Korean Psych Vol. ?? Shin Jung Hyun

I've had this C.D. for more than a year now, but for some reason, never put it up. Meet Shin Jung Hyun, Korea's Godfather of Rock n' Roll. Since the 1960s, Hyun has been popular with everyone, from U.S. and U.N. forces protecting a post-war Korea to the small, but one-time fierce hippy/democratization movement that took its roots from the late 1960s to the 1980s in Korea under the oppressive rule of president Park Chung Hee. In a weird twist of irony, Hee at one time asked Hyun to write a song for him, but Hyun refused. Instead he wrote a song about the beauty of Korea in a slightly-confusing "fuck you" to the autocrat Hee. Later Hee became famous for being so bad and dictatorial, his own head of the Korean spying agency shot him.

Now-a-days the 70-something year-old Hyun plays occasionally around Korea, even after apparently retiring sometime last year. Here's his collaboration with his former band The Yup Juns, which is about as dirty, garagey and as pysch-ish as pretty much any record I've ever had. It's also about one of the best. Enjoy.

Korean Psych Music Vol. 2. - Run Way

Run Way is an exploitativly romantic group of late-70s psych rockers who sound like the demon seed of early Deep Purple with a fine helping of Italio and Franco thrown into the mix. Add the melodramatic nature of Hangul, the Korean language, and spice it up with some of the most hauntingly eerie faux-Hammond organs, and you have an absolutely beautiful homage to Korean Psych rock this side of Pyongyang.

Here.


Also:



A cool preview from good friend and fellow Noise fucker Lil' Ron Reirson sort-of chronicling and remixing parts of the 2005 noise scene that sort of blew up in Vegas thanks to the help of guys like Ron, Chad Martinez, who now runs an awesome electronic music show, Friday nights at KUNV and of course, perpetual best friend Ian McKenzie. Look hard for cameos by almost all of these people and maybe I'm in there, somewhere.

Also, Also.
-A

Korean Psych Music Vol. 1. - The Key Brothers

A new fun feature. A spattering of the strange Korean music I find around here that I rip and put up for your listening pleasure. The first spattering is a Korean psych rock group known as The Key Brothers. One of the best known and general 'best' of the widely coveted Korean Psych Rock era of the 1970-80s, The Key Brothers' melodramatic psych rock is a bastion of fuzzed out guitars, morose keyboards and the best of Korean wailing rock vocals I've heard thus far. A real musical masterpiece of drama, fuzzed out fun and the best 9-minute cover of 'Love Potion No. 9' you'll ever here. Listen to this when you're feeling the urge to either drop acid and cry about the love you lost, or when you're trying to cook fish. Either way, this album works.

Here.

-A