Balming Tiger, the self-professed “alternative K-pop” collective, became a Stereogum Band To Watch four years ago. They’ve continued to be a prolific force since then, both together and separately. Today we get an impressive solo debut album from Balming Tiger rapper/singer Mudd the student.
Mudd bills LAGEON as the result of a lifetime spent fueling his musical interests through his smartphone, careening across genres in digital reality. The album bears out that description; it’s a noisy, hyperactive, genre-blending blur, and on first listen, its mixture of hip-hop, shoegaze, punk, IDM, indie rock, and pop sounds fantastic.
The Busan native is joined here by an eyebrow-raising slate of contributors including the mysterious Korean shoegaze explorer Parannoul, Virginia-based Surf Gang affiliate Harto Falión (don’t sleep on his collaborative album with evilgiane), and Japanese vocaloid screamo artist that same street. But even on the tracks without featured guests, LAGEON feels like the product of many worlds beautifully colliding. It’s both catchier and more idiosyncratic than most attempts to synthesize a broad genre spectrum into a coherent creative statement.
Stream the album below.
LAGEON is out now via Balming Tiger/CAM.
