During my visit to Korea last year I ended up going to the Love Camp festival. Altogether it was a great evening with plenty of good music, and among many other bands I got to see MukimukiManmansu for the first time. It took a while for them to get started, but when they did it was something totally different. With their youth and energy their performance reminded me of Sweden’s Little Marbles, but MukimukiManmansu took it one step further screaming and shouting seemingly without any inhibitions. Odd, but strangely liberating. I wanted to learn more about the two girls right away, but instead ended up watching the performances that followed…
Since then I’ve checked MukimukiManmansu out occasionally on YouTube, waiting for more. A couple of weeks ago I was very happy to learn that they were about to release their first album on Beatball Records. Not only had they gotten their music onto one of the biggest indie labels in Korea, but they also got it produced by Dalpalan, who has got his place in Korean rock and indie history from both H20 and PiPi Band alongside many other ventures. Using the album release as an excuse I was finally able to learn a bit more through a few questions with comprehensive answers.
What is MukimukiManmansu?
It’s our names combined together. Muki plays the janggu, and Mansu plays the guitar. Muki and Mansu! Not difficult, don’t overthink it.
Your style is very unique. How would you yourself describe it?
Supranational intelligent punk sound. I’d say, “I can’t cope with the sound I make either!” This was no intention but as we shouted and screamed following our temper, this kind of stuff just came out.
How was it to work with Dalpalan?
He treated us to lots of delicious jajangmyeon. During the month we were recording, we went to practically every Chinese restaurant around Dalpalan’s studio.
As we were working on the album we played around with a modified piano, electronic drums and bass guitar which were at the studio. Some tracks went through a different interpretation by Dalpalan, the producer, as we recorded; we think his comments were correct. We and him got along well and we didn’t really get any stress until the end.
What can you tell us about 2012?
It’s a gift from MukimukiManmansu for the year 2012. We think of the album as a souvenir photo, containing our time together. (We graduate together in late 2012)
We enjoyed making it, we hope people will enjoy listening to it too.
Jajangmyeon is my favorite!
Same day as the album came out came the music video for “Andromeda”:
I love it. And there’s something very empowering in just getting into this one particular song, whether singing and shouting along or just lip syncing franticly.
Simon & Martina of Eat Your Kimchi picked the video up for their indie playlist a couple of weeks ago, claiming MukimukiManmansu to be the best band name ever, invoking the meaning of “destroyer of ponies” with its “perfect balance of aggression and cuteness”.
Give the video a look, a second one if you’ve seen it already, and if you like what you hear and see also check out Korean Indie’s MukimukiManmansu 2012 playlist for more awesomeness. And of course pick up their album. It’s gotta be worth it.