Despite being a geographically small country, South Korea has been dominating worldwide in many fields like technology and global pop culture. With its massive mass-entertainment imports like K-dramas and K-pop acts, it is easy to overlook the fact that the country also fosters many underrated acts that are not or simply refuse to be tied to any major agency labels. For such a small country, South Korea has an innumerable amount of releases coming from underrated Korean indie musicians who are inspired by not only their native Oriental music but also many western artists and delving into many genres all along with giving their music their own touch shaped by personal circumstances.
We will present a list of underrated Korean indie musicians covering multiple genres like folk, rock, pop, and hip-hop whose albums you must consider in your daily playlists. Most of these artists are still relatively known since they have put up their music on Spotify and often get nominated and win prestigious awards like the Korean Music Awards. In this list, we won’t be including popular names who are under major labels yet operate under the genre ‘Korean Indie’, such as HYUKOH, Jannabi, The Black Skirts, 10cm, DEAN, Zion T, BOL4, and Heize.
1. Lang Lee
Lee Lang, who is on Spotify as Lang Lee, is a Korean Indie singer-songwriter who usually makes folk music with only her guitar. Lang Lee is noted for the rawness of her lyrics which consists of social commentary about the human experience as a whole or just her personal tribulations. She is the darling of the Korean Music Awards judges and has been nominated in various categories over the years after her debut (2013).
In the 2017 Korean Music Awards, Lang Lee made news because of her impactful acceptance speech for being awarded the Best Folk Song, where she explicitly talked about her low income and then auctioned off her trophy in exchange for some cash because she was broke to the point where she was struggling to make enough money for rent. This highlighted the plight of independent musicians in Korea who refused to sign to labels who would dictate their musical choices and how even highly successful and popular musicians like her struggled financially. Listen to Lee Lang’s song ‘Playing God’ for a taste of her raw lyricism. Her albums ‘Playing God’ (2016) and ‘There is a Wolf’ are coherent enough to be listened to all at once.
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2. Kim Sawol
Kim Sawol is another folk singer-songwriter from South Korea who is critically acclaimed. Kim Sawol started off as a duo “Kim Sawol x Kim Haewon” with a dream-folk album ‘Secret’ with a song of the same name that became quite popular. Kim Sawol is known for her mature and sensuous voice, which she uses to sing songs. Kim Sawol has also collaborated in various OSTs, notably for the KBS special ‘Just Dance’, and in the OST for the Korean LGBT film ‘Take Me Home’ (2020).
Her recent collaborations include the song ‘Dreaming of You’ with rookie Korean Indie musician Shin Hae Gyeong and ‘The Possible’ with Korean indie band Broccoli, You Too? Apart from making music, Kim Sawol is also a published author of a prose collection. Listen to her melancholic debut album ‘Suzanne’ which is a folk album with her dream-like voice adorned by multiple instruments like the acoustic guitar, piano, saxophone, and electronics.
3. Mid-Air Thief
Mid-Air Thief is a folktronica musician, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who jumped into Western consciousness when his 2018 neo-psychedelic chill album ‘Crumbling’ gained a cult-like following online communities of Indie-music lovers, to the extent that even MTV covered articles on him. Mid-Air Thief is very reclusive, and nothing is known of his age or place of residence in South Korea, and even his face remains hidden to this date.
He won the award for the Best Dance & Electronic Album in the 2019 Korean Music Awards. The songs on ‘Crumbling’ have over a million listens on Spotify, that too without any fanfare or promotion, which is telling of his popularity amongst Western listeners. In his interview with MTV, he has revealed that he doesn’t believe his music can be strictly categorized in any genre, and especially not in Dance & Electronic, adding that he doesn’t want to sound ungrateful.
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4. Danpyunsun and the Sailors
Danpyunsun and the Sailors is a Korean Indie psychedelic-rock quartet with veteran traditional Korean vocalist Hwegidong Dampyunsun (lead vocals and guitar) as the frontman. The ‘Sailors’ in the band are Jang Do Hyeok (percussion), Choi Woo Young (Bass), and Jang Soo Yeon (violin). Together they made the albums ‘Animal’ (2014) and ‘Shofar’ (2016), which married hard and psychedelic rock with traditional Oriental folk music to make a delightful concoction of a noisy-yet-melodious ensemble of tracks.
Danpyunsun and the Sailors have also collaborated with the aforementioned Kim Sawol in the song ‘Lover’ on their second and last album. They have been nominated in the Rock categories of Korean Music Awards multiple times; unfortunately, the band called it quits in October 2017 due to differences in opinions about the advancement of their sound and musical activities. However, their music is best enjoyed live, so make sure to listen to the live performance of ‘Walk With Me’ from their debut album.
5. Lee Jin Ah
It is perhaps Lee Jin Ah’s name that is the most familiar to the listeners of K-pop music out of all the names in the list: no surprise since she started her career participating and being the second runner-up in the SBS survival show K-pop Star 4. Lee Jin Ah is a jazz-piano prodigy whose albums contain whimsically delightful songs meshing together bebop, funky vaporwave, and harmonious pop, the lyrics of which were also penned by her. She is also the artist who is signed to the most relatively-popular music label out of everyone on this list, i.e., Antenna Music. Lee Jin Ah is popular among Koreans because of her adorable voice. Listen to a live performance of her song ‘Random’ below.
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6. E SENS
E SENS started his career off in a duo called Supreme Team with the famous Korean rapper and variety-star Simon Dominic, which then eventually disbanded. The release of E SENS’ 2015 legendary album ‘The Anecdote’ was delayed due to the rapper’s arrest due to South Korea’s rules about marijuana possession once, and when he was arrested again, E SENS made a request that the album be released when he was in prison.
Despite the controversy surrounding him, it was difficult to overlook the raw talent pouring out the album, which is why it had a positive response from music listeners and also ended up winning both Best Rap & Hip Hop Album and Album of the Year in the Korean Music Awards in 2016. E Sens has also collaborated with EPIK HIGH in their 2009 album in the song ‘8 by 8 Pt. 2’. Listen to the song ‘Writer’s Block’ from ‘The Anecdote’ below.
7. shinyujinssi
shinyujinssi is the moniker under which Shin Yu Jin releases music in the hip-hop genre since 2019. She currently has only one EP out called ‘Do You Still Wanna Lie,’ which is a collaborative effort between her and another South Korean rapper Untell. Not much is known about the Korean Indie rapper at the moment, but one listen to her song ‘Monochrome,’ and it is obvious that shinyujinssi is a massively talented rapper with the diction of enviable clarity and lyricism that is one-of-a-kind (similar to British rapper Little Simz) that demands that she must be kept on everyone’s radars for any future releases. Meanwhile, you can also listen to her 2018 mixtape on her official Soundcloud profile.
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8. Autumn Vacation
Autumn Vacation is a duo by seasoned Korean musician Jung Bobby (of Julia Hart, & Sister’s Barbershop fame) and Gyepi (from Broccoli You Too). They are known for their songs with the sweetest melodies and lyrics that emote the bittersweet feeling of loneliness. But their discography is diverse with the catchiest melodies (consisting of many baroque elements) and the most odd-ball lyrics (song titles like ‘The World is a Handkerchief’, ‘Why Are There Always Fallen Leaves in My Bag?’, ‘Won’t Buy The Best Album’ being a clear indication of that)
Their most popular song is ‘Sometimes I Want to Hug You Like Crazy’, which has been covered even by Korean pop royalty IU (check it out here!). Gyepi announced on 2021 on her Instagram have disbanded in 2021, and it is speculated among fans that the reason behind this is multiple allegations of sexual assault against Jung Bobby (who also has been working as a lyricist and composer for many K-pop acts like BTS, Chungha, and TXT).
9. Parasol
Parasol is a Korean indie rock band consisting of Ji Yoon Hae (Bass and vocals), Jung Won Jin (Drums), and Kim Na Eun (guitars). Parasol is one of those Korean bands with a cult following in Western indie-music listeners’ circles, and no surprise in that since their sound, which is inspired by British Pop and Rock along with hints of garage rock translates well for the Western audience. Their understated vocals and lyrics, along with reverbed guitars, spell out a relatable sound of “drowsy energy” for the listeners. Their 2015 album ‘Someday’ is their most popular album yet.
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10. Kwak Pureunhaneul
Kwak Pureunhanuel is a Korean Indie singer-songwriter whose real name has not been revealed yet. She has been making music ever since learning the guitar in high school and had released her first album during that time. She is known as the ‘IU of Hongdae’ due to her frequently doing live performances in various places in Hongdae. Her guitar compositions and lyrics are both bare-bones simplistic yet effective.
Her second album, ‘Yesterday’s Novel,’ contained songs about her experiences in love and life with honesty and uniqueness. This album earned her a nomination in the Best Folk Album category in the 2017 Korean Music Awards. For those wondering, the phrase “Kwak Pureunhaneul” means “a bright blue sky”.
11. Sister’s Barbershop
Sister’s Barbershop is one of the OG Korean indie bands that have been actively making music since their critically-acclaimed 1996 debut ‘Pigeon is a Rat in the Sky’. They won the 2009 Korean Music Award for Album of the Year and Best Modern Rock Album for their album ‘Most Ordinary Existence’. They had had multiple member changes throughout the years. Sister’s Barbershop disbanded in 2017, and the leader of the band Lee Seok Won also announced that he will be retiring from the music industry forever (he is still active as a bestselling author of novels and essays collections).
The type of music they make can be described as a rock sound with distinct South Korean flavors, although throughout the years, their songs have been inspired by jazz, soul, electronic, orchestral, and r-n-b music too. They are highly acclaimed amongst critics and the Korean general public alike.
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12. Aseul (formerly YUKARI)
Aseul, who was formerly operating under the name YUKARI is a Korean indie electro-pop musician and producer; though, throughout her discography, one can find her hard to categorize as she peddles in various genres like synth-pop, dream-pop, lo-fi, orchestral spacey music. She has been making music since 2016 and is still active, and is a Korean Music Awards darling. Her whole discography is a delight for new listeners who are fans of bands like Beach House for their output which is melodically sparse yet hard-hitting.
13. Lucid Fall
Lucid Fall is the stage name of Jo Yoon Suk, who is yet another one of the better-known Korean indie musicians who have been active in the industry for a long time (since 2001!). He academically pursued chemical engineering in the prestigious Soul National University in 1999 but started to pursue a musical career after winning bronze in the 5th Yoo Jae-ha Music Contest and then forming a band Misoni. He is mainly a guitar pop artist whose forte lies in his lyrical songwriting. His song ‘Oh Love’ is popular and has been covered many times, including by Soobin of the k-pop girl group WJSN.
Music isn’t the only passion this quirky engineer has pursued. He is currently involved in organic farming in Jeju island, mainly of persimmons and lemons. Listen to his song ‘Ordinary Person’ from his 2009 album ‘Les Miserables’.
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