Busker Busker Stay Put on Billboard’s K-Pop Hot 100

The Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100 for the week of May 26 is out and out of the indie acts we’ve spotted on it recently only Busker Busker remain visible in the top 50. They had six songs there last week and all remain this week, though at somewhat lower chart positions:

6. “벚꽃 엔딩” (-2)
18. “여수 밤바다” (-4)
22. “첫사랑” (-7)
30. “꽃송이가” (-5)
39. “외로움 증폭장치” (-5)
49. “이상형” (-4)

IU‘s “복숭아 (Peach)” has now positioned itself below Busker Busker’s top track “벚꽃 엔딩”, but instead her “Every End of the Day (스무 살의 봄 – 하루 끝)” debuts at the very top spot. Also debuting above the track is Busker Busker’s fellow Superstar K3 contestants Ulala Session‘s “아름다운 밤 (Beautiful Night)“. Further contributing to the lower position of “벚꽃 엔딩” is Baek Ji Young‘s “목소리 (Voice)” that while debuting on the chart last week has since done a bit of climbing.

Source: Billboard

K-Indie on Gaon’s Digital Chart, 2012.05.06~2012.05.12

It’s yet another week with Busker Busker climbing Gaon’s album chart while the album songs move down a bit on the digital track chart. Their first album currently holds position 2, two up since last week.

Peppertones have been falling on both track and album chart, with their new album Beginner’s Luck falling twenty four spots down to position 50. After having no less than three albums on Gaon’s album chart last week, Nell now have none. The soundtrack for Shut Up! Flower Boy Band (닥치고 꽃미남 밴드) has made a sudden jump up to position 47 on the album chart.

Besides new positions and Nell’s “Cliff Parade” falling out of the top 200, looking at the Korean indie music tracks on Gaon’s total Korean digital chart there aren’t that many changes since last time.

9. Busker Busker – “벚꽃 엔딩” (-3)
19. Busker Busker – “여수 밤바다” (-7)
20. Busker Busker – “첫사랑” (-9)
27. Busker Busker – “꽃송이가” (-7)
38. Busker Busker – “외로움 증폭장치 (브래드 드럼 한판 쉬기)” (-10)
43. Busker Busker – “이상형” (-14)
52. Busker Busker – “전활 거네” (-9)
61. Busker Busker – “골목길 어귀에서” (-8)
62. Nell – “그리고, 남겨진 것들” (-22)
63. Busker Busker – “향수” (-12)
81. Busker Busker – “봄바람” (-13)
87. Oksang Dalbit – “선물할게” (-8)
95. Busker Busker – “골목길” (-14)
112. 10cm – “애상” (-1)
189. Busker Busker – “동경소녀” (-)
196. Oksang Dalbit – “Bird” (feat. Yoo Sae Yoon) (-53)
198. Peppertones – “행운을 빌어요” (-62)

Source: Gaon

Ironbard Offer Melodic Power Metal with Wing of Icarus

Melodic power metal band Ironbard are releasing their first EP Wing of Icarus both online and offline on May 17th. With their use of strings and keyboard they compare themselves to their European counterparts, such as Stratovarius. With six tracks total the EP opens with an intro and closes with two instrumental versions of songs on the release. The songs include “Skyland”, released on a digital single in 2009.

Sources: Hyang Music; maniadb

Daylight Return with Drinking Yoghurt Song

Modern rock singer Daylight returned with her first single in a year and a half as 하나부터 열까지 was released on May 16th. The song with lyrics co-written by Daylight herself is used for the new Denmark Drinking Yoghurt commercial starring Suzy of miss A. In addition to the original song, the single also comes with a minute long CF cut and instrumental versions for both.

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Fromm Releases First Digital Single

Tied to Peterpan Complex‘s Showmust label, singer-songwriter Fromm could first be heard singing on Locomotive‘s first solo EP. In October last year her “마중가는 길” could be heard on the Showmust Omnibus and as she releases her first digital single on May 16th the same song is included as a B-side. The title of the single in question is 사랑 아니었나.

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Free Market Release New Album Using Old Name

After a quick stunt as Voice & Noise earlier this year, Free Market are now back with a new full-length album under the name Free Market. Though the band formed already in 1999 it was not until 2006 that they released their first album and their most recent offering, My Present, counts as the second Free Market album.

Though the single released as Voice & Noise, Ben Calls Claire, was said to show music of a different color all three songs from it can also be found on the new album. Also included are all three songs from last year’s Free Market single as well as a cover of Shin Joong Hyun‘s “바람”, perhaps best known as performed by Kim Jung Mi.

The album is divided into three different sections: easy, middle and hard. The easy part is said to focus on clean modern rock whereas the middle part has more of a melodic punk rock style and the hard part has a heavier beat. Pia‘s FX maker Simz is featured on the album.

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Portmans Come Back with Fan Made Music Video

“21st century portable pop/rock” band Portmans released their first, double-titled single in August last year and followed up with another double-titled single on April 25th, 봄에 갇히다 / 괜찮아. Today, May 15th came the CD release through the band’s own S’s Record. In addition to the songs from the title, the single includes an additional song as well as a “Noise Complex Version” of debut single track “Five Girls”.

A few days ago Portmans shared a fan made music video “봄에 갇히다” on their official YouTube channel:

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Human Race EP Debut with It’s You

Modern rock band Human Race may not have made much noise yet, but one or a couple of the members may already be familiar to some. Drummer Jang Jae Song also played the drums for acid pop band Be My Guest whereas bassist Choi Min Soo has a history in Ann — one of the first generation indie rock bands of Korea — and a number of other bands.

The trio released their first EP It’s You on CD today, May 15th. It has already been distributed online for a week, with the release date set to May 8th. The EP includes the song “숨”, released on digital single Breath in April, as well as a couple songs co-written with Every Single Day guitarist Jung Jae Woo.

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Olleh Music Indie Awards Winners, May 2012

With the voting concluded yesterday, who won the May 2012 edition of Olleh Music’s Indie Awards is now clear.

Best Album: Annyeongbada - Pink Revolution (56%)
Best Artist: Peterpan Complex (40%)
Best Rookie: Burntout House (58%)

The other nominees fared as follows:

Album Nominees:
2. Glen Check  - Haute Couture (38%)
3. Lowdown 30 - 1 (4%)
4. Noisecat - Sunday Sunset Airlines (2%)

Artist Nominees:
2. Mongoose (36%)
3. Kingston Rudieska (13%)
4. Hanumpa (11%)

Rookie Nominees:
2. The Electric Eels (26%)
3. No Respect For Beauty (10%)
4. Ha Heon Jin (6%)

Source: Olleh Music

No Control Release Version 2 Songs on Digital Single

Post punk/noise rock/shoegaze band No Control released their first full-length album in April, but already on May 15th they are back with digital single Hiroshima featuring “version 2″ of two of the album songs, “히로시마” and “사장님개새끼”.

Asking No Control’s Hwang about the release it turns out the versions are in fact older than the album, with “히로시마” recorded already in February 2011 and included on the bands debut EP You Have No Control. Blues man Ha Heon Jin plays the guitar on the track. At the time of release You Have No Control did not get an official distribution online due to the issue of unfair practice in the online music industry, but as the band decided to release their new music online this year they wanted to also release their past music online.

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Animal Friends Bring Moon Disco

Indie rock band Animal Friends released their first digital single Opening in September last year. On May 8th came the band’s second single, 달의 디스코, including the song with the same title as well as the instrumental version. A music video has been released to promote the song:

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Dear Cloud’s Nine Sing Believe Me for Hero

The first two parts of the soundtrack for OCN action drama Hero (히어로) were released already in Mars, but it was not until May 11th that part 3 was released. On the otherwise hip-hop oriented release, with YDG and Vasco, Dear Cloud‘s Nine can be heard singing “Believe Me”.

Via: SarangInGayo; maniadb

Storm Heart Release New Singles

Following debut single All Right! from April, project group Storm Heart have already released two singles more in May. With the wish to show their range the sweet pop tune was followed by electronica song “오늘도 OTL” on May 2nd whereas “마지막이길” from May 11th is more modern rock oriented. Alongside the latest of the singles came a music video:

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Common Ground’s Jane Teaches Guitar with New Album

When Common Ground‘s guitarist releases his first album under the name Jane he does so with the ambition of teaching others how to play the instrument. The title of the album is Jane’s Jam Track Vol. 1 and with two discs total it offers instrumental tracks for all the songs with vocals as well as scores and three music videos doubling as tutorials. Already praised by fellow musicians, the album with a mix of fusion funk, rock and acoustic pop is touted as a must-have item.

In addition to the tutorial videos, a proper music video for “Take A Walk” was, like the album, released on May 10th:

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Music Video for Nevada#51′s Rock The Dance

In November last year Nevada#51 released their second full-length album Party Rock, going for a much more electronic sound than the rock band had showed before. Lead track of the album was “Rock The Dance”, but it was only on May 10th that the corresponding music video was released.

Nevada#51 are one of many already established bands that auditioned for the second season of Top Band. We covered them as part of our introductions of the bands first round of auditions but have yet to learn how well they fared in the second round of auditions.

Via: Nevada#51′s official Facebook page

Second Single from Vanila City’s Coming Third Album

Following the release of digital single 니 눈빛이 들려 in February, on May 10th rock band Vanila City released the second of three singles leading up to the release of their third full-length album. The title of the new single is Alive and a music video for the song with the same name was also released on the 10th:

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Former Top Band Contestants Ravie Nuage Release EP

Formed two years ago, Ravie Nuage released their first EP 하비누아主義 on May 10th. Offering light and sweet music with a twist they call their music ‘acoustic art rock’. Ravie Nuage went on the first season of Top Band and coached by Shin Dae Chul became one of the final 16 bands on the first season before getting eliminated when facing J Power.

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Broken Valentine Revive Old Songs for First Album

Alternative rock band Broken Valentine have been around under various names for ten years already, but it was not until May this year that they released their first full-length album, Shade. The digital edition was released on May 10th whereas the CD release was postponed until May 14th.

The album includes new versions of “Answer Me” and “M.K Dance” from 2009 mini album Calling You as well as “What You Need” and “Life” from 2007 mini album Answer Me!! Is This What You Need??. Also included is “Down”, released in a re-mastered version as single with a music video a couple of weeks ago, and “Noname”, that was included on the original Down single.

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Noeazy Release Split Album with Gates of Hopeless

On May 3rd metalcore band Noeazy released a split album together with like minded Japanese band Gates of Hopeless. The tracklist counts eight songs total as each band has contributed four previously un-released songs. The album lead track is Noeazy’s “Shadow” for which Jeong Woo Ram has made the music video:

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Hee Young’s First Full-Length Album Released

Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Hee Young self-released her first EP So Sudden in 2009. Two years later a new version of the EP was released on Pastel Music and on May 3rd came Hee Young’s first full-length album, 4 Luv. The album includes songs in both English and Korean, all previously unreleased.

As the album was released a short music video for “Winter Road” came out set to scenes from 2009 movie Like Dandelion Dust. Already a week earlier came a music video for the English version of the album title track. All songs on the album can be streamed in full from Hee Young’s Bandcamp:

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