After a yearlong hiatus, boy band Beast has returned as a five-member group with its third full studio album “Highlight” released on Monday. This marks the group’s return to the spotlight after one of its members Jang Hyun-seung left the band in April to pursue a solo career.  Within one day of the album’s release, its lead track “Ribbon” topped eight domestic music charts, including MelOn, Mnet, Bugs, Olleh Music, Naver Music, Soribada, Genie and Monkey3. The rhythm and blues tune “Ribbon” is a

An association of indie record shop owners and their supporters protested in Hannam-dong on Sunday, accusing a new large music store of price dumping, monopolizing music tastes and hurting the livelihood of small businesses.The target of the protest was Vinyl & Plastic, a massive two-story establishment which opened on June 10. The store has over 4,000 vinyl records and 8,000 CDs on sale, and turntables on which customers can listen to music. It is run by Hyundai Card, a credit card company that

Someday Festival 2016 revealed Jang Beom-june, lead singer of Korean indie band Busker Busker, as the last in the second round of the festival’s lineup Saturday.   The organizers announced all but one musician from the festival’s second-round lineup on June 27, creating buzz as to who the final artist might be. The third-round lineup will be released shortly via Someday Festival 2016’s official social media accounts, and fans can expect to see Korea’s top singer-songwriters on the upcoming list,

Korean singer Se7en will release a new rhythm and blues tune titled “I’m Good” on Thursday, announced his management agency Eleven9 Entertainment on Monday.To gear up for his return after a 3-year hiatus, Eleven9 Entertainment released teaser images via Se7en’s official social media accounts Monday morning.  Written and composed by Se7en, “I’m Good” is the musician‘s first release in Korea since his 2013 hit “Thank U.” Through the new single, the artist hopes to relay a message of deep appreciat

DJ Shadow“The Mountain Will Fall”Mass Appeal RecordsDJ Shadow set a new standard for the art of sample-based composition with his auspicious 1996 debut album, “Endtroducing.” It was an album that turned snippets of obscure recordings into aural journeys, as if Shadow were orchestrating a perfectly sequenced dream, creating order out of randomness.That everything Shadow, aka Josh Davis, has created since will be measured against his 20-year-old masterpiece is a daunting prospect, but he continues

In line with Big Bang’s 10th anniversary since its debut, the K-pop group will be holding the event “BIG BANG The Exhibition A to Z.”Scheduled to open in August, the exhibition will showcase the boy band’s 10-year career from its members’ perspectives. It will include photos, videos, costumes, music and other elements, to illustrate the past, present and future of Big Bang, said the group’s management agency YG Entertainment in a press release.   A documentary-style film about the group was also

Deerhood“The Magic”(Polyvinyl)There are moments on “The Magic” (Polyvinyl) when Deerhoof sounds simply giddy.“Cappuccino! Macchiato! Affogato! Cortado!” bassist Satomi Matsuzaki enthusiastically sings in “Kafe Mania!” over burbling synthesizers and roaring guitars. She’s seriously giving props to coffee drinks -- well, as seriously as you can do such a thing.It sums up the anything-goes vibe of Deerhoof’s 14th album, seemingly a response to the more refined songs of the San Francisco quartet’s r

The Avett Brothers“True Sadness”(Republic)For their ninth album, Seth and Scott Avett -- better known as The Avett Brothers -- basically decided to get real.In a letter to fans announcing the arrival of “True Sadness” (Republic), Seth Avett writes about removing the lens that would “present themselves in the most favorable light possible” and crafting an album “as multidimensional as its makers.”They succeeded. The Avett Brothers’ gorgeous harmonies remain intact, but they are deployed in a far

Police questioned Park Yoo-chun of K-pop group JYJ for eight hours on Thursday evening regarding a series of assault complaints that have been filed against him in the past three weeks. “I’m sorry to have upset many people. I will comply diligently with police inquiries,” Park told reporters before going in for questioning at Gangnam Police Station on Thursday at around 6:30 p.m.Police said they questioned Park on whether coercion was involved in his sexual relations with the four complainants i

“My Hero,” the 21st song to be introduced on S.M. Entertainment’s digital music channel Station, is set to be released at midnight on Thursday, the agency announced. The intention of the song is to cheer on the Korean national team at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. To support the competitors, K-pop singers, producers, a pianist and former members of the national team participated in the effort.“My Hero” was written and composed by Korea’s top songwriter and producer Cho Yeong-su, wi

Gearing up for the release of its first full studio album, six-member K-pop group GFriend released teaser photos to excite fans Wednesday night.This will be the group’s first full album since its debut in January 2015. The images released via GFriend’s official Twitter and Instagram pages show the members smiling in colorful outfits, portraying a different concept from their signature schoolgirl look in an effort to embody the two underlying themes of the new “LOL” album: “Laughing out Loud” and

Korean boy band BigBang will hold a special concert to celebrate its 10th anniversary in August, the group's agency said on Wednesday. The five-member hit K-pop group will stage "BigBang10 the Concert - 0.TO.10" at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Aug. 20, according to YG Entertainment. (YG Entertainment)The concert will revolve around the musical chronicle of BigBang, from its debut in 2006 to present. "The concert will be a special opportunity to enjoy BigBang's greatest hits, early to recent, o

Zion. T and KUSH dominated domestic music charts with their latest works “Knock” and “Machine Gun,” released at midnight on Tuesday.Within eight hours of release, “Knock” topped eight domestic music charts, including MelOn, Mnet, Bugs, Olleh Music, Naver Music, Soribada, Genie and Monkey3, while “Machine Gun” followed on the charts at either No. 2 or No. 3.  “Knock” is a single from Zion. T that boasts honest lyrics and an emotional melody, while “Machine Gun” is the newest collaboration from Zi

All-female K-pop quartet Sistar is garnering international popularity with their fourth EP, “Mol-a-ae,” released last Tuesday. As of Wednesday morning, Sistar was the only K-pop group to appear on the Billboard World Albums Chart, currently sitting at No. 7. The chart provides a weekly compilation of top-selling folk music albums in and out of the U.S. The group is also gaining attention from Chinese fans. The music video for lead track “I Like That” is topping K-pop charts this week on QQ Music

Taeyeon of Girls’ Generation topped domestic music charts with “Why,” released at midnight on Monday.By Tuesday morning, the title track off her second EP had topped six domestic music charts: Mnet, Genie, Bugs, Naver Music, Olleh Music, Soribada. “Why,” a trendy pop tune composed by world-class producing team LDN Noise, presents a unique sound infused with rhythm and blues and electronic dance music, said the singer’s agency S.M. Entertainment.By Monday, more than 100,000 albums had been preord