Bandman (uhmg studio)
Yee Siyeon: The YouTube series Bandman, hosted by PEPPERTONES bassist Lee Jang-won on channel uhmg studio, takes a number of different approaches to introducing people to rock music and bands under the motto, “All music leads to bands.” The AI Jang-won Algorithm playlist is a curated list of music from Korean and international rock bands with a focus on K-pop artists who place heavy emphasis on instrumentation. Lee determines SEVENTEEN’s song “Run to you” to have a J-rock-influenced sound with memorable guitar riffs that makes the listener want to get up and run around, and recommends PEPPERTONES’ own song “Ready, Get Set, Go!” and its heart-racing beat and strong guitar melody, as well as the GIFT song called “Song Tae Sub.” In the “Ggoggorock” episode, which pays homage to the current affairs/true crime show popularly known as Ggoggomoo, he dives into the Oasis vs. Blur rivalry, and he also goes to Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival as an audience member to experience parts of their concert culture, such as flying flags and moshing. In the second episode of Bandman, Lee explains a running joke about how common it is to find bassists who made the bass guitar their instrument of choice because its relatively subtle sound fits in with their introverted personality, with Jaurim bassist Kim Jinman adding, “The best thing about it is not being noticed.” The show takes both broad and deep looks at the world of bands and rock, covering everything from K-pop and rock festivals to the personal views of the music makers. As Daybreak lead singer Lee Won Seok says, “I think there has to be active cooperation between different bands, including those at the forefront pulling things forward and those who can help push things ahead from behind, if we’re going to keep this renaissance from simply fizzling out.” As the interest in bands grows, having a new and entertaining show that connects with the music and the culture in an approachable way makes it feel like the wishes of all those people who love rock music are coming true. Here comes the band boom!

“I wanted to be” + “Wing” (Broccoli, you too?)
Na Wonyoung (music critic): A few months before the release of We all know we will fail, Broccoli, you too? appeared on the EBS Space 20th anniversary masterpiece series and summarized the band’s experience over the past 20 years as one of failure and, above all, rejection. Couldn’t we call that failure the failure of an attempt to “sing a song that has already ended again”? The band has sustained themselves across endless restarts, with countless rerecordings (No More Encore), rereleases (No More Encore), and reinterpretations (B-SIDE and The early tropical nights). Unlike the universality of “Ours of 2009” that felt as if it transcended time (and thus was idealized as a symbol of youth, comfort, or perhaps empathy for listeners), Broccoli you too?, who marked their Graduation from that time and has been in constant conversation with it since the 2010s, has come this far while being mindful all along of the passage of time. It’s like what Duk Won said on EBS Space: “The new lyrics I’m writing are ultimately questions about the future, answers to the past, and vice versa.”

This also ties in with the theme of this album: wearing out. The traces of a past left behind in worn-out time are also prominent in the tracks “A Band used to be young” and “Dandelion,” which stir up nostalgia by referencing real names, and in the lyrics, “Wherever you are in this crazy world.” However, in “I wanted to be” and “Wing,” which form one sweeping arc, the band chooses to slowly draw out imagery of a worn-out present. Starting with Jandi’s keyboard work, then moving on to Dong Hyeok’s electric guitar and Ryuji on drums, the song builds to a harmony encompassing the entire band, and the lyrics, which change between past and present tense, echo a flapping of wings that can never be stopped: “But still we still have to do it.” For some reason, it stirs up feelings of the cool resignation that filled their second studio album, perhaps because the two most straightforward rock songs on the album end with a vocal ensemble (which can also be heard at the very end of the album). Or maybe because the ensemble that pops up at the end of Graduation (“Don’t cry, if you fall asleep the morning sun will fly up”) comes to mind? Personally, I take a little hope from the fact that even this band, steadily worn down by the relentless pace of time as they have been, still tries and persists, “holding ground with some victories and just as many defeats.”