10ofthebest: Korean indie drummers
Written by Marie Joncquez (@mariejoncquez)
Is there any sight more beautiful than someone playing the drums? All that physical power entirely contained, put at the service of the greatest precision—it’s magnificent. It makes me wish that drummers took a more central role in a band’s visuals. Here, we’ve selected 10 of our favourite drummers from Korea’s indie music scene. It’s by no means an exhaustive list, but a selection of some of the best ones.
Shin Dong-gyu (Wave To Earth)
From the band Wave To Earth, I present to you Shin Dong-gyu, who I call the effusive technician. His playing is constantly inventive, generous, delicate, creative, surprising, and so sentimental. It is incredible. I mean, just listen to this. He is a drummer who plays with his heart.
Kim Kyung-bae (The Poles)
From the band The Poles, here is Kim Kyung-bae, my brave lumberjack. He hacks through the brambles without ever faltering to reach the clearing. It is wonderful. I feel like Sleeping Beauty watching him come to rescue me every time I hear this song!
Seo Kyung-soo (Mandong and Fish Dish)
My favourite of them all, the great Seo Kyung-soo, the master of the snare drum and the offbeat. What inventiveness! What rawness in the sound, rendered as close as possible to the timbre! It is inexhaustible. His snare yields an inimitable sound; he strikes it, rubs it, bangs it, caresses it… His playing, of great sensuality, is also very cerebral. He is a drummer who plays with his body but above all with his brain.
Kim Geon-jae (Silica Gel and Shirakami Woods)
From the band Silica Gel, I present to you Kim Geon-jae, whom I call the splashing machine gun. His playing rolls like thunder, holds firm without cracking, bounces, and splashes! He is a drummer of great physical power who makes the strokes seem to rebound with ease, playing with finesse and joie de vivre. He is unstoppable.
Jeon Ji-hwan (Pipe Lips)
He plays with a rigour and an almost martial precision, blended with an inimitable detachment. His demanding and serious playing deploys a sovereign strike and seems imperturbable in the face of the chaos of the world.
Lee Kang-san (Hwanho)
His motionless posture, his back very straight, gives a visual impression of rigidity that contrasts with the nuance of his striking power. He hits hard, but it is better stay the course, to better support the others. He gives the impression that one can always count on him. He plays with morality.
Lee Seung-soo (with Park So-eun)
Here is a drummer who takes your hand and takes you running in the wind along musical paths. His light and energetic playing is full of adolescent spirit and generosity. He can shift from the melancholic softness of folk-pop to the rawer energy of indie rock.
Jeon Kyung-joon (Dasutt)
His playing, of a metronomic restraint, establishes a nonchalant and organic sway. He never seeks to show off, preferring to sculpt the silence and the rhythm to let the melodies breathe.
Park Jun-young (Noise Between The Lines)
His solid and structured playing perfectly supports the melancholic languor of the band’s songs, sometimes with a necessary contrast of edginess to hold it all together. When one feels like drifting away and letting sadness take over, his drumming acts as a backbone, a remedy against dissolution.
Kim Hyung-gyun (Bulgogi Disco and Obangsingwa)
From the bands Bulgogi Disco and Obangsingwa, Kim Hyung-gyun is an architect of the groove. Energetic and funky, he deploys a joyful and bouncy playing style that makes any structure immediately groovy. He does not just play the drums; he builds an unshakable foundation upon which everything else can blossom.