Following weeks of speculation Kim Jong-un’s mysterious disappearance can finally be explained. Last month The Cheese Grater’s Music Editor, Jim Tonze, tracked down North Korea’s Su- preme Leader to a studio beneath a der- elict Dalston railway arch.
Kim has been working on a debut album with his band Song.Un., their name a characteristically subversive nod to North Korea’s military-dominated domestic policy Seon’gun. I find him sat on a battered Grand Marshal amp, dressed in his trademark military-style jacket scattered anarchically with pins and medals.
Song.Un’s first single, released in the UK as Intercontinental Ballistic Hype- man, failed to chart. It sold just a few hundred copies, possibly due to it only being released on limited edition vinyl. I ask Kim if North Korea’s state oppo- sition to capitalist markets prevented a wider digital release. “No, we just want- ed to be less Saturdays and more Sonic Youth, yeah? Also most people in North Korea only have gramophones.”
Kim, who cites influences as diverse as Bowie, New Order and the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Korean Peo- ple’s Army, describes Song.Un’s sound as ‘Janelle Monae and [Vampire Week- end’s] Ezra Koenig rutting over Sein- feld’s dope bass licks’.
Has his overwhelming popularity in North Korea driven him to London? When I point out his slicked back, ‘teddy boy’ style haircut, which has be- come ubiquitous among North Korean men desperate to imitate Kim, he gives a knowing smile.
“At first it was kinda cool, you know, having all these kids trying to look like you. Then I saw Psy had gone for a similar thing, and I thought ‘Hey man, I’ve fought to get away from all those bullshit K-Pop clichés’. I needed a break, if only for the sake of my creativity.”
At this point I acknowledge the bright yellow walkman hanging from his neck. The Sony branding is covered with a red star sticker and a mixtape is visible through the perspex: “Do you find older technology brings more of an analogue experience to your mu- sic?” Kim looks shocked: “What, this!? This was a gift from the Politburo, more advanced than any western technol- ogy. Look, it changes sides automati- cally when the tape runs down!” At this point Kim fiddles with the walkman, his chubby fingers unable to isolate just one button, and the tape begins to re- wind. “Well, you get what I mean.”
Song.Un’s album You Will Always Find Me Purging The Kitchen At Parties is released on December 13th, although it has already gone multi-platinum ac- cording to The Korean Central News Agency.