While catching up on all the interesting releases that came out around Christmas (somehow Korea always seem to offer its very best with just a couple of weeks left of the year, much too late to be considered for any year-end listings) I couldn’t help but take notice of Lim Ji Hoon. An album cover with an obvious retro feel to it featuring a sultry picture of a Japanese AV star while boosting the title “Organ Orgasm” does that. Turns out it was BoostDah of Funkafric & BoostDah fame that had released an album under his own name. The more I figured out about the album, the more curious I became of how it had been conceived. Via Beatball Records I was able to ask Lim Ji Hoon a few questions over email.
Can you please start by introducing yourself?
I’m Lim Ji-Hoon and I play Hammond Organ.
I’ve released few albums as a member of Asoto Union and Funkafric Booster. Now I play with Funkafric & BoostDah–BoostDah is my alias.
How did you end up playing organ?
I’ve played keyboards, drums and done composing, arrangements, producing. In order to expand my musical capability, I bought an organ and have taught myself since 2003.
When did you decide to make a solo album?
In 2006 I decided to make a Hammond Organ album and released One with Funkafric Booster. It was recorded it one take at Pyung Hwa Da Bang in Itaewon. The album won the best R&B album category at the Korean Music Awards 2007.
I played New Orleans funk, African funk and Reggae on One. It was a valuable experience for me but I needed another musical challenge soon. The more I experimented with various things, the more I tried to find ‘more Korea feeling’.
In 2010 I started to arrange 60’s and 70’s soul jazz music with a Korean sensibility. The 60’s/70’s Seoul music influenced me very much. But that year when the work was almost finished I lost all the recording data, so Organ Orgasm wasn’t released until 2 years later in December 2011.
How did you pick the songs for Organ Orgasm?
I often play Mulatu Astatke in my performances because the scale of the songs is almost the same as in Korean trot music. I hope the listeners enjoy new points of view from the arrangement I tried for those songs.
The other songs are soul jazz music that young people enjoyed in 1960’s and 70’s. I tried to give some familiar enjoyment in that song.
Another song is “연안부두” sung by Kim Trio. This song is a very attractive song that mixes 70’s soul music with trot music excellently. I didn’t re-arrange this song.
Organ Orgasm is like budae jjigae that has mixed various unfamiliar ingredients and boiled with Hammond Organ. Some strange nuances like the Korean food that is budae jjigae is the listening point of this album.
In budae jjigae–somthing dark & even romantic in modern Korean history, like a mixture of rubbish from the US army base and korean food and boiled together, so fattening an age in directly after the Korean war–is melted.
Just enjoy please..
Come Saturday February 25th at 8 o’clock there’ll be a real Hammond Organ show with Lim Ji Hoon taking place at Café Veloso. Since a Hammond B3 Organ is very difficult to move it’s a rare occasion and something I myself would be hard pressed to miss had I actually been in Seoul. Click the flyer to the right for details.
If you have yet to get a feeling for the sound of Lim Ji Hoon, check out this music video for “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho” from the new album: