Love X Stereo (Korean: 러브엑스테레오) is an electro duo from

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. Consisting lead vocalist and synthesizer player Annie Ko and guitarist and producer Toby Hwang, the duo debuted in 2011 by releasing an EP album called Buzzin'.

Band members

* Annie Ko: lead vocals, synthesizers * Toby Hwang: producer, guitar, bass, synthesizers

History

1998-2011: 18Cruk and Skrew Attack

In 1998, Toby Hwang, then-bassist for Korean punk rock band 18Cruk, decided to quit to from a new 3-piece band, Skrew Attack. Inspired by the faster-paced sounds of bands like

NOFX NOFX () is an American punk rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1983. Vocalist/bassist Fat Mike, guitarist Eric Melvin and drummer Erik Sandin are original founding and longest-serving members of the band, who have appeared on every ...

, Black Flag,

Bad Religion Bad Religion is an American punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilitie ...

, and

Minor Threat Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Washington, D.C. by vocalist Ian MacKaye and drummer Jeff Nelson. MacKaye and Nelson had played in several other bands together, and recruited bassist Brian Baker and guitaris ...

, Hwang cycled through numerous lineup changes with Skrew Attack before meeting vocalist Annie Ko in the Hongdae neighborhood in 2005. Ko had attended

Ewha Womans University Ewha Womans University () is a private women's university in Seoul founded in 1886 by Mary F. Scranton under Emperor Gojong. It was the first university founded in South Korea. Currently, Ewha is one of the world's largest female educational ins ...

and

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a national public research university located in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1946, Seoul National University is largely considered the most prestigious university in South Korea; it is one of the three "S ...

(studying physics and astronomy, respectively), before pursuing a career as a singer. Hwang and Ko remained core members of Skrew Attack until 2011.

2011-present: Name change and Love X Stereo

Driven by a desire to branch out from their punk rock beginnings, Hwang and Ko decided to change the band's name to Love X Stereo, a name derived from Hwang's record label Stereo City Records. In a 2013 interview with

Schoolkids Records Schoolkids Records is a retail indie record store based in the "Triangle" region of Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Founded in 1974, Schoolkids is one of the longest-running music retail stores in the country and at one point had seven ...

' BLURT Magazine, Hwang states:

We did punk rock for years and years, so this time we wanted to do something different, something that isn’t necessarily punk rock, and something fresh and new. We love to add experimental flavor into our music, adding different elements from different genres that we like, such as trip hop, electro, alternative rock etc. So, changing band name was quite inevitable.

Love X Stereo released their debut EP, ''Buzzin on December 28, 2011, incorporating elements of electronic music not previously featured in Skrew Attack's music. Subsequent releases have continued to feature heavy use of synthesizers and drum machines, further developing their electro-rock sound.

Discography

LP

EP

V/A

International Festivals

* Music Matters Live 2023 (

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

) * Mu:Con 2023 (

) * KOBA 2023 (

) *

NAMM The NAMM Show is an annual event in the United States that is organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), who describe it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

Believe in Music Week 2021 (Global Streaming) * Mu:Con 2020 (

) *

Ubud Ubud is a town on the Indonesian island of Bali in Ubud District, located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the central foothills of the Gianyar regency. Promoted as an arts and culture centre, it has developed a large tourism industry. ...

Food Festival 2019 (

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

) *

Reeperbahn The Reeperbahn () is a street and entertainment district in Hamburg's St. Pauli district, one of the two centres of Hamburg's nightlife (the other being Sternschanze) and also the city's major red-light district. In German, it is also nickn ...

2018 (

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

) * APaMM (Asia Pacific Music Meeting) 2018 (

Ulsan Ulsan (), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighboring ...

) *

Baybeats Baybeats is an annual 3-day alternative music festival organized by Esplanade, and held in Singapore. It showcases various local acts such as regional and international artists. The festival is located at Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay and is 1 ...

2018 (

) * FOCUS Wales 2017 (

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

) *

Pentaport Rock Festival Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival () is a rock festival which is held annually in Incheon, South Korea for three days in August. Launched in 2006, it is considered one of the biggest live music events in South Korea. The festival covers various genr ...

2016 (

Incheon Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

) *

KCON (music festival) KCON is an annual convention held in locations across the world, created by Koreaboo and organized by CJ E&M. It was first held in Southern California in 2012 and has since expanded to ten countries as of 2022. In 2015, KCON expanded to Japan an ...

2016 (

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

) *

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

2016 (

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

) *

Vans Vans is an American manufacturer of skateboarding shoes and related apparel, established in Anaheim, California, and owned by VF Corporation. The company also sponsors surf, snowboarding, BMX, and motocross teams. From 1996 to 2019, the comp ...

New Wave Musicfest 2015 (

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

) * Mu:Con 2015 (

) *

Zandari Festa Zandari Festa is a three-day music festival and showcase held in various live music venues and other locations in the area around Hongik University in Seoul. Every year, it offers around 100 music acts from Korea and around the world, as well as ...

2015 (

) *

Canadian Music Week Canadian Music Week (or CMW) is an industry conference and music festival held over ten days in Toronto and Ontario, Canada. History Canadian Music Week began in 1981 and has grown to become one of Canada's largest and most influential media a ...

2015 (

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

) *

CMJ Music Marathon CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

2014 (

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) * Culture Collide 2014 (

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

) *

Hyundai Card Hyundai Card (Hangul:현대카드) is a credit card company under Hyundai Motor Group headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. In 1995, Hyundai Motor Group acquired Diners Club Korea, and changed its name to Hyundai Card in 2001. The company’s str ...

CityBreak 2014 (

) *

Ultra Music Festival Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is an annual outdoor electronic music festival that takes place during March in Miami, Florida, United States. The festival was founded in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes. It was first held on Miami Beach, bu ...

2014 (

) * Music Matters Live 2014 (

) *

2014 (

) *

2013 (

) * Indie Week Canada 2013 (

) *

2012 (

) *

Jisan Valley Rock Festival Valley Rock Festival (also known as VRF, Jisan Valley Rock Festival and Ansan Valley Rock Festival) is held annually on the last weekend of July. Sharing many artists, the festival is arranged by 9 Ent, which is Smash Corporation, and in close co ...

2012 (

Icheon Icheon () is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Together with Yeoju, Icheon is known as a center of South Korean ceramic manufacturing and is a UNESCO City of Crafts and Folk Art. Other famous local products include peaches and rice. Loc ...

)

Awards

* 2018 Best Music Video: Rage Is Not Enough (

Canada International Film Festival The Edgewater Casino is a former casino that was located at 760 Pacific Blvd South Vancouver, British Columbia. It was in operation from 2005 to 2017. History The Edgwater Casino opened in February 2005. In 2006, the casino was acquired by Para ...

) * 2017 Best Music Video: Nominee (Girona Film Festival) * 2017 Best Dance & Electronic Album of the Year: Nominee (

Korean Music Awards The Korean Music Awards () is an annual South Korean music awards show that honors both mainstream and underground musical artists from a variety of genres. Unlike other major South Korean music awards, which largely rely on record sales to det ...

) * K-Rookies 2014 Annual Finals: Runner-Up (

Korea Creative Content Agency The Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) is a South Korean government agency which is affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and is charged with governing cultural content. As part of its partnership the Export-Import Bank ...

)

External links

Official Website

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

SoundCloud

Instagram

References

{{Authority control South Korean synthpop groups South Korean electronic music groups Electropunk musical groups South Korean electronic rock musical groups South Korean musical duos Male–female musical duos Electronic music duos