Playing on a weekday I was skeptical if I could get down to Horse the Band’s Earth Tour ‘08 in Seoul at Live Club Ssam. Luckily I finished work early and headed straight there. Mini review:

Opening the night were Same Old Story. There emo sound wasn’t really my thing and I thought they looked a little awkward on stage. However, they were pretty tight sounding and did seem to appeal to a lot of the crowd.

Next up were Hollow Jan. Wow, simply put - I was blown away. Epic songs graced with loud guitars, strong melodies and screamo vocals all combined well for an enjoyable set. They played through their set almost elegantly and the vocalist was seemingly possessed with emotion. Superb.

Finally Horse the Band took to the stage and brought back all the memories of the last time I saw them back in Wales. They bang out decent hardcore with that extra element that works so well for them - a keyboard spurting out video-game inspired tunes. They looked good on stage and energetically stormed through their set. Their “nintendo-core” brings a tear or two to my eyes. Catch them somewhere on their “Earth tour” if you can.

Photos at flickr.

The last few weeks I didn’t really go out. Instead I worked hard and caught up on some animation. I’ve been programming a website for an estate agents, redesigning Keikaku, various bits and bobs for Rokon magazine, and digging my teeth into JQuery. I’m trying to get back into the routine of regular designing and calming down my hectic social life a little.

When I did go out, I went for coffee with some friends (see the pic) in Samchung-Dong (삼청동). From the outside the cafe looked quite special and drew you along a path to the entrance with it’s beautiful berries and plants. However, the menu was a little pricey and the coffee really wasn’t that good. Also the tea I ordered was a tad on the bad side too. It was cool to catch up with my friends though.

Other than that I’ve been to a few gigs and checked out some more Korean bands I’ve been meaning to see live. I wrote up some live reports for a newspaper too. It should be published this week. After that I can publish them here too.

After walking through Samchung-Dong (삼청동) checking out the various cafes and restaurants we decided to stop off at Beans Bins. My friend had heard their waffles taste pretty good and judging from the number of people inside it seemed to be that way. Once you enter the building into a little courtyard you have the option to sit on one of three floors. On the ground floor you can check out various kinds of coffee (available for purchase) and make orders; the 2nd floor has seating and waffle pick-up and the third floor has additional seating.

We ordered an ice-cream waffle with vanilla and green tea ice-cream. It was served with strawberries and whipped cream. It did taste pretty good but I would have liked the waffle a little warmer to get that hot and cold contrast with the ice-cream. All-in-all we had a decent dessert and good coffee.

There’s this cute little cafe near Sangsu Station in Seoul. As you walk past you notice a VW camper van parked inside that has been converted into a little kitchen and heavily decorated with various little objects. While I’d often seen it as I passed by, I’d never had the chance to enter and check it out. By chance I called a friend up and she was there with some friends. It’s a cozy, homely atmosphere inside and the menu offers a wide variety beverages. With our coffee we shared an apple muffin which was particularly delicious. There are a variety of tables, plenty of decorations to look at, a tree in the center of the room and some soft lighting. I’m glad I finally got to check it out but for the life of me I can’t remember the name!