![]() ![]() Landing on the influential Chinabot label in late 2020, Arexibo’s 카운터! (Counter!) felt like a thrown gauntlet. Pre-order buy pre-order buy you own this wishlist in wishlist go to album go to track go to album go to track This seems to be what ties many of these records together as well-a shared palette and spicing that runs through, as Uman Therma describes it, the “many different colors and styles here.”īelow are six key releases from the Seoul underground. At once specific and vague, curries vary from region to region, from kitchen to kitchen, but all carry something of a Platonic ideal within them as they reach for similar tasting notes on the palette. As they ate dinner, the group realized that while the music they made was often miles apart, they all approached production from a similar set of musical references, from the heady club experiments of Quick Die to childhoods spent listening to K-pop.Īt the risk of stretching this too far, “curry” seems like a fitting metaphor. When asked, Park pauses briefly before describing a night he spent cooking a curry with Yetsuby, Uman Therma, Yeong Die, and Jiyoung Wi, all of whom are vital nodes of the Seoul music ecosystem. But even with that closeness, it’s hard to put a finger on what, aesthetically, makes this scene so distinct. The smallness of the scene means that everyone seems to know one another. Quick-Die is one of those events for me too. “I played Russian rap music the other time, and Wi played industrial clangers with contemporary western music, Salamanda played some ambient gems. “It’s more of an extended community where musicians and everyone else can all hang out together and listen to any kind of music,” they say. The Quick Die party, in particular, became a melting pot for what Park calls the “new generation of this music.” Producer bela describes it as one of the few places where you could hear out-of-the-box sounds. But Park brought in artists like Foodman, CFCF, and Machine Girl. “Every electronic music scene is mainly for house, techno, and disco, or something,” Arexibo explains. Speaking with trademark humility, Park recalls this period by admitting, “We not very skilled DJs, so we couldn’t find the right place to make a party.” That led to the creation of the No Music collective, as well as the accompanying parties No Club and Quick Die, which brought a queer and inclusive ethos to Korean nightlife. He and partner-in-crime DJ Cong Vu started listening to footwork and other club music that fell outside the regular house and techno tempos. ![]() But in the mid ’10s, his interests began to change. Park founded Helicopter nearly a decade ago as a label focused on guitar-driven music, from indie rock to Delta blues. But every one of the artists I speak to is quick to note that the current resurgence of electronic music in the Korean capital is largely thanks to Park Daham and his label, Helicopter Records. You can hear this blend of ostensibly high and low cultures by tuning into Seoul Community Radio, or by hitting up any number of small venues and parties scattered across the city, including Cakeshop and Modeci. That’s as true of the bouncy and broken percussion that wanders through the soundscapes created by Salamanda as it is the playful synth work that hangs above the industrial decay in multimedia artist Arexibo‘s club meditations. I feel this part is deeply embedded in my music.” It’s a perfect summary the releases from artists in this scene are dense and complex, but they also have the sugar highs and bright gloss of K-pop. While local producer Yeong Die cites artists like Harold Budd, Musette, Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, and Akira Rabelais as key influences, she’s quick to add, “ all else, I can’t forget that I grew up listening to K-pop in the ‘90s and ‘00s. ![]() Making music that runs the gamut, from the abrasive to the soothing, the city’s experimental electronic producers are united by a sense of musical irreverence, rethinking the sometimes clinical world of deconstructed club and ambient music with a prankster’s sensibility. A new sound is emanating from the Seoul underground. ![]()
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