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Single Review: How Could You by The Triangle
Selepas Mocca Last Show Juli kemarin, setelah Arina hijrah ke negeri Paman Sam, belum ada lagi gebrakan baru dari para personilnya yang tedengar oleh kami. Hingga kami stumbled upon dengan satu band baru bernama The Triangle. Setelah membaca press release yang menyebutkan bahwa salah satu personilnya adalah Riko Prayitno, bassis dari Mocca, kami berpikir “ah, ini dia yang ditunggu-tunggu!”
Disini Riko berkolaborasi dengan dua orang lainnya: Fikri (gitaris Vincent Vega) dan Cil (gitar dan vokal) yang kebetulan dikenal Riko dari acara regular open mic di Beat and Bite Café setiap Jumat malam. Konsep tiga orang inilah yang akhirnya membuat mereka menamakan diri The Triangle. Meskipun di press releasenya band ini disebutkan baru terbentuk pada pertengahan tahun 2011, kami mendapati bahwa twitter page mereka telah dibuat sejak akhir 2010 (3 Desember 2010 tepatnya), maka bisa jadi project band ini telah mengembrio sejak saat itu.
Membawakan aliran indie rock dengan pengaruh band rock alternative dari Radiohead hingga Snow Patrol, The Triangle berusaha membalut musik yang galau nan megah dengan dukungan oleh beberapa additional player seperti Koi (drum) yang juga penggebuk drum di Ansaphone, Agung (keyboard), Tommy (trumpet), dan Dian (trombone).
Single perdananya How Could You, yang bisa didownload gratis disini, terdengar begitu gloomy dan dark membuat saya teringat masa-masa keemasan shoegaze sekitar tahun 2004-2006. Bayangan yang terlintas di imajinasi saya ketika mendengar lagu ini adalah mengendarai mobil selepas senja sehabis hujan di kota Bandung, habis diputusin pacar dan tidak tahu mau apa. Ramai tapi merasa sendiri dan terasing.
Which makes me wonder, does Riko actually do that when he wrote this piece?
17 October 2011 · Comments
Band Review: Hightime Rebellion
Berawal dari seringnya nama mereka muncul di timeline twitter saya, karena dibahas berulang kali oleh beberapa orang, semakin penasaranlah ketika mereka terpilih untuk menjadi band pembuka Tame Impala dan Chk Chk Chk pada 29 Oktober nanti. Hightime Rebellion? Ya, itu dia band yang saya maksud.
Berdasarkan myspace mereka saya tahu kalau band ini terbentuk pada tahun 2007 di Jakarta ketika para teman lama: Rendy Surindrapati (vokalis/pianis/gitaris), Jason Sutrisno (gitaris), Pulung Wahyudi (basis), dan Reza Arafat (drummer) berkumpul dan memutuskan membuat sebuah band. Ditambah dua personil baru Adji Dimas Ramayanda pada gitar dan Miyane Soemitro pada vokal perempuan.
Setelah malang melintang (beberapa menjadi line up utama) di beberapa indie gigs Jakarta seperti Superbad Vol. 15; di Bandung pada Interlude #2 di Beat and Bite Café dan Potluck Minimaliste Vol. 6; dan berhasil menembus event besar seperti Nylon Music Festival 2011, Trax FM Terusik Traxkustik 2011, dan Java Rockinland 2011. Akhirnya Hightime Rebellion akan merilis debut album mereka di bawah bendera FFWD Records, yang juga menjadi band non Bandung lokal pertama di FFWD. Kudos!
Ketujuh singlesnya yang saya dengarkan disini (my favorite one is Crest Mind – cukup mind blowing dibuatnya) semacam mengingatkan saya dengan Catatonia bercampur Camera Obscura. Dengan harmonisasi vokal, terutama vokal Miyane, yang sangat berkarakter. Mungkin kalau sejenak menutup mata dan mendengarkan, kita bahkan tidak akan tahu itu adalah band lokal Indonesia.
Itu sih menurut saya, menurut kamu?
14 October 2011 · Comments
When Indie Was Truly Indie
“They just stood there, oh so neat, while they played their swinging beat….
It’s been long overdue— we’ve been needing something new—
Sophisticated boom boom!”
— The Goodies, 1964
When we talked about indie we talk about any genre, scene, and subculture, stylistic and cultural attributes. And we talk about sophisticated thing. So have you heard about independent music?
In the early 1990, when “alternative rock” reached its points of popularity, indie movement began to creped, grew and crashed normality (and majority for that matter). The movement was elbowing the mainstream and shoving for new space. Indie music movement has a strong relationship with Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing, thus being created outside the mainstream and without any corporate financing. The very definition also embodies a sense of idealism and an anti-corporate attitude.
Became tired with an old stuff and lot more likely to smell fresh air, the movement started to make different kind of music other than what being perceived as commercial pop and mainstream culture. It was happening in the time when label have the ultimate power to decide who’s deserve to record. When the label can approach every sense of the art with their own “idealistic”.
“The rebellious” start to build their kingdom. Independent music emerging as an antidote to mainstream, and became more than just a branding tool. Do-It-Yourself aesthetic became their independent nature and passion for what they create. Creative process of mutual assistance among communities, become the way to show their music at that time.
The Internet has significant influence for indie culture, since the bloom of the movement also being the time when internet felt its first spotlight. It became a place to promote their “original creative rebellious”. A place for fans to find original music and a place for independent artists distribute their own music.
Websites like MySpace and iTunes become their own personal distro, a vending machine. Artists distribute their singles, informed the gig, update every activity they carried out to their fans and makes fans feels much closer to artists. Suddenly, like a magic spell, internet makes indie artists recognizable. They’re success at making strong community and transforming to be quite invincible.
Today the movement is bigger than they used to be. They have a “voice” and become an icon for the youth. Indie spirit is influencing every single thing and become a lifestyle. They make more than a movement, they make a revolution. And they already make a change.
3 June 2010 · Comments
World’s Indie Scene: Bandung
Bandung is known as a hometown for indie artists for the last two decades. Bandung give rise to so many creative and innovative artists with high quality and diverse kind of music, such as hardcore, punk, death metal, rock, hip-hop, ska, gothic, reggae, pop, ballads, electric and kroncong. Just like on other parts of the world, in Indonesia indie movement grew from a friendship, they work without intervention or assistance from major label and distribute their music by themselves.
In 1993, a band from Bandung, called PAS band, made a history as the first band that creates an independent album. Mini-album titled “Four Through The S.A.P” became Indonesia’s first independent album, was released and sold successfully. Samuel Marudut, the mastermind, was a Music Director for GMR Radio, one of the first rock stations in Indonesia. Not long after PAS band made the hits, two others independent-spirited band, Puppen and Pure Saturday was born. Since then the community who call themselves as the indie community began to form and evolve.
In early 1994, there was a legendary music studio which became a forerunner underground rock scene. A studio called Reverse was founded by Richard Mutter, PAS Band drummer at the time. Richard also formed an independent label, called 40.1.24, first debuted in 1997 with a compilation CD titled “Masaindahbangetsekalipisan”. Various high-profiled indie bands participated in this compilation; they were Burger Kill, Puppen, Papi, Rotten To The Core, Full of Hate and Waiting Room.
Saparua stadium emerges as a “holy ground” for independent musician at that time, which closely related with underground music. Saparua stadium, a silent witness of the musical movement in Bandung, became a host for genre such as punk, hardcore, and grindcore. Events such as Hollabalo (1994), Bandung Berisik (1995), Bandung Underground (1996), Gorong-Gorong (1997), and several more was being held thereafter.
In the past, before internet became familiar in Indonesia, the distribution of indie music were quite unique. Distribution of the records at that period being done by spreading from one friend/community to another. Marketing was done by bartering, selling, or open a sidewalks stall in the overhang of shopping mall or plaza at the heart of Bandung city. It was became a forerunner to the establishment of Riotic Distro, the first independent music record store.
The emerging of the internet paved new way of how these artists distribute their music. MySpace, YouTube and such became a new way of distribution used by “indie band community” to introduce their music. The S.I.G.I.T is one of indie band that utilizes the existence of the social networking site MySpace to introduce their songs. Through the internet, they eventually discovered by a record label from Australia and offer them a bid to release the album. Similar stories happen with fellow indie band White Shoes and the Couples Company, which managed to release an album under Chicago’s famous indie label called Minty Fresh. Utilizing the existence of the Internet network to introduce and distribute their music with no limits or geographical boundaries. These become the current trends conducted by almost all of indie bands in Indonesia.
Having their voices heard, they do not only figure out how to have fun, think about their appearance, and how to make the band famous. They took it all and giving back to the community. Various charity programs already being helped and held by various indie artists. With events such as music concerts for education, human rights and, the latest, for humanity, these independent musician has taken their spirit and voice one step further, to not only became good to hear, but also good to feel. Today, indie spirit in Indonesia has been flourished and always grows bigger with the time.
25 May 2010 · Comments
Free and Independent: We are the Indies!
As an introduction, we’re going to start blogging with reviewing some of the hottest indie scene around the world. We thought this going to be great, but in fact it was more than that. As our (small) research goes through online and offline media, our interest in the indie scene also groes bigger and bigger. We never see such phenomenon that represent the pop culture at its best. It’s also broaden our horizon…really! It shows us the true meaning of the these keywords: independent, diversity, tolerance, and social. Furthermore, we also found a lot of thing that not only great in music terms, but also fresh, with a behind-the-music story that sometimes wrenching but in other times inspiring. To sum all up, it’s been a great time doing these pieces!
Anyway, without further adue, let’s start from our own hometown: Bandung, Indonesia.
Hope you’re enjoying reading this article as much as we did researching it :)
25 May 2010 · Comments
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ToneHighway is a music web service that helps you find, listen and share new sound everyday. Upload and share your own music to popular social networks such as Twitter and Facebook and download from your favorite artists. Innovative music player interface that helps you scan through our music database while enjoying the stunning images. Bookmarks your favorite and filtered your search by genre or popularity. Experience music differently and share your sound to the world.
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