The Two Koreas

Toronto's the Two Koreas play urgent, brittle-sounding indie rock that's earned them frequent comparisons to the Fall, though the bandmembers have their own tongue-in-cheek description of their sound: "glacial garage," which of course would be "garage rock encased in ice, perfectly preserved in its most primal state for future generations of children to study." If clever banter comes easy to the Two Koreas, there's a good reason: vocalist Stuart Berman, guitarist Kieran Grant, and keyboard man Jason Anderson all write about music and film for a variety of Canadian publications, though bassist Ian Worang and drummer David Gee are otherwise employed in other fields. The Two Koreas formed in 2004, and became a frequent presence on Toronto's underground scene by the time they cut their first album, 2005's Main Plates and Classic Pies. The band returned in 2007 with its second album, Altruists, and a pair of live-in-the-studio sessions recorded for XM Satellite Radio were released in 2008 as the EP Sessions. The Two Koreas' future seemed doubtful in 2009 when guitarist Grant was hospitalized with a severe case of ulcerative colitis. Fortunately, Grant responded well to surgery and treatment, and in 2010 the Two Koreas went into the studio with producer Jon Drew to record their third album. Science Island was released by Randy Vicar Records (in association with the noted Canadian indie label Last Gang) in March 2011.