OHCHILL

The two rock categories (Best Rock Album and Best Rock Song) feature some names that will be familiar to Platform Magazine readers. OHCHILL got the nod for both of these awards with their album The Burning City and the song Something Wrong (which ranked highly in our top songs of the year list) receiving nominations.

"It's a great feeling," the band told us. "This year marks our 10th anniversary as a band, so it's like getting a 10th anniversary present, so we're very grateful! I don't think we'll be hungry for a while if we win the award." - platform-magazine by JAMIE FINN

Best Rock Song
‘soju & soul’ – OVerdrive Philosophy
‘Ghost Writers’ – Seoul Electronic Band
‘ALL IN’ – Gate Flowers
‘I’m blues man’ – zeonpansansa
<‘Something’s Wrong’ – OHCHILL>

Best Rock Album
‘Animal’ – THORNAPPLE
‘12가지 말들’ – bongjeingan
‘2/4분기 실적보고서’ – zeonpansansa
<‘The Burning City’ – OHCHILL>
‘Yellow Supernova Remnant’ – TOUCHED
‘64 see me’ – OVerdrive Philosophy - www.nme.com

The Burning City is OHCHILL, but it’s not OHCHILL. Like “After” states, “over there something good, over there something bad,” OHCHILL isn’t the same duo that it started as. And while I think another Oh, Two Animals full length would have been perfectly fine, I’m very happy that they’ve moved into a new space. The 10 tracks are all branches from the duo’s original core.

Listening to OHCHILL again after a long break, I rediscovered why I liked them so much. But also hearing how they’re grown is inspiring. They could have copied and pasted another great second album, but this set of songs was unexpected. It came late in 2023, but The Burning City is easily in my top three albums of the year. - koreanindie by Chris P

OHCHILL are particularly keen to inspire some hope in their fellow musicians and artists in Korea. “The indie scene in Korea is in a really bad state right now,” explains Jun. “So many bands are quitting and it makes people really down.” Now more than ever, artists everywhere are forced to make income through work outside of their creative realms. For bands like OHCHILL, outfits such as Save Our Stages have been a golden ticket to survival. Through Save Our Stages, they have done online gigs and been part of a compilation album with other Korean artists. “They give bands like us a chance to breathe,” says Jun. However, their gratitude for such opportunities is weighed down by a melancholy acknowledgement that online performances cannot replicate the live experience for neither fans nor artists. “It’s way more fun to do gigs face to face because we don’t get that energy transfer from the audience during online gigs,” says Snow. Jun agrees, “When we do offline gigs, we can meet people in real life, that’s fun.” - platform-magazine by ELLA KAILL

Best Rock Album

The Bowls – “If We Live Without Romance”
Goonam – “Moraenae Fantasy”
Black Hole – “EVOLUTION”

Jambinai – “ONDA”
National Pigeon Unity – “999”

Best Rock Song

Jambinai – “ONDA”
National Pigeon Unity – “Same Same”
SONIC STONES – “Chocolate Milk”
SE SO NEON – “Go Back”
- www.soompi.com

Let’s get this out front first. Oh, Two Animals is incredible. Since their first release, playing, likely, hundreds of shows, and experiencing whatever they went through, OHCHILL has grown up as a band. While still focused on their alternative and garage rock style, this album feels like a more confident and mature band. The recording still contains the grittiness and power that’s always been present, but everything seems tighter.

OHCHILL’s return with a new album is welcome. The pair have an incredible musical compatibility. They feed off each other. Having seen them live one, it was one of the best shows I’ve seen in terms of just energy and enjoying performing. Oh, Two Animals might be coming in the last quarter of 2019, but it’s definitely one of the best albums of this year. - koreanindie by Chris P

“Charged with a ferocious amount of energy, South Korean pair 57 are renowned for their supercharged live shows. They combine to make thunderous, neck breaking tracks as demonstrated on their self-titled EP 57. If there is one way to blast away the cobwebs from Saturday’s late night antics, this is it.” - Gigwise

“Their energy on stage was captivating and made the audience headbang and swing from one side to the other” - Sumgyeojingem

An album release from OHCHILL has a unique way of bending genres and blending in indie rock with an underground alternative 90s soundscape, all the while bringing in elements of vast and open undertones that at times can send you a drift and fuzz tone garage Rock that explodes with character and intensity.

This album in captures certain feelings and sounds that have sort of been missing in rock music for a bit and the record brought me joy and I think it will for anyone who grew up in a certain time. And loves bands from the early to mid 90s and even the early 2000s for that matter. - RAGMAG