What I listen to when I get No Replies on Facebook

To calm myself that is. Because when I receive no replies after I leave a message or a post on Facebook, I get antsy. To my defense, I reply very promptly on Facebook. So whenever my heart goes racing beyond the horizons in anxiety, I listen to something like this.

Introducing, No Reply, an indie duo consisting of two childhood friends. Ever since their official debut in 2008, No Reply has been touching people's hearts in a way that no other musician can. Their meteoric rise started when they achieved second prize in a major singer-songwriter competition back in 2006, from which they gained the courage to truly step into the world of Indie music. Ever since then, they've sold out shows after shows, their albums receiving critical acclaim and achieving commercial success. Two friends who met in a piano school, now an Indie band with a name and talent to back it up.

It's a pretty basic set up if you take a closer look at the band: our main vocalist on his piano, and the guitarist strumming along. Add whatever else that's needed to the song, like a double bass or a cello as shown above. The result is smooth vocals, and a gentle melody that all come together in soothing harmony. This is the kind that make you want to sit back, relax, and enjoy a cup of coffee while watching raindrops fall outside the window. I'll have a cup of green tea instead actually thank you very much. Let me actually just sit back and enjoy a song for a while. Of course you can all join in. 

With slow songs, I find that it's often easy to be bogged down by plain melodies that bore the hell out of listeners. I've heard a countless number of them and my verdict is that while it's relatively easy to pick up a guitar or a piano and write out a simple, calm melody, it's that simplicity that makes it so hard for an artist to get it right. Too many times I'll find a line of notes that has been used over and over again in other songs, and I can literally guess which note will come next. It's prevalent in all forms of music, but I feel this even more prominently in slow acoustic songs.

No Reply, literally gives no reply for such inquiries into their music, because No Reply is a band that satisfies it all. Not a single part is extraneous in their songs. Every instrumental line has a purpose, and a clear role in the overall sound they make. In a way, they remind me of Urban Zakapa, in their precision and accuracy in coordinating their musical parts, all the while never losing sight of the essence of the music itself. The kind of acoustic harmony they create in their songs, is something I consider rare even within the circle of Korean indie scene.


With them, each line of lyrics, each procession of notes, is a slow, ethereal stroll that never ceases to pleasantly surprise the listener. The end effect that they have is mesmerizing, in a very elliptic way that couldn't be described with words.Well, that's what I've been trying to do all this time, but as you can see, all to no avail. It's simpler when you just listen and feel it yourself.

Simply said, there's no reason to not like No Reply (too many negations I know). Planning a quiet day of reading, studying, or ruminating about the meaning of life? Here's a band to go with it, like how coffee goes with milk, unless you like it dark. Nevertheless, enjoy!

Sweet Salty Loves Songs

It's raining. I'm trapped in my girlfriend's apartment, and I have chores to do at home. Pity, that my umbrella is nowhere to be seen. That's all right though. She's gone to class for the time being, and I'm just cozying up under the blankets, past noon, with the cat. Yes, it's a lazy Tuesday.

Rainy days like this need something soothing. Something to softly pet the sorrowful mind, and whisper into its ears that the rain is only here for shortly, that sunny days are coming.

Sweet Salt, is that kind of band.

An indie rock duo with a smooth female vocal and a simple instrumental section that fills up like orchestral music.

This song below, is titled 5 Minutes Before Breaking Up. 

There's nothing too complicated here. No fancy lyrical playing or musical banter going on. But simplicity is what makes Sweet Salt truly shine. Every note, every word hides an emotion, and not a thing about their music is extraneous. It's just enough, to make us feel it.

Before I speak in more ambiguities, here's more music!

Sweet Salt at first can come like one of those any other underground indie bands that are out there. I admit it. This isn't something new. But then again, it's never the originality nor the novelty that gets the job done. It's the delivery. Perhaps it's not intended, and these things usually aren't when they happen right, but Sweet Salt knows how to deliver their tunes, their music, just right.

Often in music, there's that, 'whoa' factor. It can't be explained, and it has barely anything to do with level of training, or the genre of the music. Practice has probably something to do with it, but that's a given. That's why so many bands, so many individuals rise out of the outskirts of mainstream music, the mainstream breeding ground of music. Sweet Salt, I feel like, has that 'whoa' factor.

Are you in need of love songs to soothe your troubled soul? Are you searching for that perfect band to fall in love with music again? Are you simply looking for good music to relax by? Here's where you can start. Enjoy.