MTV IGGY

Get plugged into Korea's thriving live music scene with B-Sides, MTV K's indie spotlight series. Meet the bands changing the face of Korean music, from electro-pop darlings to the rhyme-spitting emcees of Seoul's underground. Through candid interviews and live performances, B-Sides takes you straight to the playgrounds of Korea's hottest indie acts. With boundary-pushing rookies like Glen Check and Bye Bye Badman following in the footsteps of punk pioneers like Crying Nut, these names are ones you'll definitely want to learn.

GoGo Star (고고스타)

Members: Lee Tae Sun (vocals, synth, guitar), Kim Sun Ah (bass, sub-vocals), Ali (drums), Lee Yeon Seok (DJ, FX)

Disco punk rockers GoGo Star have been called everything from circus to carnival to goth, but the inspiration behind the band’s image originates from the members’ favorite movies. Films like Beetlejuice and Batman I and II – along with anything and everything by director Tim Burton — served as rich resources for the band’s look and sound. The story of how these four musicians came together is just as random and quirky as their music. The guys (Lee Tae Sun, Ali, and Lee Yeon Seok) all went to Seoul Physical Education High School for diving. Like the kind you do in the water. Lee Tae Sun got into music first, which is how they met Kim Sun Ah, the lone female of the band, who majored in fashion design. And yes, she is the mastermind behind the band’s in-your-face visuals — they insist we recognize that they’ve toned it down a lot in recent years.

GoGo Star’s music isn’t just danceable, it’s a green light to let loose and go crazy — Just follow in frontman Lee Tae Sun’s footsteps: he’s notorious for doing backflips and climbing things (that probably shouldn’t be climbed) at rock festivals and club performances. The presence of phantom DJ Lee Yeon Seok (aka The Face) explains the band’s strong electronica influence, which rounds out their music into a contemporary dance punk — setting their music apart from the rest of Hongdae’s indie scene without alienating their listeners.