Electronica Music of Korea & Japan
Linked are my two articles on Entropy about electronic music from Japan and South Korea, including music from mus.hiba, Twomyung, Takako Minekawa, Ookoorookoo, Oh Hee Jung, Nobukazu Takemura, haihm and Humming Urban Stereo.
It’s perfect for all fans of k-indie, j-electro and eastronica in general from the 2000s and 2010s, along with current alternative and dance from Seoul, Korea. Fans of j-pop, k-pop and the Tokyo shibuya-kei scene from the 90s will all enjoy Humming Urban Stereo, who I’ve written about before on Medium.
That link is a guide to their best tracks and singles to date, a best of list that includes Easy Come Easy Go, Banana Shake, Rollercoaster, You That Day, their production of Maem Maem by Bebop, Let’s Stay Together, Hawaiian Couple (YMCK remix), their I, Tears remix for Shina-E’, Scully Doesn’t Know, and Abuse Girl. In the Entropy piece you can also hear XXXX from their mini-album of the same name.
Away from articles and into mixes, I’ve recently made this mix for Rhythm Passport featuring the likes of 75a, Kosmo Kat, LLLL, Pasocom Music Club, Foodman, Numeric SeeHearTer, Meuko Meuko, Bonjour Suzuki, Lolica Tonica, In the Blue Shirt and Koutei Camera Gal.
Utae features on that mix, along with this Metropolis piece looking at new female artists from Japan such as Zombie-Chang, KiWi, AOR, Faela, Sapphire Slows, Tentenko and Yakushimaru Experiment.
Tentenko also got featured on my ‘Japanese cyberpunk music’ article for Neon Dystopia, which also featured Momoiro Clover Z, BiS, and vintage Japanese electronica from Syoko, Koharu Kisaragi and Haroumi Hosono.
Vintage music also made up my 2 hour radio set for Ribbon Around a Bomb, with songs by D-Day, Akina Nakamori, Himegozen, Saeko Suzuki, Tamao Koike, Taeko Ohnuki, Aragon, Ichiko Hashimoto, Portable Rock, Dip in the Pool , Chakra, Mariko Fuji, Sandii, Miharu Koshi, Tolerance, Buffalo Daughter, Kahimi Karie, G-Schmitt, Tamao Ijima and Akiko Yano.
My most recent set was for NTS Radio, which featured Melon, Taxic, Brown Eyed Girls, Toshiyuki Yasuda and Masahiro Sugaya.
For my Soundcloud I made this mix featuring Mebae Miyahara, Jo Gap-Gyeong 조갑경, Psy-S, Jimmy Murakawa, Tsugutoshi Goto, Nobuyuki Shimizu + Ponta Unit, Soichi Terada, Joe Hisaishi, Aragon, Flat Face, Faye Wong and Hirokazu Tanaka vs. Yoshihiro Kunimoto.
In October 2017, UK magazine Long Live Vinyl featured this article of mine on 1980s Japanese music. The piece profiled Mariah’s Utakata no Hibi, Hosono’s Cochin Moon, Aragon, Through The Looking Glass by Midori Takada, the Akira OST, and Koharu Kisaragi and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Neo-Plan. Mentions are given to Midori Takada’s Lunar Cruise, Yasuaki Shimizu’s Kakashi, Inoyama Land, Chiemi Manabe, Chakra, Logic System, and Colored Music. Oh, and Solid State Survivor and Technodelic by YMO.
Finally, a look at the bingsu pop genre of Korean indie that came from the Hongdae scene in Seoul this decade. These two articles come courtesy of YAM Magazine, and feature Blueberry Muffin Recipe by Rururu, Ice Cream by Garina Project, Mango by CHEEZE, BORI with Hey! Rock Dee Jay, and Welcome To This Wonderful Mart by Myu Myu. Bingsu pop is a new genre of music from East Asia, a kind of millennial indie pop that’ll no doubt take off in China at some point.
- More East Asian music articles by Giacomo Lee:
Towa Tei — Brand Nu Emo (2017)
Listicle featuring Joanna Wang, Shiina Ringo and Meg (2013)
Listicle featuring JNS and Bye Bye Badman (2014)
Park Ha — Blow Spring Breeze (2014)
Article featuring Sunny Hill, Narsha, Miryo and Yoari (2013)
Radio interview with playlist picks by Neon Bunny and Casker (2016)
