500won Project - Um Han

500won project was one of the greatest things to come out of my North Hollywood living, cockroach obsessing, non-studying, illegal downloading, veritably FUCKED UP brain (2 years ago. I’ve since recovered.) I think he may also be one of the greatest artists I’ve ever discovered via last.FM. Actually, I didn’t find him on Last.fm. I’ll explain, but first take note: in no way am I a major Mogwai fan.

Now we can proceed.

Like two years ago, I found a ‘Sigur Ros/Mogwai’ split indexed in some filesharing program. I was probably addicted to downloading at this point in time, and most likely had a final the next morning that I was desperately trying to think out of existence. Or maybe some neurons in my brain misfired. Whatever the reason may have been, the kicker is that I actually listened to it, and it was pretty doggone amazing. The best part may have been that it didn’t really sound anything like either Sigur Ros or Mogwai. But I still accepted that it was both.

Truth is, it was mislabeled, and tons of people had downloaded it (thank you last.fm for exposing this fact). Whether or not it was a marketing ploy, the ace who fumbled over the keys on this one needs a serious pat on the back. Last.fm eventually discovered & revealed the truth about the alleged collaboration: it didn’t exist, and the sonic masturbation in which I had been so frequently indulging was really the creation of one little man, his guitar, and some loop pedals in a basement somewhere in Korea. Under the name 500won project, this aural deviant released one full-length album that I assumed was impossible to find.

Until I found this video on Youtube.

Rainsmellow is “500won’s new band with grooveking, munji, lambhead”, and it lead to the discovery of the only man on this little blue planet with access to actual, physical, 500won releases. They’re CHEAP. I ordered 2, and WITH shipping my total was roughly 14 bucks. You want one? Holler at Mr. Kwang and your wish will likely be his command: MrKwang.com