Leenalchi - Here Comes That Crow

HERE COMES THAT CROW is the Korean psych-pop band Leenalchi’s first worldwide release (on Luaka Bop). Like much of their music, many of these songs are chopped and screwed pansori tales (a traditional form of storytelling that dates back to Korea’s Joseon Dynasty). But really, it’s just good dance music.

Today we bring you LEENALCHI.

As Brian Eno told us last week, “Leenalchi has changed the way I think about music, dancing and Korea. I have never heard anything quite like this.”

There’s so much to say to you about this amazing band—but what will get you to listen?

Is it that they play addictive psych pop? Or that they sound like animals talking to each other over tripped out bass lines?

They have a new single out today called HERE COMES THAT CROW, which, like all of Leenalchi’s songs, is a chopped and screwed version of a pansori tale (a traditional form of storytelling from the 17th century). Based on a story about the warlord Cao Cao, the song is an allegory about life’s precariousness.

The band wrote a poem to explain:

Doyung doyung goes the small boat floating down the river. Whether the chased or the chaser, no one can stop—just beneath the boards lies the underworld!

도용도용은 작은 배가 물위를 떠가는 모양을 그린 말이다. 조조도 조자룡도 쫓기는 자도 쫓는 자도 멈출수는 없다. 판자때기 아래가 저승인데 어느 누가 멈춰 설 수 있겠는가!