Randomness #3

Remember how last week I was making excuses about not blogging because my husband and I had started to look for an apartment? It’ll likely be many years before I can use that excuse again as we bought our first apartment (we’ve been renting until now) a few days ago. It was very sudden–a week exactly from when we first sat down to look for apartments online till when we signed the contract–but even though, or more likely because, we should’ve spent a lot more time preparing this big step in our lives I’m currently very, very happy with the outcome.

I’m also proud to say that it has been one week since I last listened to power metal. The Spotify playlist I put together for the Combative Post interview contributed, but the recommendations I got from a good friend after asking for help was what really got me through it. So this week I’ve been listening primarily to Dope, The Dillinger Escape Plan and other somewhat heavy music.

This week I randomly came across Messgram, that with the debut EP from April 8 fit well in with everything else that I listened to over the past week. What really caught my attention was the cover of Orange Caramel‘s “Catallena” that I shared on the Indieful ROK Facebook page as soon as I’ve watched the video a first time. I’d estimate Orange Caramel to be one of the most popular idol groups among Korean indie musicians and since I have a keen eye (& ear) to them myself this cover was all I needed to decide I need to keep up with Messgram’s activities from now on.

 

In other music, this weekend I grabbed a couple of CDs on random before getting in the car to my parents. I’ll get to my relation to CDs with time, so for now suffice it to say that nowadays I rarely take the opportunity to listen to any so even though both releases are sort of old they were new to my ears.

We started with Sasquatch‘s Strange Season that I’m happy to say was nowhere near as addictive as debut album Utopia. That’s not to say that Strange Season isn’t worth more of my or your time, just that it took me something like a month for me to stop listening to Utopia and I can’t invest that much in a new album right now. It was a pleasant enough EP, but just as I had been forewarned it didn’t strike the same nostalgic keys as its predecessor and had more of an electronic direction which fortunately doesn’t work out as well for me. I’d still very much recommend others to check it out though, especially if you haven’t heard anything from Sasquatch previously.

 
The second CD was the 특별시부산 compilation. As my Korean music listening is usually quite Seoul-centered, I make a point of picking up this sort of release whenever I can find it. This particular compilation from Busan primarily features artists that already have some name recognition outside of their hometown, but was quite the treat nevertheless. Altogether it’s very punk–in music style or just to the lyrics–further enforcing my impression that Busan is and has always been more of a punk city. It made for a very amusing listen with some sing-along parts. Kim Il Du‘s “똥싸고 앉아있네” became a favorite right then and there. Perfect album for a car ride.

 

Returning to my excuses from last week for not blogging where I mentioned planning some trips, this coming week I’ll be spending mostly on a road trip in northern Italy so updates may be sparse while it lasts. Probably this will be a good time to introduce one of my old posts from another site… I would also really like to write something about all the bands coming to Europe this spring–3rd Line Butterfly already in a few days–but until I get that done you can check out the many, many dates over at Korean rock is real.

2 Comments Randomness #3

    1. Anna

      Thank you~! Should’ve put more thought into where to put my CD collection before making the final decision, but am anyway super excited about the whole thing ^^

      Reply

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