THE TWO KOREAS: A brief history thereof
First things first: yes, there are actually five of them and, no, none of them are Korean. But like their national namesakes, Toronto’s Two Koreas are a band divided, by the desire to enlighten the mind while bruising the body, and by the urge to both make the kids dance and give them a stern slap on the wrist for being such disrespectful little gits in silly, skinny trousers.
Their stock and trade is electric jangular beat muzik: a retro/futurist amalgam of ’60s proto-punk garage-rock primitivism, ’70s Krautrock minimalism and ’80s post-punk dynamism (but with little actual punk rock — they love their parents too much). To date, their recorded output has been distributed in three rations: the lovably lo-fi debut Main Plates and Classic Pies (2005), the more authoritative and heavily rotated “Altruists” (2007) and the vinyl/digital-only Sessions EP (2008), a compilation of new and renewed material culled from recordings made for XM Satellite Radio station The Verge.
Their dissemination efforts have been greatly assisted by performances alongside A Place to Bury Strangers, Love Is All, Electrelane, The Ponys, Metric, the Constantines, Shout Out Out Out Out, 120 Days, Death from Above 1979 and, most recently, Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg of Pavement, who joined The Two Koreas onstage at the Sessions EP release show. In 2007, The Two Koreas were nominated were for two CBC Radio 3 Bucky Awards — in the two most important categories, Best Bassline and Best Lyric — while 2008 found them in contention for the $25,000 Best Artists prize at the inaugural Verge Music Awards. They did not win, but if they had, they would've purchased a lot of tea, some nice sweaters and perhaps a bar of soap you can see through.
With most bands, my appreciation for their music diminishes upon repeated listening. I start to notice how predictable the chords are, the shallowness of the lyrics, the annoying repetition of lame hooks, etc. So, I’m pleased to find that The Two Koreas music grows on me favourably with repeated listening! Well done, gentlemen.
Nice mention of the El Mocambo show on Exclaim online 'Toronto’s editorial-heavy Two Koreas, have done plenty of work honing and droning their sound into an ardent post-punk machine, to the point where you forget they were journalists before musicians'
What Lonely Vagabond said - lol. IndieCan Radio looks forward to bringing The Two Koreas to our airwaves soon - stay tuned.
This week at IndieCan Radio: The Dunes FINALLY drop "Subject to Change" to critical acclaim, IndieCan BigSchmoozes our asses off, + IndieCan Radio looks at new releasing making a statement so far in '09.
The Two Koreas Our EP WHO I AM is now available on iTunes. It features the title track Who I Am along with 4 other great songs. Stoner Nation, Mi Ameera, The Sinner and Told Ya.
That was a great set at The Neutral. Speed-freak guitar-fuzz, a droning vox, rippin' grooves, and razor-sharp rhythms. An energy-driven ride that combines the mindbending grooves of early Stereolab and The Velvet Underground, with Detroit garage-punk and the spikey-assaults of The Fall. A brash, raucous rock and roll work-out.
Hey guys, just listened to your tracks... great stuff!. This is Steve Krasz from EASY SLEEZY inviting you to check out our myspace, Please let us know what you think.
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