2024 In Review: Day 5 – Rock and Alternative

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2024 In Review

1. Introduction + Best Album Art
2. Song of the Year
3. Album of the Year
4. R&B and Soul
5. Rock and Alternative
6. Rap and Hip-hop (Jan. 19)
7. Dance and Electronic (Jan. 20)
8. Pop and Ballad (Jan. 21)
9. Folk and Country (Jan. 22)
10. Jazz, Crossover and World (Jan. 23)
11. Best Collaborative Work (Jan. 24)
12. Rookie Artist of the Year (Jan. 25)
13. Artist of the Year (Jan. 26)
14. Other Recognition (Jan. 27)
15. Concluding Remarks (Jan. 28)

Rock was arguably the most important and accomplished segment of the country’s music scene in 2024, with at least four albums contending for Album of the Year and a whole wave of newer generation including Sonlmor, YdBB, Shin Yun-su, and Ghost Bookstore dropping excellent and promising work.

Given our series rules, both Lee Seung-yoon – Anthems of Defiance as well as Danpyunsun and the Moments Ensemble – Hail to the Music which were respectively named our Runner-up Song of the Year on Day 2 and Album of the Year on Day 3, are not eligible to reappear in this category.

The “Next 10” and honorable mention lists are sorted by artist name. Bolded honorable mentions received particularly serious consideration for the Next 10.

Best Rock and Alternative Album 2024

The Solutions – N/A

N/A was The Solutions at their most vibrant since 2014’s Movements, a pleasant resurgence that took the band’s characteristic electro-rock to another level. The album just delivered punch after knockout punch with good ideas, from the danceable melancholia of “DNCM”’s chorus to the pop-anthemic scale of “Athena” to the Koxx-reminiscent riffs and accelerating outro of “Fireworxx”. It was a satisfyingly hard record, too, with plenty of heady riffs and thickly textured interludes. You’d have been hard-pressed to find a more fun album to listen to than this one in 2024.

The Runner-up

Silica Gel – Power Andre 99

The second full-length album from perhaps the hottest band in the nation delivered on its hype with an eighteen-track monster. Power Andre 99 was a sensory avalanche, the band’s characteristic psychedelia and its more recent maximalist tendencies amplifying each other. The deliberate choice and shaping of sounds throughout the album resulted in a sonically singular album, and tracks like the singalong “Andre99” and hard-driving “Apex” reflected the popular appeal that the more recent Silica Gel work has been able to weave into its inscrutable identity.

The Next 10

Byul.org – 우리 개 (Me & My Dog)

Fecundation – Moribund

Lacuna – 유령 (Ghost)

Lee Seung-yoon – 역성 (Yeok Seong)

Meaningful Stone – 천사 인터뷰 (Angel Interview)

Parannoul – Sky Hundred

Seaweed Mustache – 2

Shin Hae-gyeong – 이상한 경치 (The Oddscape)

Sonlmor – Wish, Hopes, Desires

Yangbans – Hymns from the Dragon Lake

Best Rock and Alternative Song 2024

Meaningful Stone – 미카엘 (Mikael)
Lyrics and composition by Meaningful Stone
Arrangement by Meaningful Stone and Cloud

The dreamy resonance of Meaningful Stone’s music latched onto concrete forms in Angel Interview, eagerly adopting the sounds and aesthetics of the Y2K era. “Mikael” was the most essential distillation of that effort, driven along on essentially a single motif and the swelling, shoegazey riffs surrounding it. That was more than enough to build the track’s emotional payload, as the assurances of a guardian (arch-)angel guided the listener into an elating trance and the airiness of Kim Ji-min’s voice seemed to lift the song and us up with it.

The Runner-up

Danpyunsun and the Moments Ensemble – 독립 (Independent)
Lyrics and composition by Danpyunsun
Arrangement by Danpyunsun, Lee Bo-ram, Song Hyun-woo, Park Jae-jun, Park Jang-mi, Shin Ye-hun

Of the many moments that made our Album of the Year unforgettable, “Independent” was the first and most striking. A reworking of Danpyunsun’s 2023 solo piece for a compilation, this edition is more urgent and fatalistic, the instrumentation more full-bodied and passionate. And that was the right soundscape for this bittersweet vision, where “independence” is less about its joy and more about its solitude, more about the freedom to “find the reason by yourself, be far away alone, go far away alone”; to “dance by yourself, become desolate alone, feel like laughing alone”. The thrashing interlude and surprisingly serene closing then seem to blend the emotions, until they are one and the same.

The Next 10

87dance – 숨바꼭질 (Hide and Seek)

Beirut Taxi – 하루방 (Hareubang)

Bongjeingan – 너의 뒤 (Know You Did)

Byul.org – 부서질듯 (IntoPieces)

Cho Yong-pil – 그래도 돼 (It’ll Be Okay)

Hollow Jan – An Inaudible Voice

Hyukoh, Sunset Rollercoaster – Y

Lacuna – 범람 (Overflow)

Silica Gel – Apex

YdBB – 불 (Burn)

Albums

2 Day Old Sneakers – 펭귄 신드롬! (Penguin Syndrome!)
87dance – Youth Heritage
Agate – Abyssal Expanse
Animal Divers – Odyssey
Atom Music Heart – 정규 3집 (Ah-Mu-Ha 3)
Band Nah – I Feel Like You Do
Bosudongcooler – 의자에 앉아 (Sitting on a Chair)
Broccoli You Too – 우리는 모두 실패할 것을 알고 있어요 (We All Know We Will Fail)
BØjeong – Kin
Cho Yong-pil – 20
Crackberry – Destruction of the Void
Dasutt – For the Person Who Think Like Me
Day6 – Fourever
Erøtic Wørms Exhibitiøn – Famine or Feast
Far East Asian Tigers – 몽유호원 (A Tiger’s Dream)
Ghost Bookstore – 유령서점 (Ghost Bookstore)
Gogohawk – Vol. 04
Hanroro – 집 (Home)
Hyukoh, Sunset Rollercoaster – AAA
Jang Sehyun – How to grow a dream that we’ve forgotten
Jinchang – 일렁 (Shimmer)
Kim Kyung-ho – The Rocker
Kim Na-eun – 문명의 몰락 (The Collapse of Civilization)
Lee Hee-sang – Forever
Low Hanging Fruits – Passion of Various Types
Onewe – Planet Nine: Isotropy
Philnamu – 다리 없는 새 (Nevertheless)
SellinSelliSelline – 시간의 문제 (Problem of Time)
Seoul Busan Incheon – 깽판 (Wrecking Havoc)
Seoul Magic Club – Mad99
Seoulspit – Kill Each Other
Shin Yun-su – 지지 않는 마음으로 (Mind Hug)
Surl – Xyrup
The Poles – Anomalies in the Oddity Space
The Shepherd Bois – 사랑놀이 (Love Game)
Wabi King – Turn Over the Game
Xdinary Heroes – Live and Fall
YdBB – Ignite
Young Oh – 영영 (Everlast)
Zzzaam – 빛나 (Shine)

Songs

2 Day Old Sneakers – 잠의 문턱 (On the Edge of Zzz)
2 Day Old Sneakers – 펭귄 (Penguin)
87dance – 4DL (Four-Dimensional Love)
9 and the Numbers – 라디오 드라이브 (Radio Drive)
Adios Audio – 흐르는 대로 (Hulow)
Agate – The Prophecy
Asian Spice House – 양탄자의 신인들 (The God-People of the Carpet)
Atom Music Heart – 빠빠루 (그 첫 번째 후회) (Paparu (The 1st Regret))
Atom Music Heart – 순간은 꿈처럼 (Moment Like a Dream)
Beirut Taxi – 배수 (Drain)
Beirut Taxi – 불균형 (Unbalanced)
Beirut Taxi – 언니 (Eonni)
Beirut Taxi – 이방인 (Stranger)
Blue Turtle Land – Amber
Blue Turtle Land – 청호춘가 (Spring Song of Blue Butterfly)
Bosudongcooler – 의자에 앉아 (Sitting on a Chair)
Broccoli You Too – 윙 (Wing)
Byul.org – 우리 개 (Me & My Dog) (Feat. Juun.J)
Byul.org – 호수 (Lake Song)
BØjeong – Gaia
BØjeong – Null
BØjeong – Null
CHS – One Summer Day (Feat. Mei Ehara)
CHS – Wet Market
Chanze – Dive In
Cho Yong-pil – Timing
Cloud – 나의 사랑은 당연하지 않아 (Please Do Not Take My Love for Granted)
Crackberry – Machine
Crackberry – Revolution
Crackberry – Shed My Skin
Danpyunsun and the Moments Ensemble – 물 (Material)
Danpyunsun and the Moments Ensemble – 불 (Fire)
Danpyunsun and the Moments Ensemble – 오늘보다 더 기쁜 날은 남은 생에 많지 않을 것이다 (Days Happier Than Today Will Be Few in My Remaining Life)
Dasutt – It Better One Shot of Jameson
Dasutt – Kangaroo
Day6 – Welcome to the Show
Day6 – 널 제외한 나의 뇌 (Get the Hell Out)
Day6 – 녹아내려요 (Melt Down)
Day6 – 아직 거기 살아 (Still There)
Dragon Pony – Pop Up
Eddie and the Bricks – Glee
Eddie and the Bricks – Ms. Summer
Elephant in a Fridge – Pause
Erøtic Wørms Exhibitiøn – Let Me In
Erøtic Wørms Exhibitiøn – 소듐 (Sodium)
Erøtic Wørms Exhibitiøn – 시스투스 (Cistus)
Faulocity – 9120번째 밤 (My 9120th Night)
Fecundation – Devoiced of Truth
GGCP – 바이바이 (Bye Bye)
Ghost Bookstore – 개똥벌레 (Firefly)
Ghost Bookstore – 봄노래 (Spring Song)
Gogohawk – 파도 (Wave)
Gogohawk – 환청 (Auditory Hallucination)
Gong Joong Geu Neul – 헤엄 (Swimming)
Gwi Ga Ryeong – 스노볼 (Snowball)
Hanroro – ㅈㅣㅂ (H o m e)
Hanroro – 놀이터 (Playground)
Hanroro – 먹이사슬 (System Error)
Hathaw9y – 영원 (Eternity)
Hoochus – 너의 구역 (Your Turf)
Hyukoh, Sunset Rollercoaster – Glue
Hyukoh, Sunset Rollercoaster – Kite War
It’s – 영화 (Movie)
JKC – Meet Me at the Bay
Jang Sehyun – 빛과 동그라미 (Light and Circle)
Jang Sehyun – 평화. (Peace.) (Feat. H)
Jeonain – 욕심 (Greed)
Jinchang – 소섬 (Soseom)
Jinchang – 철렁 (Slosh)
Joonil Jung – Rune
Joyful Underwear – Waves
Jung Cha-sik – Wish Highway
Kim Bada – 길끝 (The Road End)
Kim Dong-gu – 파노라마 (Panorama)
Kim Kyung-ho – Warming Up
Kim Kyung-ho – 다시, Fly (Fly Again)
Kim Marie – 최고의 타이밍 (Perfect Timing)
Kim Na-eun – 괴물의 발자국 (Monster’s Footprints)
Kim Seung-joo – 도시폭격 (City404)
Kim Seung-joo – 소년만화完 (Shonen Manga (Band))
Kim Seung-joo – 인류를구원할수도없는통기타가수 (Kenji)
Kim Seung-joo – 케이크가 불쌍해 (Poor Little Cake)
Kisnue – No Paradise
Kwak Tae-poong – 소나기 (Rain Shower)
Lacuna – Bow-Wow
Lacuna – Lamp
Lacuna – 네가 지금부터 발을 들이려 하는 곳은 (Where You Begin to Step In)
Lacuna – 유령 (Ghost)
Lee Hee-sang – Joel
Lee Hee-sang – 항해 (Voyage)
Lee Seung-yoon – Sold Out
Lee Seung-yoon – 너의 둘레 (Around You)
Lee Seung-yoon – 캐논 (Canon)
Lee Seung-yoon – 폭죽타임 (Pokzook Time)
Lee Seung-yoon – 폭포 (Waterfall)
Low Hanging Fruits – Diving
Low Hanging Fruits – Leave
Low Hanging Fruits – 몇 번을 더 고민해도 (Night and Day)
Lucy – Boogie Man
Lucy – 도깨비춤 (Doggaebi Dance)
Lucy – 빌런 (Villain)
Luli Lee – 너는 세상의 모든 것 (You Are the Everything In My World)
MGFF – Blackwater
MGFF – Supergreen
Meaningful Stone – 나는 닫힌 문 대신 창문을 열고 (I Open the Window Instead of the Closed Door)
Meaningful Stone – 속세탈출 (Esc) (Feat. Swervy)
Meaningful Stone – 손님별 (Supernova)
Miichi – Overnight
Mimicry-X – 닻 (Anchor)
Nanparan – Eternal Love
Nastyona – 완벽한 흉터.13 (Perfect Scar.13)
Night Off – ㄴㅈㅊㅁㄱ (ntmc)
Night Off – 그게 다에요 (That’s All)
Nok – 사진첩 (Polaroid)
Omibi – Pages
Onewe – Shoot It Out
Onewe – 바다에 적신 햇무리 반지 (Solar Halo Ring)
Onewe – 한여름 밤 유성우 (Meteor Shower)
Parannoul – 고통없이 (Painless)
Parannoul – 환상 (Fantasy)
Parannoul – 황금빛 강 (Gold River)
Pedals on Carpet – Digital Nostalgia
Philnamu – 네가 좋아 (I Like You)
Philnamu – 스타일! (Style!)
Polar Night – 꿈 (Dream)
Poomba 21st – 강강술래 (Ganggangsullae)
Samui – 찾아와줘 (Come and Find Me)
Seaweed Mustache – Hex
SellinSelliSelline – 너의 유령 (Phantom of You)
SellinSelliSelline – 시간의 문제 (Problem of Time)
Seoul Busan Incheon – 깽판 (Wrecking Havoc)
Seoul Magic Club – Angels Love
Seoul Magic Club – Requiem777
Seoulspit – Vile
Seventh Cloud – Times of Trouble (Feat. UB)
Shin Hae-gyeong – 물고기 (Piscis)
Shin Hae-gyeong – 악몽 (Nightmare)
Shin Hae-gyeong – 웨딩 (Wedding)
Shin Yun-su – Infinity
Shin Yun-su – 그 쯤에서 좀 이상하게 웃지 (Your Eyes)
Shin Yun-su – 답장 (Reply)
Shin Yun-su – 시소 (See Saw)
Silica Gel – Andre99
Silica Gel – Babyface
Silica Gel – Eres Tu
Silica Gel – Gosan
Silica Gel – The Rim
Sonlmor – I Couldn’t Be Your Shade
Sonlmor – Whisky
Sonlmor – 시냇가 (Stream)
Soran – Good Bye
Soumbalgwang – 검은물 (Black)
Surl & QLER – Humming for Sunset
Surl – Detox
Surl – Hypnosis
Surl – 숲 (산과 엘리베이터) (Forest (Mountain and Elevator))
Suznn – It’s Been Three Years
The Bowls – Radiostar
The Poles – Cares
The Poles – Oddities
The Poles – Stargazing
The Sawtooth – LOVeR
The Shepherd Bois – 떠야 해 (A Nice Car)
The Shepherd Bois – 사랑놀이 (Love Game)
The Shepherd Bois – 핵폭탄 발사 버튼 (A Nuclear-Bombing Button)
The Solutions – Athena
The Solutions – DNCM
The Solutions – Damn U
The Solutions – Fireworxx
The Solutions – N/A
The Solutions – Superstition
The Tunas – Blue Hour
The Tunas – Sunset
The Tunas – 여름꽃 (Summer Flower)
Turn for Our – Illuminated
Verycoybunny – Red Flag
Wave to Earth – Annie.
Wave to Earth – Holyland
Woodz – Amnesia
Xdinary Heroes – Love and Fear
Xdinary Heroes – Night Before the End
Xdinary Heroes – iNSTEAD! (Feat. Yoon Do-hyun)
Yangbans – Let It Flow
Yangbans – Questions
Yangbans – The Old
Yangbans – 흥! (Heung!)
YdBB – Let Me Show You
Yewee – 동네에서 (Day After Day)
Yewee – 아무래도 (I’m Done!)
YoilBando – 태평양 저 멀리 (Far Beyond the Pacific Ocean)
Young Oh – 무화과 (Fig)
Young Oh – 에로스 (Eros)
Younha – 죽음의 나선 (Antmill)
Younha – 포인트 니모 (Point Nemo)
Zzzaam – 빛나 (Shine)
we hate jh – 나그랑 (Reglan)
we hate jh – 데크레센도 (Decrescendo)
we hate jh – 편도행, 서울 (One Way to Seoul)