Apollo 18

While 2011 saw K-Pop continuing to gain greater worldwide recognition with homegrown idol groups like 2NE1 being crowned “Best New Band in the World” by MTV Iggy, the last 12 months have also seen the Korean underground scene making more international inroads. Already pegged as one of the country’s top indie acts, this year Seoul’s Apollo 18 stood out as the most ambitious as well.

Crowned “Rookie of the Year” at the 2010 Korean Music Awards, the hard-hitting rock trio of guitarist Choi Hyun Seok, bassist Kim Dae Inn and drummer Lee Sang Yun began 2011 by having their 2009 “The Blue Album” full-length listed on Soribada’s 100 best Korean albums of the 2000s. However while pleased with the domestic praise, Apollo 18 were more concerned with making their mark abroad.

In March, they embarked on their first American tour to perform at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas. The massive event featured 2,000 acts from 60 countries.

“We were actually accepted for SXSW 2010 but couldn’t go because of money issues,” says Choi. “It was disappointing to have to pass up such a good opportunity. This year we knew we needed to work harder so that we could have more chances to play high profile events like SXSW.”

Wanting to take full advantage of their time in the States, Apollo 18 scheduled other shows in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. Playing a total of 16 concerts in 13 days, despite their lack of downtime, they had no shortage of interesting experiences.

“Touring in the US was really fun,” says Choi. “During SXSW we played at a backyard party and the police came because we were too loud. It felt very ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ to us. We also played at a pizza shop during the festival. That was really cool, and is something that would never happen in Korea.”

“After SXSW we performed in other places. We played at a cool festival called The Valley of the Vapors in Arkansas. It’s held during school holidays so there were many teenagers there. They were very energetic. We also played a show in Oklahoma. The bartender was an older woman, and after we finished she said she loved our music and then flashed her breasts to us. We were really surprised!”

On the way back to Korea, the band stopped in Tokyo, Japan for a pair of gigs before finally returning home. Away for three weeks in total, was there anything they missed?

“Korean food,” laughs Choi. “We were excited to eat as much Western food as we could. We had some great Texas barbecue in Dallas and loved eating breakfast at places like [family restaurant chain] Denny’s, but most of the food was too salty for us. We stopped to look for kimchi whenever we drove past big supermarkets.”

This past July, Apollo 18 performed at Korea’s Jisan Valley Rock Festival and at Japan’s world-renowned Fuji Rock Festival. In August they turned in a fantastic headlining set at Jeju’s 8th annual Stepping Stone Festival and also appeared at Taiwan’s Beastie Rock Festival.

“Over the course of three weeks, we did four festivals in three countries,” says Choi. “We had an awesome time at all of them. It was a dream come true to be invited to Fuji Rock. Playing beside a beach on Jeju Island was amazing too.”

On Nov. 23, Apollo 18 released their new “Black” EP. Written in April and recorded in Tokyo in May, the four-song offering sees the group building upon their tightly woven blend of post-hardcore and post-rock with more intricate structures and even a brief pop melody on album opener “Sonic Boom.” Apollo 18’s strongest effort to date, the Web site Wakesidevision’s review of the EP proclaims, “‘Black’ is one of the best releases of 2011 and quite possibly the best of the year.”

Apollo 18 will begin work on their next full-length album in January, and hope to issue the disc before summer. Currently considering touring options for 2012, they plan to do everything possible to keep their profile skyrocketing.

“We have so many great me - The Jeju Weekly

Apollo 18 won me over early with their mindblowing post-rock debut EP and I'd anticipated every album they'd release then, and it became clear that the trio's albums and EPs each carried a kind of musical concept that was the focus of each release, whether the epic post-rock of the red EP/album, the explosive raging workout of the blue album, or the heady math rock of violet and, like the images on their covers, they combined to create a picture of Apollo 18 as a whole: a multi-faceted group that exists to melt faces with unapologetic, intense, powerful sonic experiences. So, with the trio moving on from their original three part concept, I didn't know what to expect with their follow-up. And then I laid ears on black and realized that the first three releases were an introduction to the groups sounds; their black album is the integration of those parts into an immense unified sound. Meet Apollo 18.

The new EP, graced with an appropriately space-like black cover, is suitably short with four tracks adding up to twenty minutes, but this is twenty minutes of everything you've seen from Apollo 18 before, except all together at once in an impressive harmony. "Sonic Boom", the opening track opens with an aggressive, almost punk-like machine gun guitar and rhythms before exploding into the screaming that marked the blue album, but with the kind of interesting guitar riffs used in violet and then suddenly going into an emo-like vocal section complete with pop backing "ooo ooo"'s, packed with muscular instrumental sections. With its intensity and diversity, it's a great opening to the EP.

The second track "Deadend" is the epic track of the bunch, starting with a post-rock sweep, the guitars and bass layering onto each other, sounding like an orchestra with a visceral bite, drums crashing and thundering when not creating a tension with a stream of hits for music to break through. And yet, the track creates some valleys of relatively tranquility to go with their stormy peaks, with its non-common time signature and more angular musical passages recalling elements of the violet EP.

The third track, "Corpse Flower" opens up with a dirty, aggressive sound, but then opens up for some spacey guitar works, channeled with some propulsive rhythm work and sounds like the kind of track that the band's name has been looking to match with. Add in some screaming and you have the most aggressive track on the EP. "Mur", the closing track is perhaps the most unique for this EP, with its minimal indie rock sound that recalls the work of Pedro the Lion and, in another first for the band, vocals front and center, sung with a Thom Yorke-influenced stretch and distortion, giving a nice peaceful close after three powerful tracks.

Apollo 18's black EP is the culmination of the band's work this far, creating a powerful, intense and perhaps all too brief sonic experience by integrating the lessons learned from their past three releases into one impressive twenty minute multi-faceted rock sojourn. And although it may be short, that's all that I needed for my appetite for their music to be whetted and I greatly anticipate the kind of sonic journey that we might see from the trio on their next full length album. After listening to the black EP, perhaps you will too. 9/10. - Init_Music

"It was a heated weekend of voting, but Apollo 18 rocked the polls and has been crowned MTV Iggy’s Artist of the Week!

The Seoul trio may share their name with a canceled lunar mission, but unlike their spaceship counterpart, these post-rockers have no worries taking off. With an epic sound, supported by distorted guitar swells and beautiful breakdowns, Apollo 18’s music takes listeners on a space odyssey." - MTV Iggy

It’s hard to say in what way, but ??? 18 is really evolving in their style of music and performance with each release. From The Blue Album to Red/Red Plus, the evolution of the band’s sound continues to become tighter and more focused.

In the case of Violet, the album is much more post rock and borders on the math-rock genre without a line of vocals on the release. With the move into the more technical genres, I feel that ??? 18 lost a little bit of their bite, but this is mainly because of my enjoyment of the Envy-esque tracks that were on the first two releases.

Violet is still impressive, the tonality of the songs, especially “Lucy,” are aggressive and the complexity of the songs is apparent. The “Pause” tracks again make their appearance and break the flow of the songs nicely like on the other releases.

After listening to ??? 18's discography, the evolution of the band could have gone a few different ways, but with this post rock/math-rock release, the future is bright for the band. - wakesidevision

I love this album. Apollo 18's The Blue Album is in my top 10 of the year. With The Blue Album, when I first heard it, I just thought that it was another Korean rock album that was copying the styles of United States hard rock bands. But on my second listen, I started hearing more indie and emo influences in the songs.

Iridescent Clouds is one of my favorite songs on the album, not only is the instrumentals powerful and multilayered, the vocal delivery is one of the best that I’ve heard on any Korean album.

A combination of screamo and carrying a similar delivery to Dennis Lyxzén of The Refused. The mid-track breakdown only culminates into a great closing third act on the four minute song.

While the “Pause” tracks are a bit throwaway, the rest of the songs on the album are great. While I maintain that Iridescent Clouds is the best song on the album, the other tracks on The Blue Album are still a step up from a lot of the other bands, Korean or otherwise. - wakesidevision

I was thoroughly impressed by Apollo 18's debut EP, being one of my favorite listens that entire year and it's stuck with me until now. When I heard that Apollo 18 was re-recording it and adding additional tracks, I was hesitant. How could they top such a perfect release? Would the additional tracks bloat the overall listen? I was concerned, but I wanted it anyway, so I bought it.

"Pause 00"'s quiet whispers were no indication of change, but the moment "Warm"'s tranquil guitars led into the explosive crescendo of aural goodness, all my fears were disquieted. This was indeed the red EP that I'd loved, but much more. In terms of the differences, the songs are largely the same, although the production is different--the original EP's production was wider and flatter, so the new album actually provides a sharper and more pointed experience in the recording and the mix. It's a subtle difference for those caught up in the roaring sonic blast of the songs, but it doesn't take a trained ear to hear the difference. The new recording and mix especially lend a hand to Seok's solo guitar wails but also provide for a little greater clarity overall and just a touch more punch.

One reason that fans might want to keep their old copies of the EP is that the EP contains a hidden sixth track, a short instrumental that doesn't get repeated on this album. Instead, we get four new tracks: the spacey and contemplative "Lame" and the post-rock anthem of "Emit" with a wonderful, even if incomprehensible vocal line. "Emit" leads well into "Time", where the vocals are distinctly mixed up front (and still unintelligible--like Sigur Ros, Apollo 18 uses vox as an instrument and not as a means of conveying lyrics) before the music blows up and thunders and strikes brightly. The new closing track, "Remit" is a calming acoustic guitar work with slight percussive flourish that eases you out of the crescendoing mountaintops of the album.

The red EP's development into an album really loses little (just the hidden track) and new tracks are definitely worth a listen, making this re-recording a worthwhile addition for fans of the band and the version to purchase for newcomers (although I don't think the original EP is even available anymore). It's just as epic, powerful, moving, tranquil and lovely as the original release. I remember, after listening to the EP, thinking that if the music could only just go on a little longer. I was worried that adding more tracks would diminish the impressive EP, but it turns out that my original desire was right. More red is better. Perhaps a double-album reissue in the future, Apollo 18? I'd buy that. 10/10. - Init_Music

Here in the United States, especially Memphis, music lovers are rarely treated to music from across the Pacific Ocean, but this Friday night, March 25th, 2011, a highly touted, award-winning band hailing from Seoul, Korea will be performing in midtown Memphis at an extremely unique venue known as Stash House. Apollo 18, an experimental, alternative rock group is comprised of ???KIM DAE INN on bass, ???CHOI HYUN SEOK on guitar, and ???LEE SANG YUN on drums. Listening to some of their music on their Facebook page, I have come to realize that no matter what geographic area these musicians are from, they absolutely rock. Very melodic, slow areas of some tracks quickly turn in to heavy, guitar and bass heavy shredding. Formed in 2008, these Korean rockers have been collecting awards such as being chosen by the Korean Content Agency as “Best Indie Musicians” at the Rookie Music Awards, “Best New Artist” at the Korean Music Awards, and won the grand prize award at the 2009 Hello Rookie Awards. They have gone on to release four albums, "Red" in February 2009, "Blue" in July 2009, a reissue of "Red" with an addition song, and "Violet", both in January 2010, and have toured extensively through Korea and the Far East. Making their first trip to the U.S. this month, they performed at a pre-party for the gigantic South-by-Southwest Festival in Austin, TX and are travelling through the mid-south tearing a path into Memphis and then onwards to the show the rest of the area what these awesome rockers have to offer.

Stash House is located in midtown Memphis at 32 N. Cooper, just north of Madison Ave. at the corner of Cooper and Court. These music lovers have opened their house up to the public and converted it into a legit venue for great rock shows. Show starts Friday night at 7pm with opening acts Sudden Organs, Fox Capone, and Gnarwal. Come dance, come party, come enjoy great music!

Continue reading on Examiner.com Korean experimental rock band Apollo 18 to perform at Stash House March 25th - Memphis Alternative Music | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/alternative-music-in-memphis/korean-experimental-rock-band-apollo-18-to-perform-at-stash-house-march-25th#ixzz1R93tbsSq
- Memphis Alternative Music Examiner

Already among the top underground bands in South Korea, Seoul hard rockers Apo18 are ready to take the proverbial ‘next step’ in their career.

During their two-and-a-half years together, Apollo 18 have released three albums, been crowned the Hello Rookie 2009 winners and Rookie of the Year at the 2010 Korean Music Awards, gigged in clubs throughout the country and at the likes of the Jisan Valley Rock Festival and the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival, and have played in Japan.

They will soon be able to add an American tour to their list of accomplishments. The post-hardcore and post-rock hybrid trio has been invited to perform at the 2011 South by Southwest (SXSW) Music and Media Conference in Austin, Texas.

“SXSW is like a huge musical playground,” says bassist Kim Dae-inn excitedly. “Korea is a small playground. We want to go and play on a bigger playground.”

Now in its 25th year, SXSW will run from March 16–19. The renowned event’s 2010 edition included 2,000 bands from nearly 50 countries showcasing their talents on 80 stages in downtown Austin. With so many acts, it is not surprising that SXSW attracts thousands of music industry staff from all around the world.

“We’d ultimately like to talk with some record labels from America and other countries,” said guitarist Choi Hyun-seok. “Making new friends is very important to us, too. We want to meet more bands and music fans from all around the world.”

“We also want to drink Texas beer and see lots of shows,” added drummer Lee Sang-yun with a smile. “There’s going to be so many great bands there. We definitely want to set aside some time for fun.”

The group members are brainstorming ways to advertise at SXSW. They plan to make 500 Apollo 18 iPhone cases to hand out for free at the festival. They are also creating a promotional compilation CD featuring tracks from their “Red,” “Blue,” and “Violet” Korean records. With so much to do, are they concerned about having to perform and mingle while being jet-lagged?

“We won’t be tired,” says Choi. “This is our first time to travel to America. We are really nervous, but we’re ready. My mind is always awake and energetic. I want to show everyone exactly what we can do.”

“I’m a little scared of the plane ride,” Kim said. “Once we land in Texas, though, I have no worries about us being able to do a great job.”

After SXSW, they will play a week’s worth of concerts in surrounding areas. Although their full itinerary has not been finalized, Apollo 18 confirmed they are appearing at Arkansas’s Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival.

The costs of plane tickets, an American entertainer visa, and van and equipment rentals are very high. Turning to local music lovers for help, Apollo 18 will host a Seoul fundraiser gig on Feb. 26. There will be live sets from some of the city’s premier bands and Canadian bellydancer Eshe and her Navah troupe.

In April, Apollo 18 will begin writing and recording their next album. Viewing the awesome, acclaimed “Red,” “Blue,” and “Violet” discs they issued in 2009 and early 2010 as experiments, they consider their upcoming full-length their first official release.

“We want to put our new record out in May or June,” offers Lee. “We aren’t sure what it will sound like.”

“I think it’s going to have a heavier sound, but we don’t know yet,” says Choi. “It’s going to be strongly influenced by what we experience during our American tour.” - Groove Korea

Apollo 18 are quickly emerging as one of South Korea’s top underground success stories. Their unique blend of atmospheric, post-rock/hardcore music has won them notable accolades from the Korean Music Awards who, in 2010, voted Apollo 18 recipients of their "Newcomer of the Year" honors.

Bassist Kim Dae-inn was originally producing electro-pop and folk songs under the moniker Jellyfish Boy when he recruited guitarist Choi Hyun-seok and drummer Lee Sang-yun as session players for his project. Their collaboration resulted in the formation of Apollo 18 in 2008, and they were signed by Estella Records. In 2009 the math-rock trio released their debut EP, Red and quickly followed up with The Blue Album, their first full-length recording. Last year they dropped the final chapter to their color-themed trilogy with the instrumental EP, Violet--a sentimental release with orchestrations incorporating acoustic guitars, piano and xylophone.

Apollo 18’s success has resulted in appearances at the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival and the Jisan Valley Rock Festival, making them the only band to perform at both the competing summer concerts. SXSW is very excited to announce that Apollo 18 will be embarking on their first American tour in March for their appearance at this year’s music festival. - sxsw.com

Apollo 18 landed in Tokyo—and then crashed through the ground and got stuck in the Basement Bar.
...

Well, OK, the space mission is actually an alternative rock trio from Korea, and the hardcore cosmonauts were flying back not from the moon but from the U.S., where they were on a two-week tour, including gigs at South by Southwest and The Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival. On the way back they were playing at the Shibuya Kinoto and the Basement Bar in Shimokitazawa.

I found out about the show because a music blogging comrade from Korea, Shawn Despres, got in touch about it. They were voted "Rookie of the Year" at the 2010 Korean Music Awards, he said.

The performance was great—Apollo 18 was spirited, intense, musically proficient...and funny. The probably unintended joke of the evening was that Apollo 18 was playing to a crowd that most likely didn't listen much to their brand of hard core and metal meet post-rock. It wasn't quite the Blues Brothers doing 'Rawhide' behind chicken wire. But judging from the other bands and the fashion, the audience was one that favored the sort of introspective, sentimental alternative pop/rock that seems common in Shimokitazawa these days (album covers showing a sunset bordered by Tokyo buildings...that kind of thing).

To their credit, Apollo 18 got even this crowd going, triggering modest head swinging and foot tapping and shouts in basic Korean and Japanese. The guitarist guy said “Konbanwa (good evening)” at the start, and then in English apologized that unlike the other 'country' music bands tonight (I think that's what he said...), they just did rock 'n' roll, before plunging into an explosive set, he diving into the audience at one stage and doing a solo from the floor.

I would love to see them again in Tokyo, but maybe next time playing with groups like Asakusa Jinta or henrytennis, if that could be arranged. - Japan Live

Doors open at 4pm, and the show's headliner, Apollo 18, plays at 6pm. Apollo 18 are from South Korea, and, back home, they are atmospheric-indie heartthrobs; the band won "Newcomer of the Year" at the Korean Music Awards in 2010.

Jeffrey Lorien, co-founder of Zhi Tea, told us, "I wanted a band from overseas on their first tour, and preferably a band from Asia. So we are ecstatic. And they are crazy excited, they have a ton of enthusiasm and momentum." - austinist.com

Korea’s instrumental Apollo 18 brings together touches of Prog, Psych, and indie rock to their sound, not too far removed from early '90s favorites Don Caballero. - Pegasus News

Apollo 18
Sounds Like: Experimental / Post-Rock / Shoegaze
Terroir: Seoul, Korea
Drinking Buddies: Wax on Radio, And So I Watch You From Afar, Battles
Synopsis: An hybrid of spacey post-rock and rockin' post-hardcore.
Makes You Want To: Rock out; Scream; Gaze.

One week, one band. You know the drill.
This week, the featured artist is Apollo 18 (???18).

The digital age is a magnificent thing, especially in terms of music. Only thirty, sometimes even twenty years ago, we were extremely limited on what we could hear musically. You were either listening to the local music stations in your town - oftentimes, frankly, which can be quite lacking is quality - which would normally feature the biggest recording artists as selected by the music industry; limited to the bands that came thru your area on tour, trips of which were no doubt rare and less publicized than they are now; and of course, stuck with whatever artists may have been local to your locale, and again, these were oftentimes not the best quality.

However, with the power of computers, the entire planet is our locale, and you have the freedom to experience all manner of different musical tastes and cultural styles. Which is why it's odd that these two music discovery experiences - the old school "analog" style, if you will, and our new digital style - convened for me at the local punk rock venue. For those who don't know, I'm in Fort Worth, Texas, where we are more than fortunate to have the one and only 1919 Hemphill, an communally run music venue centered around punk rock. And it was within those very walls that I was introduced to Apollo 18.

Named after the iconic space exploration vessel, these South Korean rockers bring spacey to a whole new level. Blending their sound calm, post-rock/instrumental sound with heavier hardcore and metal elements, the result is a sound that is perfectly juxtaposed between calmness and chaos. Apollo 18 moves their listeners with quiet, fulfilling guitarwork similar to that of This Will Destroy You or Explosions in the Sky. And in similar fashion, they can build their songs up until they rip apart the speakers with massive walls of sound and wild expulsions of dense musical release.

They aren't instrumental, to be said. But it is also to be said that their singing, while crucial to their songs, is more an instrument than an instrument in itself, rather than a poetic form of expression - the voices that join the powerful gutiars and rhythmic bass are more a contribution to the musical construction than trying to say something in particular, similar to the Vonlenska experimented with by Sigur Rós. However, as I compare these guys to similarly spacey artists in the post-rock world, do not underestimate their ability to lay down some proper rock. Their sound is significantly heavier than most of their peers, as if a rejection of the seemingly structured South Korean society, generating wild, raucous energy all contained and exploited within a concentrated process of musical performance. Their sound weaves between genres, from experimental, to jazzy, to some good ol' fashioned rock 'n roll, and they are definitely a name quickly on the rise, one you'll hopefully be hearing from more as the days go on.

Apollo 18 is only two years old, and brand new to the American coast as far as I'm aware. But they're quickly climbing into the consciences of savvy music listeners around the world. They won the award for "Best Rookie of the Year" at the 2010 Korean Music Awards (2010 ???????), and have been a major performance at both the Green Plugged Festival in Seoul, as well as one of the biggest festivals in Korea, the Jisan Valley Rock Festival (?? ?? ? ????), playing alongside the likes of major international acts such as Pet Shop Boys, Mutemath, Vampire Weekend, Belle & Sebastian, and Muse.

From what I can understand, the show I got to catch here in Fort Worth, Texas was the last Apollo 18 had booked for their first tour on American shores, which had them roaming all across Texas and around the south, culminating in a tonne of awesome shows down in South by Southwest. Assumably, the trio returned to Korea to relax and recover. Apollo has three albums under the belt already: Blue Album, Red Album, and Violet Album. They were also selling some strange album - which I have - that has NO name beyond the band's and no info beyond their contact information. So I'm nicknaming it the Black Album, and it's filled a compilation of all their different releases.

Apollo 18 has their official site, both in Korean and English, as well as a Myspace, where you can get quite a bit of a preview into their music. They have quite a number of live videos posted around the net so you can experience their live performances for yourself. And of course, you can snag all their awesome albums from their online store or via iTunes for digital download. Enjoy their wicked sound, and have an awesome week, readers! - Voilà!