From Post-Hardcore to Psychedelic: The Musical Colors of the Three Teams on the '2026 Hello Rookie' Preliminary Stage

The music program 'EBS Space' has released the preliminary live stages for '2026 Hello Rookie,' a project to discover new rookies. In this video, three teams of artists employing different musical grammars appeared to showcase their respective sounds.

Intense Heaviness Sound, CASUALLY CONNECTED's Post-Hardcore

CASUALLY CONNECTED, who graced the first stage, implemented a heavy sound based on post-hardcore and metalcore. According to the description of the released video, they convey the charm of the sounds that post-hardcore and metalcore can provide, featuring explosive yet sophisticated rhythms and guitar riffs that blast low and heavy throughout. In particular, by adding emotional elements produced through the alternation of growling and clean vocals, they announced the birth of an intense rookie in the heaviness genre.

The Aesthetics of Comfortable Melodies, the Indie Pop aimed for by homest@y

Following them, homest@y captured the positive emotions associated with their team name in their music. Their musical characteristic is singing of comfort and coziness through a relaxed atmosphere that is not exaggerated. The video description stated that they possess a great talent for creating catchy melodies amidst that comfort. They were evaluated as a team that knows well that the emotional aspect the band aims for is completed through melody and sound, and that in 'indie pop,' the emphasis ultimately lies on 'pop.'

Urban Psychedelia, kwacamolee's Minimal Guitar Pop

Finally, kwacamolee is a team formed around producer Gwaca, and they interpreted the language of Black music through dreamy bedroom pop and lo-fi pop band sounds. They presented music reminiscent of an 'urban psychedelia' landscape. By mixing non-clinging R&B, non-exuberant funk, and languidly flowing psychedelic textures, they completed a stage representing the type of minimal modern guitar pop.