Philip of London Korean Links drew my attention towards an upcoming London event: Balloon and Needle: The New Korean Avant Garde.

Turns out a whole bunch of performers, including Hong Chulki and Choi Joonyong, tied to long running noise & experimental music label Balloon & Needle will be headed for Europe in the beginning of 2011.

Exactly where they’ll be going seems a bit uncertain with dates and destinations varying depending on source, but it seems that in addition to London the two will at least be going to Oslo together with Ryu Hankil to play the Saturday of next year’s All Ears festival. Other destinations may include The Netherlands (Amsterdam*), France (Belfort*, Nantes*, Paris*, Bourgogne**), Switzerland (Geneva*, Zürich*), Austria (Vienna*), Ireland (Cork***), and Italy (Milano***). Other artists that will join at various locations are Jin Sangtae, Jason Kahn and filmmaker Lee Hangjun.
* according to Balloon & Needle’s website
** according to Hong Chulki’s website
*** according to Jin Sangtae’s website

With the exception of the filmmaker, and addition of Park Seungjun this group of performers had a CD called Dotolim released in November this year. It was composed and recorded by Jason Khan that on his website describes it as “both a tribute to this group of musicians and the space which has served them and the small but vibrant community of experimental musicians in Seoul so well”, Dotolim also being the name of a venue for the occasional improvisational and experimental music event. For more from Dotolim, check out the official YouTube channel.