[BadPanda109] Beat Culture – Midori

Sunik Kim is a seventeen year-old Korean living in Hong Kong who makes brilliant music under the moniker Beat Culture.

Be ready for dense, rich in atmospheric vibes inspired by Star Slinger, Shlohmo, Jamie xx, Gold Panda and many more (read Burial, James Blake, Animal Collective, Hudson Mohawke, etc).

Midori is the third track off his upcoming album Tokyo Dreamer, which will be released on January 15 and it come with an awesome-as-always video by Synesthesiæ Films.

Get more BEAT CULTURE on facebook | soundcloud | bandcamp | twitter | tumblr  and read the interview to Sunik after the jump.

Beat Culture – Midori [mp3] [mp3 via archive]

video by SYNESTHESIAE FILMS on facebook | twitter | vimeo | youtube

Where do you live actually?

I’m Korean, I live in Hong Kong but I go to boarding school in the US.

What is the last thing you ate?

Nutella over toast after a cross-country practice…amazing.

Your addiction ?

SoundCloud. It’s my most visited website (more than Facebookand my email).

What do you collect?

Nothing really, but I guess I see my iTunes as a “collection” that I’m constantly adding to. Sometimes I download several albums in one sitting, and end up deleting half of them a day later…anyway I love finding gems,especially on the blogs that I follow on a daily basis

What sound or noise do you love?

Rainhitting your window at 5AM on a Sunday when you know you’re going tosleep for 6 more hours.

What is your favorite word?

Ravetronica.

Who is the most interesting person you’ve ever met?

Hard to think of the most interesting, but in recent memory, probably this one old guy I randomly came across in a deli in New York after watching the Tribe Called Quest movie with some friends. Basically he told us stories about how he used to be a reigning champion in board games, and pinned each of us down as a certain type of board game – like, “You seem like a backgammon type of guy.” It was really bizarre.

What is your most recent extravagance?

I got $60 worth of Thai food with some friends…completely worth it.

One quote?

“We’re so busy watching out for what’s just ahead of us that we don’t take time to enjoy where we are.” – Calvin & Hobbes

One movie?

“Dazed &Confused”. Perfect in every way, I even sample it in one of my upcoming songs.

One book?

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami. Absolutely the craziest work of fiction I have ever read but I guarantee that if you pick it up you will not put it down until the end. Definitely a huge influence on my creative work.

The song to be played at your funeral?

“Someone Great” by LCD Soundsystem…just kidding (ha), definitely “Hellhole Ratrace” by Girls. That song is just so incredibly depressing, but uplifting at the sametime.

A song you wish you wrote yourself?

“You” by Gold Panda, that was one of the first songs that really opened my mind to“organic” electronic music, rather than just house/electro.

Which song do you listen to when you wake up?

This changes all the time,last week it was “Heart in Your Heartbreak” by The Pains of Being Pureat Heart, but right now it’s “Wet Hair” by Japandroids, gets me going every time.

A song for relaxing on a beach?

Nujabes – “Lady Brown (ft. Cise Starr)”.

Your sunday morning track?

My Bloody Valentine –“Sometimes”. Beautiful, nothing more I can say.

One website?

Freesound.org, it’s where I get all my really eclectic, ambient samples. Really great stuff.

What do you think about music industry?

Well it’s really disappointing to look at (for example) the iTunes Top 10 and see acts like LMFAO, David Guetta and Flo Rida. So on that front it’s looking a little grim. But on theother hand, the indie, DIY scene seems to be exploding, with acts like James Blake and the Weeknd finding mainstream popularity, which I think is fantastic.  And dozens of stellar albums come out every month– even if they don’t get airplay alongside Katy Perry, they’re still a great sign of where the music industry is heading.

What about Creative Commons?

CC is definitely something that is going to increase in significance as the years go on, especially for unknown artists. First of all, unrelated to the actual music, sites like Freesound.org have thousands (millions?) of samples that are all under CC, meaning I can just take them and do whatever I want with them. But more importantly, CC allows for great promotion opportunities – other artists can just download the material for free, which is already abonus, but they can also sample and remix it, allowing for even more people to hear it. It’s the clearly superior alternative to the current method of record labels hunting down individuals that pirate locked-down music which isn’t released under CC. I’m excited to see where it progresses, and how it will change the music industry for the better.

Favorite venue?

Central Park in NYC, definitely agreat venue for all kinds of awesome events.

Favorite concert?

Well I didn’t actually attend this, but I won free tickets toa Pixies show in New Jersey a few weeks back, and my school didn’t allow me to go. But I know that if I’d gone, it would be by far the best concert I’ve ever attended. I’m still really pissed about it. Other than that, I recently saw Real Estate which was a good time.

Favorite place in the world?

Tokyo. I spent 6 years growing up there, and Ibasically associate all my glorious childhood memories with it. Hencethe name of the upcoming album, “Tokyo Dreamer”.

Where would you wish to wake up tomorrow?

In “Dazed & Confused”, where you party and listen to classic rock all day.