I’m not yet sure whether there’ll be any time for any new blog updates for the next couple of days, so to ensure that you have a bit of weekend reading anyway here’s some more or less interesting links gathered over the last few months.

First up a very brief lesson in Korean: Korean Word of the Day – rock music (noun). Although it should be noted that rock can be written both as 록 [lok] and 락 [lak].

As a fan of Korean indie music there is one area in Seoul that must be visited: Hongdae. I love going there not only because of the many clubs for live music, but also because I love the overall atmosphere. Just walking around daytime is a pleasure in its own and I think these blog posts all do a good job of showing examples why:
– Hongdae, my future soul ~
– KMK: Hongdae Graffiti
– Artsy Saturdays at Hongdae freemarket

Moving on to more artist introductions. Since I missed it when doing the artist profile/interview roundup last week, here’s more on female quartet DOT: Under The Radar – D.O.T

Seeing how much attention Clazziquai members are getting elsewhere I haven’t made much of an effort to post about their solo activities here on IROK, but I thought this was a good post to learn more about what Alex has been up to on his own: OMNTD Featured Artist: Alex (Clazziquai).

Because everybody should know at least something about Yoo Jae Ha: 50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists: 38. Yoo Jae-Ha

Earlier this week Korean Homesick Blues shared some big news on formerly Korea based band We Need Surgery. Korea Gig Guide put it in writing: We Need Surgery — From Korea to the World. Via Korean rock is real I came across this enthusiastic article/live report from the band’s new hometown: We Need Surgery: Will they be the next big thing in Vancouver?

Also fairly recent, Crying Nut‘s label has since long given up hope on more TV appearances for the once popular punk band: Are music programs from the ‘Big Three’ biased?

Much older news that may still be of interest to some follow now:

As of November last year Jaejoo Boys exist no more: Jaejoo Boys disband. Though rumor had it that the reason why was the complete opposite of the official statement.

Apparently it’s not just kpop, but also lyrics from the realm of kindie that may be troublesome. Violet Sweets reported on trouble for the title track from the latest album of Broccoli, you too?: Broccoli You Too applies for reexamination for the song ‘졸업’(Graduation) from KBS. A month later allkpop reported that Super Kidd had been having similar issues with their 술 한잔해: 2NE1, Kim Bum Soo, and Superkid declared as harmful for youth?

Kpop stars can be indie fans too: T-ara’s Eunjung reveals herself to be an avid fan of Jang Giha and Faces

And more from allkpop: The Coin Rocker Boys emerge as the next generation of the indie scene. Although as much as I like to see Korean indie bands getting some attention from unexpected sources, I really dislike seeing things like “The Korean indie scene has slowed to a standstill …” as I think that shows some really poor research.

Concert arranger Super Color Super got into some trouble last month over entertainment visa issues for its foreign bands. Still Super Color Super appears to have survived well. Here are a couple of older items:
– An interview at Social Discourse of Disquiet: SUPERCOLORSUPER
– An article in the Korea Herald: Supercolorsuper rings changes in music scene

Some random links of interest:
– Yohei Hasegawa on classic Korean rock
– Superstar K: Korea Needs 장재인 and 김지수
– Breaking Abroad: How Korean Indie Could Break the United States

Here’s something I wanted to share even though it does not specifically deal with Korean indie music, as I a few years back could on occasion be found arguing that me having a preference for Asian music was not much different from other people having a preference for Asian food: Ask the indie professor: Is food the new indie rock?

Last but not least – concerning indie music in Korea, albeit not the ROK version, renowned English language newspaper The Guardian’s music blog reveal what happened when Pyongyang’s only night club got something else but its one CD to play: Pyongyang goes pop: Inside North Korea’s first indie disco