began playing her new songs from her latest album ‘The Sea’ and played her popular hits from her first album like ‘Put Your Records On’ and ‘Like A Star’ in the middle of the performance. She looked emotional when she performed some songs but she never put off her lovely smile throughout her performance. It was a romantic and lovable performance to wrap up the Green Stage.

Toe & Corinne Bailey Rae

Galaxy Express, Schizo, and Moonshiners warmed up the crowd at the Big Stage. The first two bands offered rock sound to the audience, with Schizo sounded heavier with their metal sound. Moonshiners hit the stage with their oldies rock and roll tunes. The HIATUS continued to rock the stage bringing Japanese rock sound to the audience. It was enjoyable at the first half but the power was somehow reduced and left the second half a bit flat. Third Eyed Blind was surprisingly bland and not that very much enjoyable. Some songs they played were enjoyable, but the others were not flat. Yet, they tried to engage more to the audience in between their songs and the crowd seemed to like it. Next, Kula Shaker hit the stage and entertained the crowd with their britpop sound. They performed their songs like ‘Peter Pan RIP’, ‘Mystical Machine’, ‘Tattva’ among their setlist, and a closing performance of ‘Govinda’.

Third Eyed Blind

Kula Shaker

Muse was a real good one to wrap up the show. Despite the fact that they came back quite soon after their concert last January, it was proven that Muse was the main reason for many people to come that day. They had a complete performance with full of energy and pleasant audio-visual experiences. With the beautiful backdrops and laser, their songs were so enjoyable while jumping around and throwing hands on the air. The crowd looked very much energized throughout the performance. They even completed their performance with two encore songs. Lastly, the fireworks became the finale for all the performances in the last three days.

Muse

As a summary, the festival was very enjoyable. The food and beverages were nicely served and priced. With quite a lot of variations, people could picked their favorites among kebab, taco, noodles, hot dogs, chicken, rice cake, beer, cocktail, juice, etc. Many freebies were also given, ranging from coupons to handy fans. Beside the Big Stage and Green Stage, the Open Stage provided some nice music to enjoy from a number of Korean Bands. It was also a very nice place to relax in between the other two stages. Besides the stages, lots of people seemed to enjoy the pool very much. There where a lot of people seen to flock at day time and gathered with their fellows around the site. The mountainous area became a very nice treat for people to also enjoy the summer feel. Those who were able to camp in the area surely had an enjoyable time since there were electric stage for the nighttime, live music at the open stage and other side events like fire zone, juggling available.

Yet, the slogan ‘Go Rock, Go Green’ was not really implemented very well. A lot of people seemed not to care much about their own trash. So, the left-overs were seen piled up in some places. Problem at the shuttle bus also happened at the 1st day which left quite a very long queue at the festival entrance. Yet, it was thankfully solved on the next day.

It looks like Jisan Valley Rock Festival has finally made their stance to be the biggest summer music festival in Korea in its 2nd installment. No wonder that it has now finally become one of the most-awaited summer music festivals in Korea.

See you at the next gig!

Photo credit: Mnet media / 9Factory, Personal Collection

Thanks to: Shawn Despres, Smashing Mag, and Donna Kim for making it one of the best times!

[Wiz Project] 30 Days of K-Indie: Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 17:02:00 +0000

I feel like… I wanted to stop the time sometimes. Yet, I always knew that it is impossible. I should just face everything without any worries, then maybe it will go right as I always expect it will be.

So, now it has been already passed my 6th and 7th days already. Another day, another favorites from the K-Indie world are ready to be served!

Day 6: Your favorite K-indie song from your favorite guy band

I have mentioned in my previous post about my favorite guy band, Nell. Actually, it is very difficult for me to choose one favorite song of mine because I like many of their songs. But then again… I have to make a choice. So, I have to pick this one.

The song, 1:03 is taken from their 4th album, Separation Anxiety, which was released in 2008. If I knew about these guys earlier that year, I might have been able to catch their live performance before the members went to fulfill their army service. Nevertheless, this album was also one of the albums that I constantly played back then.

Day 7: Your favorite K-indie song from your favorite girl band

When it comes to Lucite Tokki, as I mentioned in my previous post, they really have a very low beat and lovely songs that are good for me to hear when I want to chill out. There are several songs that I enjoyed from these girls. Yet, I have to choose this one.

Holding Hands Tightly, as translated, is the title track of their 2nd album A Little Sparkle, which was released in 2009. This song is very romantic, as you may can understand from the provided translation. This album was also my 1st encounter with the loveliness of Lucite Tokki.

7 down, 23 more questions to go!

[Wiz Project] 30 Days of K-Indie: Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0000

And let the saga continues… So instead of going per day with my post related to the ‘30 Days of K-Indie’ project, I decided to make a group of days for one post. I wanted to make it somehow a bit easier here and there for me. I started this project on August 4, so it makes today my 5th day. Without further ado, let me present you my ultimate k-indie guy and girl biases.

Day 4: Your ultimate k-indie guy bias

Kim Jong Wan of Nell

Nell was my choice for my favorite K-indie guy band, so when I chose Kim Jong Wan, the frontman of the band, I think that it is reasonable enough. He has a strong yet gentle vocal which always mesmerize me. One of my favorite song with his voice featured is his duet with Yoo Hee Yeol in ‘Me, That I Want’.

Besides being the vocalist of Nell, he proved to be a very potential man to be featured in a duet with other musicians. Not only with Yoo Hee Yeol, but he also got featured with Han Hee Jung in ‘Remaining Melody’,

with Epik High in 'Let It Rain' and 'I'm Happy',

with Infinite Flow & Tablo in ‘Rainbow’,

with Dynamic Duo in 'Heartbreaker',

and the latest one was with Hey for her latest album 'Vegetable Love' in 'Living Next Door to You',

He also contributed in Park Ji Yoon’s 7th Album by penning a song for her, which also happened to be my favorite song from the album, ‘April 16’,

Day 5: Your ultimate k-indie girl bias

Nine9 of Dear Cloud

I admire her a lot. She is so cool! I always have an interest to androgynous style for quite a long time. I think that she can really pull off the style VERY well. She can look pretty and lovely but she is also able to bring the strong vibe with her. Not to mention that I also LOVE her voice. Not many female vocalist has a deep yet clear vocal like her. I still can feel that ‘particular’ feeling whenever I hear she sings.

Besides being the front lady in Dear Cloud, Nine9 also proved that she had another talent under her belt, writing. In 2010, she came out with a very nice surprise by releasing her book ‘Humming & Drawing’ which tells about her journey in London. I wrote about this one here.

I believe that she cannot be separated from music. So, along with the release of the book, she also released a digital single for the soundtrack which consists of two tracks. One of them is ‘Beginning of An End’,

She looks lovely and with all those experiments with her hair and costumes, she still can pull off everything nicely. She cut her hair shorter now, literally very short. Still have not got picture update about her current style. Hope her solo picture will be out soon during Dear Cloud’s EP promotion.

5 down, 25 more questions to go!

[Wiz Gigs] The Bridge, 3rd Episode: My Favorite Things

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 02:23:00 +0000

Last week, I spent my Thursday night in Buam-Dong, mainly to enjoy the 3rd Episode of The Bridge, a special live performance conducted by indie2go, a website which promotes Korean indie music movement. I came to the 2nd episode in February and I managed to write my very own review here.

In this episode, the theme was ‘My Favorite Things’ with Sori, Raspberry Field, Achime, and Swin, as the opening performed in front of around 60 people at flat.274.

Among all the artists that performed at that time, Swin and Sorri were the ones whose performance I have never seen before, so I was somehow curious to see them. It was my 2nd chance to see Raspberry Field and Achime, instead. I saw the former in March 2010 in a joint performance at the Rolling Hall, Hongdae and the latter just last week before The Bridge in an EBS Space performance. I was kind of having a certain expectation for the last two performers due to the fact that I went to their gigs before.

Before the performance, I got myself a very nice shrimp broccoli pasta at a nearby restaurant called O’Wall. I have to say that the review that I got for this restaurant was true! Although the place was not big, I like the ambience and of course the food. I will surely come here again to get a taste of another pasta on the menu.

Just like the previous episode, the gig was held in art space, yet this time it is also a cafe which was called flat.274.

Swin opened the performance by a very nice rendition of ‘Back at One’.

I have been very curious of this guy since I listened to Yiruma’s ‘나에게로’ (To My Heart) taken from the album Movement on A Theme, 2nd Movement released in 2009. It was one of my favorite song where Swin got featured in it. I really like his deep and clear R&B style voice.

His opening performance was later closed by a song that he composed. I got to say that the Korean song also had a very nice tune and it fitted well with his vocal. Since he is preparing to make a return after a very long hiatus from his 1st album, Swin will definitely be under my radar for his future activities.

The next performer was ‘소히’ (Sorri). Although I have never seen her performance before, I read about her a lot before because she happened to just release her 2nd album, Mingle back in March. She used to be one of the member of ‘ZzzAam’. With her acid pop-sound, her performance was a very nice continuation of the opening. I got to feel the vibe of ‘Eugene’, an actress who was a member of Korean girl group S.E.S, when I saw her. She looked very elegant and lovely in a simple one-toned green dress. She also kind of reminding me a lot to a bossa-folk version of Sheryl Crow.

I did not really know any of her songs at that time but I somehow managed to enjoy her performance. Out of all the songs that she performed that day and it included a Spanish song (?), I think I was able to enjoy 2 songs by far. She performed nicely but I could hear she lost her control to the higher pitch a few times. Yet, she was able to entertain the audience with the upbeat music that surely made me shake my feet and slap along together throughout the song. I did not really pay attention to her new released album, but after the show I could not forgot this melody from ‘그럼 그렇지’ (Then Sure), which was also my favorite from her performance. I like the acoustic version better. And have I mentioned that I really like her guitar? I really want to buy one just like hers. It looks very comfortable to handle.

Next performer was Raspberry Field, a vocal-guitar duo by Soy (front) and Jang Jun Sun (back). Yup, it was not my first time to see their performance. Thus, I expected that I would be more familiar to their songs. It turned out to be what I already thought it would be. I knew some of their songs already, so it was easier to enjoy the whole performance.

One more thing that made them easier to enjoy is that they have a few songs in English and Soy has quite a natural way in singing the lyrics in English. She also brought a very vivid cute image of the band thanks to her outfit, way of speaking and not to forget, her voice. I believed that I recognized almost all the songs that they played, including a cover of Natalie Imbruglia’s ‘Torn’.

However, their performance was not without a note. Soy closed her eyes in most of the songs. I knew that it maybe a way for her to get immersed to the song or concentrated but I think it would be nice if she tried some eye contacts with the audience besides at the sharing session when she talked about her favorite things. In some songs, Soy seemed also to be out of breath and had a hard time to reach the high note. It was even obvious when she sang ‘Torn’, so it earned just an OK from me.

Nevertheless, I should say that I still enjoyed Raspberry Field quite well. One song that I really enjoyed from the performance is ‘토요일 오후에’ (At Saturday Afternoon) from their 1st Single with the same title released just a week before the performance.

Since the theme of the gig was ‘My Favorite Things’, so the two aforementioned artists also talked about their favorite things with the audience. Yeap, it happened again. I could not understand the whole stuffs that they talked about. It was a little bit unfortunate because they asked some questions to the audience related to their favorite thing and the winner got a free ‘Converse’ shoes. How lucky the three winners were. Besides the talking, what I really like was the ambience of the location and the intimacy of the place. I think I like it better than the location of the previous gig.

The last performer was ‘아침’ (Achime). After I got hooked by their performance in EBS Space, I should say that I had a very high expectation to their performance.

If in the previous performance Kwon Sun Uk (Vocal, Guitar: 2nd from the right) did many of the talking, here it was Kim Soo Yeol (Drum: 1st on the right) who did the talking and even sang in one song. Lee Sang Kyu (Guitar: 2nd from the left) did his job nicely, so did Park Sun Young (Bass: 1st on the left). However, it was a little bit awkward when I did not see the drummer had a drum near him. True that in most of the songs, they did not use it because of the songs were mainly a lowbeat songs but it was not really a good strategy for them to use an iphone instead to replace the drum when they played a more upbeat song. There were a few obvious overlaps in the song but they still tried to finish up nicely.

I somehow feel that there was something missing in their performance that day. I was not quite what it was, not until the end of the show actually. There was no ‘power’ in their performance that day. Achime that I saw in the EBS Space and the gig was different. I think a full band performance matched their characteristic of their songs better than the acoustic performance. Some technical problems that happened during their performance quite influenced their performance and they did more talking than what they expected. However, Sun Uk was probably born not only to play music but also a gag man! He really managed the talking very well with all his witty and funny comments that made all the audiences laughed. He looked very comfortable to talk and engaged in the ‘My Favorite Things’ talk. I believe he assisted Soo Yeol quite well too especially when a girl came up front to answer the question and claimed her Converse but she ended up being interviewed by Soo Yeol thanks to Sun Uk’s support.

Well, they did not played my favorite tune ‘거짓말꽃’ (Fake Flower) but my favorite tune from their performance in the gig had to go to ‘이 비가 그친 뒤’ (After The Rain Stopped).

The show was ended nicely. I enjoyed all the performances and had a great time in flat.274. Before I took a bus ride to the station, I decided to explore a little bit and ended up went on foot up to the hill side of a park nearby this mountainous area. It was quite a quiet place but I could see some people who came there to exercise. Took the last picture with my dying camera and its just got off right after I took the picture. It should a very nice view of Seoul at night, folks. Now, I got a very good reason to come back here again then.

See you at the next gig!

[Wiz Project] 30 Days of K-Indie: Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:02:00 +0000

Busy and hot summer… this time, it is literally. I even think I need to change my brain in order to keep up with all the stuffs around me. Well, I need something new, something fresh, something that can really make me feel… cool? Well, I don’t know how I should put this on some good words but yeah… life goes on.

Alright now, through my dearest friend, Anna from Indieful ROK, I knew about this project of wassereis on ‘30 days of K-INDIE’. Without any hesitation, I decided to join them this time. And I am a little left behind so I have to catch up 3 entries within this 1 post. I hope it is alright. Without further ado, these are my first 3 entries.

Day 1: Your favorite k-indie guy band

Well, even the 1st question is already a hard one for me. After going through what I have been listening so far, I realize that I listened a lot to k-indie guy bands. I have to say that maybe a lot of people will not even agree that I consider them as indie anymore, but I really cannot help it because they will always be my ultimate favorite that has opened up my way to listen to Korean indie music back in 2008. These guys are none other than the great, Nell. My love for their music has made them reigning my last.fm for months until later I found another favorite of mine. It is also because they are on a hiatus, so I have not been able to catch their live performance. I was too late to know about their music.

Their music must have changed a lot since their early indie days, as a lot of people say, but when I revisited all their music since the very first indie album, I just love all their sound, not to hard but not too soft. Kim Jong Wan’s voice is also a win for me. I can just recognize his voice directly when he is featured in some other projects with other musicians. This will also be a potential post that I will do soon. I just hope that once the members who are still in their military service go out, Nell will back to rock!

Day 2: Your favorite k-indie girl band

With the same aforementioned reason, I think I listened a lot too k-indie guy bands and mixed bands. Until later I realize that I have been quite a fan of these two lovely ladies from Lucite Tokki.

My first encounter to their sweet acoustic pop songs was actually from their 2nd album, A Little Sparkle. With a soothing voice of the vocalist, Jo Ye Jin (left), and the relaxing sound of the guitar by Kim Sun Young (right), I almost do not realize that I can sing along with lots of their songs easily. Since they do not sing upbeat songs, so they are highly recommended for those who like to be spoiled by softer tunes.

Day 3: Your favorite k-indie mixed band

This is just too obvious! But… I actually have to reconsider about the answer a little and rather than come out with a single answer, I have to say that I have to bring 2 on the table. It is because each one of them really has a special place.

First, the band that actually opened up a way for me to enjoy Hongdae and made it a favorite place of mine. They are all lovely people with a lovely music that comes out with a lot of passion in it. They are Bard. I wrote a lengthy article about them before here.

Second, the band that I admire for their music and friendship. Their music helped me to get trough one of the hardest times. A band of which I have a post performance syndrome, a syndrome when I knew nothing about them before and just fall in love to their music just after their 1st performance. It is none other than, Dear Cloud.

I do not know why that even after several encounters with them, I still cannot hide my admiration to these lovely people. I hope I would be able to write a lengthy article about them soon. As for now, I will just listen to their new EP ‘Take The Air’ that has just been officially released online last August 5, 2010.

3 down, 27 more questions to go!

[Wiz Project] Episode 1

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:44:00 +0000

Hi ya there! Do you get hooked up by Dear Cloud’s music? Then, go under the cut! You will see what awaits for you. :)

Dear Cloud is going to release a new EP on August 5 and hold a concert for it on August 20. Therefore, to celebrate their return to the music scene after their 1st album Dear Cloud (2007) and 2nd album Grey (2008), I would like to propose a compilation of congratulatory video for them.

The video will contain recorded video, images, and messages from you guys who are interested to their music. The basic things that I need are given below.

- Theme: Cloud (It may not the main theme, but indicate dear cloud in it)
- Content:
1. Name (real name or nickname), Origin (country)
2. Congratulatory message for the release of the new EP (Message, Image, etc that can indicate your support) & your wish for Dear Cloud.
- Due Date: August 15, 2010
- Language: in your native language is totally OK, which will add more fun (but please with an English translation too, so that I can put a subtitle next to it), English is of course OK
- Format: Image (JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG), Video (MP4 is preferable), Message only (anything is OK)

If you are still not very sure about what to do, just take a picture and write down a message on it. Or you may just write down a message and I will also take care of that too.^^ Try to explore yourself, so that you will have your own personal touch within your piece.^^

I will try my best to compile all the entries with Dear Cloud’s songs. It might be a very short time to to do this, but I hope I will be able to make it through before the concert on August 20. Or if it is not possible, I will wrap everything nicely in a CD and give it as a congratulatory gift for them on behalf of all of you. I hope I will be able to put the video in their Korean club too.

Submissions, questions or anything…just email me at wizwidz@gmail.com

I am really looking forward to your entries! Have a great day! :)

[Widz Track] Blasts from The Past 2

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:12:00 +0000

There is always a day when you had a reminiscence of the past… and today is again another day for me to have myself pleased with some oldies tunes. I always enjoy listen to some old stuffs thanks to my father who had generously influenced me with all this love for music. So without further ado, I want to let myself immerse in these old favorite tunes of mine.

1. The Cascades – Rhythm of The Rain # It was a hit in 1962 from this American vocal group.

2. Carpenters – Rainbow Connections # This song was actually a song performed by Kermit the Frog in The Muppet Movie in 1979. The Carpenters covered this song after they released their album Christmas Portrait (1978).

3. Simon & Garfunkel – April Come She Will # Taken from the successful album ‘Sounds of Silence’ of the American duo released in 1966, it was actually a rerecorded version of the same song from ‘The Paul Simon Songbook’.

4. Style Council – My Ever Changing Moods # Taken from the album ‘Cafe Bleu’ (1984) of this English band which was formed in 1983.

Bonus!

Jason Mraz – Rainbow Connection # You can just never go wrong with Mraz. Well, I have to say… I just love this guy’s music. A nice cover from Mr. A-Z.

No Reply, Serengeti, Raspberry Field, W, and Yozoh – April Come She Will on MBC Travel Music Lalala # I really like this session :) Nice one, right?

Rhythm of The Rain (Guitar Acoustic Version) # A very nice one right here. Always love acoustic guitar :)

Good Nite!

[Wiz News] Dear Cloud’s EP release date, confirmed!

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 08:04:00 +0000

I just got more excited! Dear Cloud’s EP is just around the corner. Through their club website, they uploaded the cover for the EP, along with the schedule of the release date and the special concert.

The EP will be released on August 5, 2010. Then, the solo concert will follow on August 20, 2010 at V-Hall, Hongdae, Seoul. There is still no confirmation on the title of the EP and the title track yet.

I personally think this cover looks very cute and lovely. They still keep the same font for the name on the album. Now with these cloud, rainbow, stars, moon and cartoon images of all the members, it is like a reminiscence of my younger years back then.

What should you expect from the new EP? Some songs have been circulating around from their performances these days. The first two performances were from their latest performance in the TBS Rock Festival on July 22 and the last one is from their performance in Club SSAM last June.

Last Scene

그때와 같은 공간 같은 노래가

무너져 (Fall Apart)

Some songs that will have also included in the EP are You’re Never Gonna Know (Instrumental) and 사라지지 말아요 (Don’t Fade Away). Please refer to this post for the recap of their last performance. I hope the official tracklist will be released soon as well.

Just wait a little bit more… :) Good luck guys!

[Wiz Gigs] Joint Performance: Bye Bye Sea & Dear Cloud at Club Ta (打)

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:09:00 +0000

Last Saturday, I got a chance to see 안녕바다 (Bye Bye Sea) and Dear Cloud on stage together for a performance in Club Ta, Hongdae. Both are my two favorites, so it was like a very rare chance to see them performing on a stage together again after The Bridge back in February. Since there were only two bands that performed that night, each band performed for about 45 minutes. As I might have expected, both had a very satisfying set list of songs performed that night.

The first performer was Bye bye Sea. They set to released their 1st album next month! So, it is surely very exciting for a lot of Bye Bye Sea fans out there who have been waiting for them since the 1st Mini Album, Boy’s Universe, that they released in 2009.

Source: Bye Bye Sea Cyworld Club (Thanks to: 사탕나무)

For this performance they brought another additional player for the guitar. Here is the set list of songs played that day. (Disclaimer: Translated title must be incorrect & the links are not from the performance that day, found them in YT :D)

눈물바다 (Sea of Tears) - [Live]
내 맘이 말을 해 (Talk about My Heart) – [YT]
별 빛이 내린다 (Starlight Falling) - [MV]
첫사랑 (First Love)
모닝벨 (Morning Bell)
new song – ?
Soon - [YT]
Beautiful Dance - [YT]
어둠이 깊을수록 별은 더욱 빛난다 (The darkness gets deeper, the brighter stars shine) - [YT]
cover song – 장미 (rose) (?)
화끈한밤이야 (Hot Night)
Encore: 결혼식 (Wedding)

For the upcoming album, the title is supposed to be ‘City Complex’. Still no details regarding the title track and the rest of the tracks up to now but the first track announced in the club page seems to be ‘ 눈물바다’. From the performance that day, I felt that they brought some rock sound inside their music so we might expect quite a variety of sound in their new album with pop, rock and electronic sound blend together. Hope that they will keep their fun tune because their songs are very easy to digest for first listeners.

Next, let’s get down to Dear Cloud. Well, it is known already how I really like them. So, counting the days to the release of their new EP on August 5, 2010 is so exciting. Since they began to do performances again this month, they introduced their new songs to the fans. It is always nice to see them performing on stage. That day, all the members looked glowing, especially the ladies.

It was also a performance where I paid attention more to Jung A (Keyboard), she was so lovely when she played the piano and it looked like she was absorbed by the melody. Often, I saw her close her eyes in some songs. With long hair and fingers on keyboard played freely, she played gracefully. HT for high quality pictures from my dear friend, Esthero.

Here is the set list of songs that day. Since Esthero is also a big fan of Dear Cloud, he also had a the videos recorded on his YT channel. Also, listen to some of their new songs and bring more excitements in waiting their upcoming EP.

You're Never Gonna Know (instrumental) - new
Letter – new
Last Scene – new

Lip – from Grey (2nd Album) [Live]
사라지지 말아요 (Don’t Fade Away) – new

무너져 (Fall Apart) – new

얼음요새 (Ice Fortress) – from Dear Cloud (1st Album) [MV]
꿈 (Dream) – from Dear Cloud (1st Album) [YT]
encore: 늦은 혼잣말 (Late Night Talk to Myself) - from Grey (2nd Album) [Live]
encore: fly fly fly - from Dear Cloud (1st Album) [Live]
encore: 그럴수만 있다면 (If Only I Could) - from Dear Cloud (1st Album) [Live]

I really like listening to ‘Last Scene’, ‘Don’t Fade Away’ and ‘Fall Apart’ very much, though it needed some time before I got used to them. I got too much absorbed listening to their 1st and 2nd album. However, Dear Cloud put their signature on the songs quite well. The tunes, the vocal, the lyrics… were nice. However, I really have to wait for the real EP on August 5 to give a fair and complete judgment. Since they said that they are on their own now, I hope that they can give the fans a return that is worth to wait. Summer is definitely going to be great!

See you at the next gig!

[Widz Trip] Jeolla! A Journey to Gunsan and Jeonju (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 06:03:00 +0000

Summer… breeze! No, it is actually hot in here. Yeap, with the temperature ranging from 25 to 30 deg C and humidity above 70% these days, it is getting hot in here. Considering the fact that I came from a two-season country it should be okay, right? But I have been living here for almost 3 years now and my adaptability has changed since then, hahaha… Nevertheless, this condition must not be an excuse to miss this holiday season. So when I got the chance to visit Jeolla province last two weeks, I grabbed it right away.

Thanks to the Presidential Council on Nation Branding Korea, I got a chance to participate in the 3rd batch of World Students in Korea. It is a program to gather student bloggers who are living in Korea and this trip was organized for us to get more insights about Korea.

My 1st stop was Hyundai Heavy Industries in Gunsan. It is the world's largest shipbuilder. There, I got a chance to see how a ship was made, not in a very detailed manner though. In this factory that has been opened since 2008, I was able to see pieces of steels in a very large field were getting ready to cut and formed in different sections of the factory to be latter constructed into a ship.

This factory located near the open sea and it was very huge. The process of making the ship was divided into two main stages: on-ground and in-water. The former is a process of where the outer part of the ship was made. So, all the steels that had been cut and formed into specialized sections were installed. After the outer part completed, as we called it an outer frame, the frame was then pulled into the sea and the latter process is started to install the inner part of the ship until it was completed. When I came to the section of the in-water construction site, I got to see 3 uncompleted ships that were going to be sent to India and Germany. What was also fascinating was a Goliath crane which was a very enormous crane with 165 m wide which can stand weight up to 1065 ton! There were also big wind mills at the sea shore. I always love wind mill!

So, the next stop is a very perfect place for me. The wind mill factory! Here, I got to see a lot of things related to how a wind mill is produced in the Hyundai Wind mill factory. The subsidiary of Hyundai Heavy Industries is a newly built factory but they had sealed some very nice deals to provide windmills, not only for the local but also overseas demands. When I visited the sites, there was still a very strong smell of new paint everywhere I went. Yet, it was very nice to actually see how a wind mill is constructed. This factory only produces the wind turbine while the blade is outsourced from other companies.

After finishing the tour in the industrial complex, we had a quick lunch at a local restaurant where I had 고동어찌개or Mackarel stew. Then, we continued our journey to Jeonju, the capital of the North Jeolla Province. Our first stop in the afternoon was the Wine Museum located in Jeonju Hanok Village. Here, I got to learn how to make traditional 막걸리 or Makgoelli, an alcohol beverage.

After we finished with the beverage making, we went to another place to the last presentation of the day. Continued with a group meeting for an ice-breaking session with all the members, traditional music performance. Later, we went back to the place to spent the rest of the night, which was a Korean traditional house stay.

to be continued…

[Widz Track] Japanese Indie Recent Favorites

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:03:00 +0000

I have to say that I got to know Japanese music earlier than Korean one. Yet, I just like both quite much the same. No more or less. It is just a matter of where I am now, so that I get more exposure on Korean music.

Indie music has also become one of my interests. Not only Western or Korean, but Japanese indie music is also a very interesting world to explore. Some of my favorites are Flipper’s Guitar, polyABC, Swinging Popsicle, and Paris Match. Well, after quite a while now I found my recent favorites from Japanese indie music scene. It is listed with no particular liking order.

Starting from ar (アル), a trio of Atsushi Kubo, Yoshitaka Fujimoto, and Tsubasa Ohta. They were formed in 2003 and have released 1 mini album and 3 full albums up until now. The 1st one was their mini album ‘Royal Straight Flush No Rush’, continued by their 1st album ‘Plastic Disc No Rush’, 2nd album ‘Moderate Lights’, and the latest is ‘LOVE LU LE LO’, which was released in November, 2009. Their music can be somehow categorized as a mix of electronica, rock and folk. Please visit their official site and MySpace page.

Below is my favorite song from them, called ‘i + i (アイタスアイ)’. I really like the acoustic format and the cozy feeling brought by the tunes and the background setting of the MV.

Next, it is a band called Shame. Still have not got info about them. I hope I can add more about them later for the introduction. Nevertheless, here is my favorite song from them, a cover of X Japan’s Hide ‘LEMONed I Scream’. They really bring a different feeling when I listened to this version of the song. If Hide goes rock, then Shame chose to add a more pop and upbeat. Check out inokama’s Youtube channel for more videos from Shame.

Enjoy!

[Wiz Gigs] Experience Brahms in Ditto Festival 2010

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:07:00 +0000

I went to Seoul Arts Center to watch one of the programs of Ditto Festival, entitled ‘Great Brahms’. Brahms is one of the big names in classical music, as people also know about Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Chopin, Schuman, etc. They are part of the important history on classical music. Their compositions mostly play by an orchestra or chamber music. Yet, not many people seem to enjoy this kind of music since it is highly associated with a very ‘classy’ music. This annual festival has an objective to make a change on what people think about the music, it aims to bring classical music to closer to the audience, not to mention to also make a more diverse audience. Being eager to make chamber music friendlier and fun, this festival has turned into one of the most anticipated annual events in its 4th season this year.

Offering 8 different chamber music sessions, my friend and I were actually very interested to at least 3 to 4 programs. Yet, we decided to go with ‘Great Brahms’, since we both like this composer and we were also curious about the two featured musician, Ryu Goto (Violist) and Ward Stare (Conductor), accompanied by the DITTO Orchestra.

I might not be a person who understands well about classical music. Yet, I always enjoy listening to classical music. It is like a must have item for me, a kind of therapy when I listen to it. I try my best to know about some of the names and their composition, but unfortunately I am still not that good when it comes to recognize who’s who in the classical music. Therefore, every time I have a chance to listen to it, I always try to find out the names and titles. Thankfully, this kind of show always has a list of program, which is a list of the songs going to be performed for the sessions. However, no recording is allowed. So, I will put a link of the song from Youtube instead.

In ‘Great Brahms’, they played 3 different songs. The show was opened by the Academic Festival Overture, Op.80. The orchestra were divided into 2 groups of violins, 1 group of viola, 1 group of cello, 1 group of bass (for the strings), 1 group of woodwinds, 1 group of brass and 1 percussion. Here, they played for about 15 minutes. Even though Ward Stare looked very energetic, I still could not feel the energy quite complete yet from the member of the orchestra. Yet, it was a nice performance and I still enjoyed it.

Continued with the most awaited performance of the Violin Concerto in D Major, Op.77 with Ryu Goto on the violin. This performance consists of 3 parts: I. Allegro non troppo, II. Adagio, and III. Allegro Giocoso, ma non troppo vivace. So, it was quite a long performance. For this performance, the brass and the percussion were not included. I really liked the performance of Ryu Goto here. Seeing his fingers very agile play with the string of the violin was very nice. This violin concerto is one of the best known of all violin concertos. With a quick-slow-quick pattern, I could really see how skillful Ryu Goto is. He looked really enjoy the music and immersed with every stroke of the violin. After his solo performance, he gave a solo encore performance and as a surprise he invited Richard Yongjae O’Neill who plays viola to have a duet on stage. It was very nice. They really made classical music looked hip with their overflowing energy on stage. Get a glimpse of the duet, here.

After a 15 minutes intermission, the show continued. Out of the songs performed that night, the last composition Symphony No.3 in F Major, Op.90 is the most familiar composition for me. Moreover, I also think that this was the peak performance of the symphony. It was divided into 4 parts: I. Allegro, II. Andante, III. Poco Allegretto, and IV. Allegro. Woodwinds were the dominant sound in this composition. I really enjoyed this performance. They should have finished the performance already, yet they gave an encore by playing the upbeat sound of Hungarian Dance No.5. I really love the quick-slow pattern throughout the song. It really boosted up the energy pleased the ears of the audience. A very nice song to conclude the show!

It was my 2nd time coming to Seoul Arts Center to enjoy this kind of performance after the Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy last February. It was my 1st time to see an orchestra live! So, it was such a great experience to. I was not a fan of the video game, yet I enjoyed the music very much, which was composed by Nobue Uematsu. The conductor for the performance was Arnie Roth, who really gave a good performance too. After the performance, I got hooked by the Final Fantasy’s music and one of my favorite composition is this, from Final Fantasy X: To Zanarkand.

As a summary, I was really pleased with the performance that day and am looking forward to another chamber music experience. Summer is definitely ‘hotter’ with classical music on the list!

See you at the next gig!

[Widz Track] Blasts from The Past

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:43:00 +0000

OK… Where should I start? I just suddenly thought about this when I was lying on the bed thinking about a question that my friend gave me that day… “What made you like Korean music?” Hmm… to be honest with you, I really have no clue when I really have to answer this one logically. I mean… My fondness of music is not something that I can really explain with numbers or graphs. It is some thing, sometimes it even can be many things… but mostly it is about the tune and the feeling that suddenly comes whenever I listen to a particular music. I should also thank my father to share his fondness of music to me since I was very young.

Back to the real issue about why I like Korean music. So, I tried to refresh my memories to find the reason and to remember about my first encounter with Korean music. Well, surprisingly, when I traced back… my first encounter was like 10 years ago! I never really thought about it. Nevertheless, I think it is a very nice thing to share about those lovely memories here, a way for me to know myself better.

Drama was the one which opened my way to Korean music. It was ‘가을동화’ (Autumn in My Heart), staring Song Seung Hoon, Song Hye Kyo, Won Bin, and Han Chae Young, which caught not only my interest to its story but also to its music. The main title 'Reason’ sang by Jung Il Yeong (정일영) really broke my heart every time I heard that song, well… even until now. It was something about the piano tune, the violin and the vocal of the song that made the song has that special feeling which really fits the drama so well, considering the fact that I did not understand the lyrics at all and I watched the drama subbed in my native language. This song was taken from the ‘OST of Autumn in My Heart’ which was released in the year 2000.

Besides drama, movie also played its own role in introducing me to Korean music. It was ‘엽기적인 그녀’ (My Sassy Girl), staring Jeon Ji Hyun and Cha Tae Hyun which introduced to the song ‘I Believe’ sang by Shin Seung Hun (신승훈). This romantic comedy is still one of favorite Korean movies until now. There has not been any romantic comedy that can defeat this story of a quirky girl who abused an ordinary guy but eventually both of them fell in love to each other. I never thought that the OST will be a low tempo ballad song honestly. Yet, it is now the trademark of the movie and has became one of the most popular Korean songs too. It was taken from Shin Seung Hun’s 8th album ‘The Shin Seung Hun’ which was released in 2001.

The next song will not be coming out from either drama or movie. Back then, this song became a very popular song for cell phone ringtone with a weird title for me ‘My Lecon’. Later, I found out that the song was actually a Korean song originally sang by JTL, a group formed after the break up one of the earliest generations of K-Pop Idol, H.O.T. With its catchy opening and upbeat tempo, this song really makes me want to put my hands up to follow the rhythm every time I heard it. It was a very popular song for dance too. This song was taken from JTL’s 1st album ‘Enter The Dragon’.

I saw a very cute video clip on the television back then. I did not have any about who was who and what was it. I knew it was Korean but other than that I was totally blank. A high school boy and girl fell in love and imagining about them getting married in each other’s dream. How cut that is! Thought that at that time the singer was cute as well. Then, I found out that it was actually Kangta, one of the members of the disbanded boyband H.O.T. ‘Propose’ was taken from his 2nd solo album ‘Pine Tree’ which was released in 2002.

The only female singer that came to catch my eye was Jang Nara (장나라). I came to know anout this song after I watched her drama ‘명랑소녀 성공기’ (Successful Story of a Bright Girl). She was just so cute (even until know, I think she has not aged at all). With a bubbly voice and cute song, she was really able to pull off a cute concept very well. This song was taken from her 2nd album ‘Sweet Dream’ released in 2002.

The last song for this series is a really sweet ballad track, which was also the 1st Korean phrase I learned, ‘사랑합니다’ (I Love You) by Tim (팀). I got to know this song from the video clip that I saw on television back then. The video clip was a very romantic one and to be honest, Tim’s complexion also caught my eyes. I also liked it when there were scenes where I could see him on his earphone, it looked cool. This song was taken from his 1st debut album ‘Tim’ which was released in 2003.

Well, that was it… 6 songs which became my blasts from the past. Not a very much variation that I got in the past 7-10 years. Being able to preserve this kind of memory is a very delightful thing for me. Thanks to Youtube and many people out there who uploaded the videos, I am able to enjoy the moment and those memories again. Now, I wonder… if you also like Korean music, what was your 1st encounter? :)

[Wiz Gigs] The Korea Foundation Concert for Foreign Residents 2010

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 23:36:00 +0000

Summer is surely a very exciting season. It is a time where people get more than enough exposure to any kinds of performances or festivals, including music. From pop to rock, traditional to fusion. You just have to name it and that is what you will get. I was lucky that I was able to attend a very interesting performance yesterday hosted by the Korea Foundation and organized by the KF Cultural Center, called 'The Korea Foundation Concert for Foreign Residents 2010, Challenge & Evolution.

It was actually my second time to get my name listed to attend the show. Back in 2009, I got to see the performance by 여을 (Yoeul), a quartet of gayageum players and 훌 (wHOOL), a korean fusion group. For this performance, the organizers presented 안은경 (Ahn Eun Kyung), a Piri player, & Ensemble, and Miji, a traditional Korean music bands of female performers.

The concert was divided into two parts. In the 1st half, Ahn Eun Kyung played accompanied by the ensemble of acoustic guitar, contra bass, and percussion. She played Piri, an eight-hole woodwind instrument with a double reed, called piriseo. She started off strong by a solo performance on the Piri playing ‘Sangnyeongsan’ from Yuchosinjigok, which was a tune coming from the latter half of the 17th century in late Joseon. When I first heard the sound of the instrument, I felt its interesting sound like a traditional version of a saxophone with a higher note. A solemn atmosphere was created when she played the tune up and down resembling the breath. Playing in hanbok and sitting in the middle of the stage alone for the whole performance, she managed to bring the audience deep into the journey exploring her music.

She later came out in a different outfit, with a simple green one piece, coming with here were the members of the ensemble. They played the 2nd song ‘바람이 되어라’ (Be A Wind). As the title says, the sound of the piri and guitar gently touched my ears like a wind breeze. I also felt refreshed when I listened to the song. The acoustic guitar and the contra bass also gave a jazzy feeling to the song. The two percussion also gave the energy to the song with their cheerful rhythm. When she also played the taepyongso, Korean traditional trumpet, its high note gave the song a roar.

(Piri) (Taepyongso)

Continued by the next composition ‘오래된 이야기’ (An Old Story). She managed to get the audience impressed to see her playing with a boasted energy, even though the song is at a lower tempo compared to the previous one.

In the next composition, she presented her interpretation on blending East and West tune together. Started off with a soft melody of ‘Amazing Grace’ with the prominent acoustic guitar, she let the sound of her piri leaded the audience to transcend into ‘Arirang’ tune. The piri became the bridge of the modern and traditional tune.

‘개구리에게’ (To a Frog) started with a very unique ‘conversation’ between the two percussionists playing sounds to resemble the sound of a frog. It was a very nice and humorous opening. The piri was going smooth accompanied by some various instruments that the percussionists played, the song sounded very fun and cheerful. It made me smile when I paid attention to see that they had fun ‘making a conversation’ throughout the song.

Got to know about her and the band a little bit when she talked in between the songs. For the last song, she played was ‘구름이 내려오고 우리는 춤을 추었다’ (The Cloud Came Down and We Danced) and she also mentioned that it is a song to dance with. So, the audience is expected to join her immersed in the melody. It was also another good tune that she played out there. Too bad that nobody was get off their seat and started to dance a long to the melody because the seat arrangement did not really support us to do that. Some claps were heard but not throughout the song. I could not keep myself moving my head and feet to join along with piri bouncing with the other instruments. It was so nice that she deserved a very warm applause from everyone in the hall. Even though I did not get the performance recorded, please do feel the experience of her music too from the title track ‘눈물꽃 지다’ (Tears Flower Grow) of her debut album, Purity

Got a 10 minutes intermission and the show was continued with the performance by Miji. I had to say that I less impressed with their opening song, ‘The Chaser’. The seven girls came out to the stage, with 2 girls playing Gayageum (the most famous Korean string instrument with 12 silk strings), 2 girls playing Haegeum (a bowed string instrument), 3 other girls playing the wind instruments Daegeum (a flute-like Korean wind instrument with 13 holes in Samgeum), Sogeum (the smallest in Samgeum with 8 holes), Saenghwang (constructed with many bamboo pipes mounted in a wind chest, blown through a spout-like mouthpiece), and Piri.

(Gayageum) (Hageum)

(Samgeum) (Saenghwang)

I cannot help myself to demand more of their performance after I was satisfied with the 1st performance. Yet, besides all the new instruments that I saw, I should say I was less impressed with their performance. They played the instruments with a play-back music to cover for the modern instruments. Not really a fan of the upbeat and fast composition that they played here, yet I thought it was just the 1st one so have to wait a little bit more.

Seeing the girls came out with beautiful rainbow-like modern version of Hanbok (without the bolero), I was forgot that red one was missing. Then, for the next two tracks, the vocalist came out to the stage wearing a red one. First, she sang 흐노니 ‘Longing for Someone’, a Korean popular song which I recognized in the middle of the performance. Still not very much impressed with the girls playing the music but the vocalist surely has a very strong and clear voice which impressed me. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the traditional rendition of the heart-break story song. Next, it was 'Fly me to The Moon’. I remember that last year performer ‘Yoeul’ played this one piece too, only with gayageum. With the vocalist sang along with the other girls playing, it was only an OK for me. After these two songs, the vocalist left the stage.

Finally the best part began to unveil when they played ‘Arirang Series’. It is also a joint performance with Ahn Eun Kyung. Been the most popular Korean folk song, it has a very nice combination of traditional ornaments and their modern interpretation. What I like the most is that they played without the playback. Not an ordinary version of Arirang because they put more focus on the two Piri’s tunes. And it was like they were playing the song in different chapters when the melody went faster throughout the song.

The next song was a duet of haegeum and saenghwang in ‘Love Letter’. I really like this performance, even with the playback. It was a very nice rendition of a conversation between the two instruments in a calm melody. I also could hear the real sound of saenghwang, which I could not help thinking it looked like a weapon or a black iceberg. It has a very soft sound almost similar to a flute, but softer.

Continued by The ‘Romantic Tango’, in which they tried to blend the Korean and western style music. I particularly listen to the playback piano and guitar tunes, which was very well-blended with the traditional instruments’ tunes. The contrast of the two world was clearly heard. It was nice that they sounded better here too.

The last song ‘K.new’ was a nice closing track. It really lifted up what they mentioned in the talk in between the songs, a composition which portrays dynamic Korea with its upbeat tune. With the orchestral sound, I felt the grandness of this tune. I found later that it was also included in the girls debut album ‘The Challenge’ which was released in January 2010. I also found out ‘The Chaser’ video released here.

In a summary, I was satisfied with the performance. It is also obvious that I liked the 1st better than the 2nd one. I still feel that the Miji girls did not really lift up their performance to what people might have expected. They played well but there was an x-factor that seemed to be missing in the performance, maybe the spirit of the performance (?) Well, just an opinion from merely a person who tried to enjoy the performance. In the other hand, what I like about the Ahn Eun Kyung’s performance was not only the power that she had when playing the wind instrument which really requires a long breath, but also the variation of tunes that she presented just only from a single instrument she played which was able to bridge between the traditional and modern tunes. As I mentioned earlier, it blends well both as a traditional and modern tunes.

I hope I will be able to get another chance to see more exciting fusion music in the future. This is why also I am looking forward to see more things like this too, a fusion band from Indonesia, Kua Etnika.

;

If you are interested to dig more on the Korean traditional instruments, please kindly visit The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts, from which also I found the pictures of the instruments, or Korean Culture & Arts Foundation.

See you at the next gig!

[Wiz Gigs] The Bridge, 2nd Episode: Traveler

noreply@blogger.com (wizwidz) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:40:00 +0000

This review is one of those posts that I have been planning to publish since a million years ago (read: a long time ago). I should have arranged my time well, not only to enjoy the show but to also to write that experience as a token of appreciation of what I already experienced. Yet, it is better now than never. So, I hope I am still able to interpret my feeling back then.

The Bridge is a special live performance conducted by indie2go, a website which promotes Korean indie music movement. The show was held back in February 10, 2010 at Alternative Space Loop. People who were interested to see the show had to apply for a free ticket by submitting a request at the website board along with the reason why they were interested to see it. This happened because the show itself was basically a live performance recording session for indie2go film production.

Indie2go promotes indie music movement by using the media, such as film and photography to capture the musical ability and personality of the musicians. It tries to capture the live performance session in such a way documentary film is made, to document the aspect of reality of the music by letting the musician plays and blends with its surroundings.

Here is an example of the recording session of 안녕바다 (Bye Bye Sea),

The Bridge that I attended was the 2^nd show for the joint performance of different musicians. The 1^st episode was held back in December 12, 2009. For the 2^nd episode, there were 안녕바다 (Bye Bye Sea), 디어 클라우드 (Dear Cloud), and 메이트 (Mate).

I got to know about indie2go since late 2009, yet at that time I did not know about special event that they usually held for the supporters. Then, just about a month before the show, I knew from the club pages of Mate and Bye Bye Sea about the show. So, I applied for two spots in the show and was lucky to get picked.

On the D-day, I went there with my friend. We both did not have any clue about the site. So, we relied heavily on the map that I printed out before leaving the school. Since we both were not familiar with the shortcuts in Hongdae, we ended up walking with the farthest route before we finally reached the performance spot, Loop. I got some souvenirs when I claimed my ticket at the box.

The show was held in the basement. When I got to see the place for the 1^st time, I was surprised that it was surely a very limited space. There was no stage, so the performers would have to play in front of the audience who sat on some plastic chairs. There were computers and projectors in the middle of the room separating the two blocks of the audience seats and the performing area was separated by the speakers. When I got there, the seats were all already taken and it was quite packed as well. So, I just stood at the back with my friend and waited until the show began.

The show was opened up by the performance from 김태균 and 연정업. Yet, since I came late, I got to miss that performance. Besides that, I was standing at the back, so I was not quite sure when it was started or ended. I got my first shot for Dear Cloud. Now is my favorite band, I actually did not have any clue about them at that time. I had never listened to their music before, so I was actually very curious about them like I wrote in my request. In an acoustic format, they started off their performance with low tempo song. Since I did not have any expectation about them, I just tried to listen to their songs which were unknown to my ears. When I looked at the videos that I have taken and checked later after the performance, the set list of the songs they played for the performance included ‘나를 안아’(Hug Me), ‘그럴수만 있다면’ (If Only I Could) and ‘늦은 혼잣말’ (Late Talking to Myself).

During the break in between the songs, the concept of The Bridge for this episode ‘Traveler’ was brought to live by showing some pictures that the musicians took during their journey. So, they was a time when each picture of each members that they have personally chosen to be shown to the audience and a story behind each picture was told respectively. I did not see them until the end since my friend and I were thirsty and we decided to go to the coffee shop at the 2^nd floor. There, unexpectedly, I got a chance to finally met Mate in person. Then, I managed to take a group picture together. Right from above, I could hear the crowd cheering for Dear Cloud as they just finished their performance. So, it was also the time for me to go back to the basement and enjoyed the next show by Bye Bye Sea. I should say that the acoustic performance was nice and it was ‘늦은 혼잣말’ which left me with an impression about Dear Cloud. I liked how they tried to give that cozy feeling throughout the songs that they chose.

The next performer was Bye Bye Sea. It was also the 1^st time for me to see them performing live. Yet, I had listened to their mini album debut song ‘별 빛이 내린다’ (The Starlight Falling), which instantly became my favorite track. Since I also do not have any expectation about their performance, I just hoped that nobody would mess up during the performance. For the show, they played (with no order of appearance) ‘별 빛이 내린다’, ‘기다릴게’ (I Will Wait), ‘어둠이 깊을수록 별은 더욱 빛난다’ (The Deeper the Darkness, The Stars Shine), 첫사랑 (First Love) and ‘눈물 바다’ (Ocean Tears).

I really enjoyed my first experience of seeing the live performance. The unique voice of the vocalist blends with a fresh and youthful sound of the band, which somehow also reminded me to a britpop style. They played various styles of songs in their performance, so it also became a way for me to get to know about their music more than just what I had listened from their debut mini album. I was pleased also by the way they tried to entertained the audience by not only telling stories behind the slide show of photos but they also performed a short poetry recitation, which unfortunately I really had no clue about what they tried to tell in that composition. Right after they finished their performance, I got a chance to also say hi to them and snapped a picture together.

The last performer was Mate. Compared to the other performers, I got better composure to their music. Their debut album, Be Mate was one of my favorite albums in 2009. With some songs that I have been familiar with, I surely had a rather high expectation about their performance. Acoustic performance was nice for them considering the fact that their songs were mostly low tempo love songs. Yet, there were a few upbeat songs they had, like 고백 (Confession), Come Back to Me, and 하늘을 날아 (Fly to the Sky).

As I have expected, they played mostly their low tempo songs. They created a romantic feeling thanks to their soft tune love songs, with a well-blend voice of the two vocalists. Started off with their song, ‘너에게..기대’ (Waiting for You), they created a lovely ambience of romance inside the place. Then, they played a more jazzy sound in ‘Dear My Mate’ followed by ‘우울한 너에게’ (To the Depressed You), which is actually quite an upbeat song played in acoustic minus the electric guitar sound, ‘긴 시간의 끝’ (The End of a Long Time), and my favorite ‘그리워’ (Missing You), with a special act of treating the bass with a bow as if it is a violin which impressed my friend the most. They also did their own session of the slide show in between the songs, which was unfortunately the only thing that I did not pay attention due to the language barrier.

The performance from Mate was applauded nicely by the audience showing their satisfaction towards the show. I felt really grateful to get a chance coming to the show. Since it was intended to be a recording session for The Bridge documentary, the two cameramen who were doing their job during the performance sometimes blocked the view. It was actually something that has been warned before, so it did not really affect the whole performance. Yet, it was also another new experience for me to see how indie2go made their documentary.

This performance shows that media will always play an important part in promotion. To be creative in the packaging and presentation will let you be outstanding in this era. Indie2go will surely lead the content promotion of indie music through its creative concept.

For the documentary of The Bridge, please kindly visit http://indie2go.com/ and go to the section theBridge to get the real ‘Traveler’ experience.