Last night a Mixtape saved my life

(Pictured: Say Sue Me)

Beyond the ultra-colorful sheen of k-pop, beyond the hyper-competitive system that churns out boy- and girl-bands at a relentless pace as if it were nothing, Korea's independent music scene is a hotbed in full ferment, a broad-ranging melting pot that, starting out in Hongdae (the Seoul neighborhood near the prestigious art university) in the mid-Nineties, quickly spread across the whole peninsula, fostering the emergence of localized scenes as well as attempts to storm the charts.

Well aware that just twenty-two tracks can't contain the full breadth and true character of an entire nation, I'll still try to offer a hearty sample of the best Korea has produced in the last decade, a country now more than ever able to range successfully across the most varied genres. With bands and musicians who have often been discussed on the pages of Ondarock too, we go from the refined electropop of Aseul and Flash Flood Darlings to the full-bodied post-rock drifts of Jambinai and Wings Of The Isang.

Singer-songwriter fare? It couldn't be in better hands than those of artists like Minhwee Lee and Mid-Air Thief, melodic fantasists whose talents have earned them awards at the highly coveted Korean Music Awards. Indie-pop? Why not head over to Busan, where Say Sue Me rule the roost with their sparkling guitar melodies? Meanwhile, we couldn't leave out the genre's true godfathers, from those who watched the whole scene come to life, like Sister's Barbershop (captured here in their very last act before splitting up), to the rock delicacies of Black Skirts, before the chamber-pop spirit of Jannabi, who managed to grab the number-one spot on the Gaon Chart, dissolves all that frenzy into a romantic embrace. And if the more arty fringes have been missing, no problem: the exceptional compositional grain of Cacophony is all it takes to satisfy any lingering craving.

Annyeong hi gaseyo! Have a good trip!

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30/11/2025