Free Electric State

Of all the various "most-livable" or noteworthy areas of this country to the south of our little Queen City, only one sparks our interest enough to consider an extended visit (relocation) for its music scene alone and today's featured artist is a lovely new ingredient in the mixture we've only just discovered down in the Triangle. Free Electric State is a shoegaze-influenced quartet consisting of musicians Shirlé Hale (vocals, bass), David Koslowski (guitar, vocals), Nick Williams (guitar, vocals) and Tony Stiglitz (drums) who are based in Durham, North Carolina. The band is currently recording a debut full-length album titled Caress, which will be released through local label Churchkey Records in April 2010, and they were kind enough to send a demo track for our previewing pleasure. If the song Hawks, finished or not, is any indication of what can be expected from the balance of music contained within this upcoming LP, consider us new fans and look for a full review of Caress early on next year. Listen up.

MP3: Hawks (demo)

**Note: Since we weren't exactly clever enough to figure out what Sessions at Studio B was all about, a jump ahead to the following live performance date is in order as Free Electric State takes the stage at Raleigh venue Slim's Downtown Distillery on December 4. Local folks now have plenty of time to adjust their schedules for the event. For additional information and music, pay a visit to the FES MySpace page as well as the FES ReverbNation profile. It's all very much worth a bit of your time.**

MML Update: Herr Nilsson

Herr Nilsson is a Bergen, Norway-based musical troupe who easily won our ears with their most recent pair of EP releases in Today Is My Birthday which was happily featured here in October 2008 and No Man Is Iceland as a follow up in December 2008. Almost exactly one year later, we have some wonderful news and an excellent new song to share. Long Live Herr Nilsson, the band's third full length album since 2005, was just completed and is set for a release date that will soon be disclosed. We are fortunate enough to have received the first single belonging to this new album and can only hope the balance of music is even half this good. From warm and simple beginnings that build into an understated festival of brass accompaniment, Traffic Jams easily allows our blushing little love-fest with this band to continue. Have a listen... please.

MP3: Traffic Jams

Additional music can be found on the Herr Nilsson MySpace page and vocalist/guitarist Terje from the band was nice enough to remind us of the Herr Nilsson blog where more information exists for the the upcoming album. If that were not enough, we also have a YouTube video for Traffic Jams. Enjoy!

KC Quilty

In early 2008, our travels landed us just across the Ohio River in a smoke-filled Kentucky hotel room the night before an ever-evolving troupe of NYC lovelies known as Le Rug were to perform at a local Cincinnati venue. It was there we met multi-instrumentalist Julian Fader who happened to be half of the percussion duo for this particular music collective at the time. A month later, we ended up featuring Julian's outstanding solo music [February 2008 review + download] and are now fortunate enough to have another update for you. KC Quilty is the Brooklyn, New York based trio of Sadie Dupuis (guitar, voice), appropriately named Ethan Bassford (bass) and of course Julian Fader on drums. Aside from various regional live performance dates, the band is currently putting a few finishing touches on their debut album, titled Clover/Coriander, which will be released through Julian's own label Cooling Pie Records towards the end of 2009. Hopefully? After having an extended listen to the new tracks that were sent our way, we can easily recommend paying attention to this young music project. Good and noisy guitar rock balanced by lovely female vocals guiding the course always piques our interest and this time we have a telling new preview to share.

MP3: Supernova

*Please Note:* In order to properly produce, manufacture and distribute physical copies of the upcoming album Clover/Coriander, the band has created a Kickstarter Page complete with a bashful yet instructional video on how to donate funds for the cause. What do you get in return? We wondered the same thing. There is a Cooling Pie Records Blog entry that details the ridiculously kind lengths this band is willing to go in order to gain your support... by dollar amount in case you hadn't guessed, and I believe they are dead serious about the $2000 range.

Plastic People

Our series of featured artists from Seoul, South Korea based label Electric Muse is unfortunately coming to its conclusion but, before our virtual music flight departs Incheon, we've saved an outstanding duo to leave your ears humming along. Plastic People is the long time music project of Min Kyu Kim (guitar, vocals, programming), who happens to have founded Electric Muse in 2006, and Ju Mi Yoon (vocals, keyboard). After a self titled debut EP in 2002, these two musicians released a pair of albums in Songbags Of The Plastic People (2003) and Folk Ya! (2006) followed by another EP and eventually the music we find ourselves with today. Snap is the title of their latest full-length offering which was made available earlier this year. A listen to the lead track for you...

MP3: Under The Shadow



For those who are hopefully already listening, Snap is a collection of 12 beautifully understated indie-rock songs that seem to draw influences ranging from later Yo La Tengo to early Homestead Records days with a slight hint of shoegaze goodness threaded into some of our favourite selections for good measure. For additional listening and information, please visit the Plastic People MySpace page and also be sure to check out an upcoming live performance as they take the stage, along with friends, October 25 at an annual Seoul event known as Grand Mint Festival. Another lovely song from Snap...

MP3: History

*Bonus* From the 2006 album Folk Ya!
MP3: The End Of Summer

Many thank-you-type love ramblings are in order for the folks at Electric Muse for sending us a box full of amazing music to share with our listeners over the past few weeks. We would also like to give a heads up on a blog that has been following our posts all the while. Indieful Rok is an outstanding resource for all new music from Korea and Korean artists around the world. We highly recommend bookmarking them for your daily music travels. Until our next visit.... 감사합니다 xoxo Casey & Michelle

Dringe Augh: Individually Wrapped EP

Our unintentionally sparse and drawn-out coverage of various releases from the Electric Muse label will be in the books by the end of this week, but not before we conclude our visit to what we have discovered to be an amazing music scene within Seoul, South Korea. The first of our last three musical entries, which deserves immediate listening attention, is British folk-influenced vocalist/acoustic guitarist Dringe Augh who began writing, recording and performing solo music in 2001. After producing and self-releasing his debut EP Milky Way as well as several demos along the way, Dringe Augh has a new collection of 7 songs in an EP titled Individually Wrapped that was made available through Electric Muse earlier this year. Since we are not well versed in acoustic folk and usually try to avoid describing music as any type of texture, landscape or ice cream flavor (distressed wood, beach at dusk, mint chocolate chip) we will simply explain the result of our listening experience as involving an extended gaze through the windows that keep this little office space warm... very warm. Lovely.

If you find the female vocal accompaniment particularly striking, the woman responsible is Eujie Song of local Seoul duo Sogyumo Acacia Band. Have a listen...

MP3: Tutelar (featuring Eunjie Song)

Vidulgi Ooyoo: Aero

After spending the better portion of our week away from updating MML, the opportunity to revisit Vidulgi Ooyoo who we first featured here almost exactly one year ago. [October 2008 review + details + music] is once again a treat for the ears. Thanks to our friends at Korean label Electric Muse, our hot little hands are now in possession of the debut, full-length release Aero we spoke about last year. However belated this secondary recommendation happens to be, please take time to explore what we consider a compulsory audio experience for those in need of a proper shoegaze fix. Low volume for daydreaming or computer speakers at full force and the slow building tension will not fail to wash you out to sea... over and over again.

MP3: Siren

Vidulgi Ooyoo MySpace
Vidulgi Ooyoo Cyworld
Electric Muse Last FM

Starry Eyed: Sweet Night

As a continuation of our little love-fest with Korean label Electric Muse, we once again reach back into their archives for music that was released in 2008. As a follow up to the debut album Lo-Fi Dancing Star in 2005, Seoul-based trio Starry-Eyed completed their sophomore offering, titled Sweet Night, just this past year. The listening experience contained within these twelve tracks is not one of a predictable or even consistent nature by any measure. Instead, Starry-Eyed toys playfully with an endless supply of classic indie rock influences which seem to fall within a three year radius of 1992 by our best estimation... in this case, a very good thing. We've almost-randomly plucked a pair songs that should give our regular visitors a good indication of what to expect from the balance of lovely music belonging to Sweet Night. The first track featured, "Paprika", has an instant flavor of New Order, while "Nasa", an instrumental, builds slowly from its innocent beginnings into the scorching guitars we were perfectly in the mood for.

MP3: Paprika
MP3: Nasa

Orgeltanz: From The Cradle To The Grave

Another lazy Sunday is well underway and we have quite the departure from our usual content to share as a conclusion to the weekend. After spending the past few days taking in this particular celebration of international music, we can easily recommend today's featured artist and their most recent release. Before we get started, a brief excerpt from the press release and a song that deserves your immediate attention.

"Orgeltanz suggests their musical style by the name: orgel, the music box that plays music through a mechanical spring and tanz, meaning “dance” in German. The strain of a song that you hear on the street, and the swinging footsteps in line with the rhythm; when you take a break from the repetitive life and put a smile on your face, Orgeltanz’s music approaches, frolicking."

MP3: A Way To Get Free Champagne



Orgeltanz is the folk-minded five piece troupe of mostly acoustic musicians Marca Marco (accordion, vocals), MiOng (guitar), Angel (violin), Kkangile (percussion, vocals), Shoonguli (guitars, more) and DongWoo (contrabass, electric bass) who are based in Seoul, South Korea. Since their beginnings in 2005, the band has enlisted the visual accompaniment of belly dancer Eshe and have completed a full-length debut album, titled From The Cradle To The Grave, which was released through the Electric Muse label in 2008. The resulting listen to this collection of songs is a refreshing escape from the limitation in influence and sound we usually associate with the patronizing term "world music". The variation of moods and truly global representation of instrumentation we experienced within From The Cradle To The Grave could easily be at home in a busking environment on any street, in any city around the planet, while also providing the perfect soundtrack for daily listening from computer speakers at home. For additional information and music, visit the Orgeltanz MySpace page as well as the Electric Muse Last FM profile. Another lovely song from the debut album. Enjoy!

MP3: Sokdak Sokdak

Dabang Band: Last One EP

As was vaguely mentioned in our introduction to the multiple features we have planned from Korean label Electric Muse, not all of the catalogue being explored is comprised of recent releases... or even bands that still exist, for that matter. Today we have a couple of impressive indie rock songs that belong to a 2006 EP aptly titled Last One from the now defunct Jeonju, South Korea based four piece Dabang Band. After reading a dated press release on the band, it seems this was the last of three EPs that Dabang Band made available since their formation in 2002. The final lineup is listed as Myoung Jae Yi (vocals, guitars), Thai Iv (drums, backing vocals), Yoon Ho Sang (guitar, backing vocals) and Jung Sung Hwan (bass, backing vocals). We would seriously love to know what, if any, music projects each of these artists are currently involved with. Have a listen...

MP3: 45
MP3: It's A Lie

Atombook: Warm Hello From The Sun

It's been a long time coming, but we are now fortunate enough to dig into the catalogue of music that was sent to us by Korean label Electric Muse. To start things off, we've unwrapped the plastic from the first CD and found an amazing collection of 16 tracks that have kept our attention without a single song ignored in the listening process. From what information we've gathered, Atombook is currently a four-piece consisting of musicians simply listed as SP (guitar, vocals). Yeunbyul (synth, vocals), Sooyoung (bass) and Hankil (drums) who have been writing and recording music together since 2002. The most recent album, titled Warm Hello From The Sun, was released in 2008 and is brimming with the sweetness that is usually reserved for Swedish indie-pop bands while offering a perfect glimpse into the classic American folk music that seems to be an underlying influence throughout. There is additional information and music to be found on the Atombook MySpace page. Please have a listen to the following two songs that belong to Warm Hello From The Sun and be prepared to adore this band...

MP3: All The Ways To Find Nothing
MP3: Ice Cream (Magnapop influence?)

As an added bonus, we present a youtube video of the title track Warm Hello From The Sun... in love yet?