Ulsan-based arts magazine Angle has teamed up with musicians from across the South of the peninsula to create a Christmas album in aid of Habitat for Humanity.
Titled “Home for the Holidays,” the album has eight tracks, all by different artists, and will be available online Wednesday, with a very limited run of CDs to be released later.
Angle magazine cofounder Philip Brett said he chose Habitat for Humanity because it was the cause that resonated most with him at this time of year.
“Many people associate Christmas with going home and getting together with family, and Habitat for Humanity creates homes,” he said. “It’s tough to imagine, especially in Korea with the cold winters, anybody without a home or without accommodation at this time of year.”
Singer-songwriter Swanny is one of the artists on Angle Magazine’s “Home for the Holidays” Christmas charity album. (Joochan Kim)
The album will be an eclectic mix of genres, with punk and folk rubbing shoulders with electronic music from the likes of Graye, Brett said, but it has a theme true to its Christmas tree cover.
“Some people have written their own songs, based around not necessarily Christmas or Christianity as such but connected to the time of year and the season, and some people have gone for reworking some old classics. In general they have stuck to the Christmas season,” Brett said.
Artists will include Yamagata Tweakster, the Plastic Kiz and Skanking Bunny, who supply the curiously named “Last Dancing with Mr. Old Bear.”
There will only be 50 CD copies sold, each coming with a cardboard cover illustrated by hand by a local artist.
Angle features artists’ work in its pages and also helps curate exhibitions at a local gallery called Mo’im. The magazine set up an event on Thursday night to help these artists network with each other while creating the covers.
“Local artists who are involved in the gallery are going to hand draw a cover on every single case, so each case will have a completely different image,” said Brett.
At the moment there is only one outlet for the record, chosen to minimize the costs. The website takes 15 percent of sales, but after that all money received will go to Habitat for Humanity.
The online version of the album will be available on anglemagazine.bandcamp.com.
By Paul Kerry (paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)
