On Saturday, 12 March 2016, we went to The 6th Music Gallery and we can definitely tell you that it has indeed graduated from ‘Indonesia’s biggest indie music festival’ to the ‘biggest international indie music festival’ in the country. Following 5 successful years, The Music Gallery came back for its 6th year with “Paint Your Atmosphere” as its official theme, gradually getting better every year.

‘Elephant Kind’, ‘Dried Cassava’, ’Rahasia Viktor’ ‘Mondo Gascaro and Danilla’ are just some of the local acts included in their lineup for their two stages. They also invited Indonesia’s favorites, ‘Mocca’, ‘Maliq & d’Essential’ and ‘Float’ who headlined the ‘Intimate Stage’ . Other than top
notch local acts, this year they managed to add two bands all the way from Down Under, Panama and Last Dinosaurs who completed the lineup.

Other than great lineup, The 6th Music Gallery also had some things that made it one helluva night! Here are 6 of our favorite things about The 6th Music Gallery:

1. Festival with a View

Being held at the 7th floor of Kuningan City, Jakarta, this year Music Gallery offered us some great view of Jakarta from day to night. People taking turns for a glimpse and photo sesh of the breathtaking view of Jakarta under the sunset sky. The security personal also kept busy, telling people that it is actually dangerous to stand too close to the edge. But hey, at least you got great Instagram worthy pics right?

2. For the Love of Music!

It seemed that everyone who attended The Music Gallery was really there for the music. At any time, both stages were filled by music enthusiasts catching whoever was performing. Not everyone might knew all the acts, but everyone sure enjoyed every performance.

3. Parking Lot for a Stage

You think parking lot is limited for parking purposes only? They beg to differ. The 6th Music Gallery managed to transformed Kuningan City’s parking lot into a festival worthy venue. The crowds seemed to be enjoying the lineup at the ‘Intimate Stage’ where ‘Mocca’ and ‘Float’, among other local acts, performed. The whole thing made you think “What parking lot?”

4. Elephant Kind

There were definitely an elephant in the room. No, I’m not talking about the expression, I’m talking about Elephant Kind, who most definitely got the crowds going with they’re energetic tunes in numbers like ‘Oh Well’ and ‘Scenario III’ and equally impressive backdrop. Truly a force to be reckoned with.

5. Panama

One of the most anticipated act of the night was indeed this duo from Straya. Their electronic and indie pop sound made them stand out among other lineups. Based on the nonstop cheering, the crowd seemed to be thrilled for Panama’s set. Songs like ‘How We Feel’ and ‘Always’ kept the crowd moving and left wanting more.

6. Last Dinosaurs

The four piece band from Australia closed the night and the whole festival. For someone who just landed from Bangkok the day of, their energy were through the roof. Their catchy guitar riffs, jingly tunes and trippy backdrop sent the crowds to an euphoric mode. The night went on with a cover of Michael Jackson’s ‘Rock With You’ and they even managed to sneak in a nano second of Cher’s ‘Believe’ in to one of their numbers. But their own hits like ‘Zoom’ and ‘Honolulu’ were the real crowd pleaser of their whole set. From start to finish, the crowds never stopped singing back every words. The perfect ending to a great festival! With lineup of such high calibre, The 6th Music Gallery has proven that they’re worthy of the title Indonesia’s ‘biggest international indie music festival’ making them one of the must go to event of the year. Looking forward to next year’s Music Gallery!

Click here for more photos from the festival!

These 4 twee-boys are talented, good-looking, and absolutely hilarious; the wet dreams of indie teenage girls everywhere. Well, we got to sit down with these chill guys before their gig at the Bee for a candid talk about their misadventures with law enforcements and fans around the world.

You guys have recently spent some time touring in Japan, how was the whole experience and what did you guys do there?
Sean: We spent a bit of time down south, where Dan’s parents lived. We did some writing there, then we went back up and did a few shows around Japan. There was a mix of number of people in the crowd, one of them had like 20 people, but it was fun overall. And of course Lachlan and Michael got arrested for having a snow fight. Which was pretty interesting.

What? Why did you get arrested for having a snow fight?!
Michael: Well we got arrested in Sendai, up north.

Lachlan: It’s a long story, but it was basically because we were causing a ruckus. And it was the middle of the night.

Dan: And they didn’t bring their passports.

Michael: They were so nice though. Lachlan was in the next room speaking Japanese to one guy and I was in another room with another guy who could speak a bit more English. And he was asking me about my favourite movie and what Australia is like. It was so nice. It was just like a good chat.

While on the topic of Japan, did you play the Japanese version of Time&Place live while you were there?
Sean: No. I honestly don’t know how to do it. I mean, I sung it when we were recording but I was just making the sound of the words. I don’t know how to do it live.

How does playing gigs in Asia compare to playing back home in Australia?
Sean: Similar in some sense, but I think you guys are a bit more crazy. Maybe it’s because we don’t come here often and when we do it’s a rare opportunity. It’s awesome because of the size of the crowd, and if you tour anywhere else, it’s nowhere near as big.

Dan: In Australia the live music scene is pretty good, I mean you can see an international band coming in every fortnight usually. Which I assume doesn’t happen much here, so I guess that’s why you guys are more grateful.

Sean, you’ve said that Hayao Miyazaki animations are a big influence in the Last Dinosaurs sound, so what is your favourite Miyazaki film?
Sean: Yeah, it’s definitely a big influence. We grew up on watching it, and it’s very distinct. My favourites would have to be Laputa (Castle in the Sky) and Mononoke-hime (Princess Mononoke).

Being “celebrities” and all, i’m sure a lot of groupies have tried coming on to you. So what’s are some pick up lines they’ve tried to use?
Sean: Hah! I think the only ones who have every tried to pick us up are like the guys from the Dune Rats.

Lachlan: The fans can probably read that we’re not the kind of people pick up lines would work with. Either that or we’re not worth picking up I guess.

Oh! But I heard you got the scar on your right eyebrow from a groupie chasing you? What happened there?

(the band bursts out in laughter)

Lachlan: Hmm, how do I say this without being charged. Well, a fan of mine was being a bit… crazed. Like literally a little bit psychotic. I was trying to go to bed one night when she came up to my room. Long story short… I ended up running away. I was getting creeped out and just straight-up left my room.

To give you an idea of the space, it was a really old English building with narrow corridors. The type that you can get lost in pretty easily. Anyway, back to the story. So I started running and I was meaning to bolt down the stairs, but in my confusion I took the wrong door I was in the elevator room instead. When I realised that I was at the wrong door, I turned around, and as I did, she came into the elevator room. And that’s when I panicked.

The door was automatic so it was already swinging shut, but all I could think about was to keep on running. So as it was swinging, I ran straight into it. I was a bit drunk when that happened, but it was still really crazy. There was a pretty big gash on my forehead and I had to go to the hospital to get that sorted and everything.

Did she follow you to the hospital?
Lachlan: No she didn’t. She just stayed the night instead… With us…

Michael: It sounds so horrible even when you describe it. I mean it’s running away from someone while their straight-up looking at you. It’s like a horror film. All formalities drop with that.

Sean: It’s not a pick up line but what she was saying was, “I’m very disappointed with the fact that you guys don’t sleep naked”.

Dan: Oh yeah, THAT WAS SO WEIRD. But she said a lot of weird stuff.

Michael: If you’re reading, hello.

Sean: Actually we wonder where she is now. We haven’t seen her since.

What’s up with the scuba diver on your new shirts? What’s the inspiration behind it?

Dan: Let’s not get into that (laughs)

Sean: Well umm, I was … We can’t be sued, I guess… I was on eBay one day when I saw an awesome design. And well, we “copied” it.

Dan: We “stole” it.

Michael: But we all really liked it and it works because a lot of the new songs on the new album is going to be about water and the deep and diving.

Sean: Yeap, every song has at least one reference to diving or underwater.

What’s the back story with Michael and how did you guys get him to rejoin the band?
Sean: That ones a long story, it just seemed like a good idea really. But we started writing songs together and…

Dan: He paid us $10k.

Michael: I came up to them and said, hey guys, look. I saved up, here’s all my money, take it. Oh no, I’m kidding.

In a million years… What kind of legacy would you guys wanna leave behind?

Dan: I’m not sure whether people will still be around in a million years, but hopefully some people in 50 years time know who we are and they’ll still be listening to our music!

(Adeline Hong)

Brisbane Indie-Rock set-up Last Dinosaurs took their landing to Malaysia for the first time at The Bee last Tuesday along with their hometown buddies, Dune Rats. The two brought over a little flavor of home to stage, providing a show that was more casual rehearsal-like rather than a polished stage show. It was filled with humor, screaming teenagers and jumping fans alike, making the gig nothing less of entertaining.

Opening the night was Dune rats with their loud eccentric energy. Jolting the floor with their stage antics. Unfiltered at most, opening their set with a song titled “Fuck It”, they definitely didn’t hold back on their crazy all throughout their 6 song set. Straying your eyes away from Danny Beusa’s hilarious drunken facial expressions was something rather hard to do. Complemented with Brett’s full of life movements and BC’s baby like online casino face, the cheeky trio was definitely an entertaining act. From Danny replying himself when professing “Terima Kasih” (Thank you) with “Sama-Sama” (You’re welcome) and exclaiming “WE LOVE VAGINA!” on their last song to the tech crew throwing paper balls on stage, it really felt like an outgoing garage gig.

With an instant change of air after the interval, “Satellites” played over the speakers introducing Last Dinosaurs on stage. The four-piece teenage heartthrob band kicked off their set with “Weekend”, setting a joyful mood for everyone to shake their hips to. After gracing the crowd with a new unreleased track “Zero”, the half Japanese lead, Sean Caskey asked a favor from the crowd for more tequila shots. With his charming voice, it only took minutes before shots came casino online their way. One each, a toast was given as thanks to their fans.

The show became all the more interactive afterwards, with a guitar solo inserted version of “Time & Place” and upbeat “Honolulu”, Last Dinosaurs definitely took back the stage with their self assured confidence jumping their way around the stage, dropping smiles and inviting the crowd to reciprocate their energy. Took only a note before everyone started getting them selves into a groovy dance off. They even took a minute to give tribute to Australia’s rock legends, AC/DC. Having a small pool of songs up their sleeve, it was made clear that they have no encore to give, no wonder they saved their two banger songs “Andy” and “Zoom” for the finale, leaving the crowd wanting more but ending the night with nothing short of sheer amusement. Letting us into their relaxed rehearsal style performance, there couldn’t be more that they could’ve done to make the show a better one. (Photos : Adeline Hong)

After our ‘indie’ weekend early this month in Singapore for Camp Symmetry, we headed to the neighbor Malaysia with even bigger festival which combined art and music in MAEPS with big line ups such as Tegan & Sara, Franz Ferdinand, Efterklang, Sore, Obedient Wives Club, and much more.. too bad due to Alex Trimble’s of Two Door Cinema Club all their show in Asia had to be canceled. But anyway we met lots of friendly people and cool art stuff around, and for you who didn’t get the chance to get there, here’s our review of the fest so maybe you want to plan ahead for the next year!

How we get there? We went there by bus from Singapore, yes you read it right, 5 hours bus to Perhentian Serdang and a cab to the festival. Rain and sun can’t stop us from seeing what’s Urbanscapes all about. The venue itself was gigantic, maybe since it was actually Malaysian agricultural place, and the crowd was about the same as Singaporean festival goers or even more vary, since it was music and art festival. Many food stalls (so you won’t get hungry), exciting artwork and fancy pop up market.

How’s the first day? We were prepared with raincoats, boots and stuff, but the only thing we used that day was sunblock. Even though it was raining pretty heavy in Singapore, it was sunny like hell in Serdang. We arrived when Sore was playing at the Urbanscape stage, performing their hits as smoothly as usual. After that we scrolled the venue and couldn’t be more proud to see our bands performs and some friend’s art works exhibited there. Back to the main stage we saw Oh Chentaku perform, which was great indeed. Band that famous with their ‘Sing It Rock and Roll’ song, succeed brought the crowds to paid attention till their very last song.

We also went to the Next Stage where we witness some of the most random performance mixed by rapper and local ghost after. Its a bit surreal and funny at the same time. We dont have much time as we are heading to see another Indonesian act at Upfront stage, which is one of the line ups we didn’t expected to be amazed by. The Experience Brother, Daud and Ibrahim, proved once again that rock and roll are still alive. With songs taken from their Eye Contact album, the band succeed mixing Zeppelin’s rock and roll style with the spontaneous quirky only Indonesian can do it well, not to mention when they performed ‘She’s Alright’ which made the crowd couldn’t help but to sing a long.

Right after them, it was the Aussie’s very own next big thing, Last Dinosaurs. We’ve seen them several times already just in a year and yet they are still fun to watch. And apparently, they have huge fans here in Malaysia! Lots of teens, boys and girls, local and regional flew to Malaysia just to see this band. Performed the same set list as in Jakarta and Singapore, the band still being asked to do encore. Well, we hope that will encourage and inspire them to make more music for the next album.

And the headline of the night was Tegan & Sara. Even though we’ve seen them in Jakarta before, duo that known first time as ultimate commercial songs (well, I knew them from an advertisement) still had the thing to ‘heart-rob’ the crowds. Playing their hits such as ‘Alligator’ ,‘Back in Your Head’, ‘I Was A Fool’ to ‘Closer’ the crowd couldn’t be any happier than sing a long for more than an hour.

How’s the second day? On the second day we’re mostly chilling with our friends and people we met at the festival, talk with the artists around and enjoying ourselves by the cool vintage lo-fi performance by Obedient Wives Club. Group that has been recognize not as the female muslim group, but a group that consist of Singapore very own Keith Tan, YinQi, Sulaiman Supian, Lennat Mak and Cherie Ko, played songs from their EP ‘Murder Kill Baby’ and captured the crowds of lo-fi spectorgaze fans.

Beside OWC, we also ran to another stage where -another 4AD acts, Efterklang, performs. After our interview with Casper, we couldn’t be more surprised when Mads used ‘Angklung’ we gave for the intro of Hollow Mountain, followed by Casper and Rasmus on stage and that’s when all the magic of sounds happens! I mean really, they literarily used everything, from normal instruments, to ipad apps, to stage’s pillar like those Berlin Blue Man Group with less disco vibe. Despite of the heat outside combine with people inside the tent, this Danish band amazed the crowd with their electronic wave sounds. My worried about either the crowd were already melt by the heat or were there because of the music has been answered, when they forced to ‘pause’ their performance due to afternoon break, the crowd still remind the same. Ended by their hits Modern Drift, this band is definitely one of the band you must listen to if you are fans of Sin Fang, múm, and other Scandinavian experimental electronic music.

Right after Efterklang, we went to the highlight (or mine) of the festival seeing Franz Ferdinand! Even though I wasn’t a big fan, I couldn’t help but to sing a long and dance to their song. They performance were just addictive and let’s face it, no one could possibly stand still watching their energetic act. These Scottish ‘uncle’ brought all their hits to the table from Bullet, The Dark Of The Matinée, No You Girls, Tell Her Tonight, Evil Eye, Do You Want To, Walk Away, Horizon, CSF, Fallen, Jacqueline, Michael, Take Me Out, Love Illumination, This Fire, to Ulysses and not to mention their encore with Right Action, to Outsider. I think it has been a long time since I sang very loud and dance very passionately in a show.

As the technician packing the instruments, crowds went home, so it’s time for us to get back to reality. We took the last bus to the city center and grab the first bus to catch our flight home. Lets hope to see some more exciting line ups with less animal cause itchiness next year, and don’t forget to catch Urbanscapes’s final Satellite show featuring Canadian indie-rock giants Metric this December 3rd 2013.

More photos from the show here

Early this month, Singapore got visited by list of Indie bands around the globe thanks to Symmetry Entertainment. From the neighbor Australia to England and America, the bands headed to Symmetry’s debut big festival so called Camp Symmetry. Despite of the super humid weather, we can say this festival was pretty much hit the scene, especially if you’re one of the crowd who came to see your favorite indie bands playing live.

The festival which located in the same place as Singapore’s Laneway Music Festival at The Meadows, Garden By The Bay, started by British promising indie band Veronica Falls. Played their indie pop songs which most taken from their latest album “Waiting For Something To Happen” such as Tell Me, Broken Toy, My Heart Beats, Buried Alive to songs from their debut self – titled album, with Bad Feeling and not to mention their hits My Heat Beats.

Not sure if its because of the fact that it was a group of youngster who organized the festival or I became older every minute, but with so many young urban-outfitters-summer-hipsters-victims filling the area, I knew for sure the next two Australian bands was the reason these kids coming to the festival, either because of their cute looking appearance or catchy pop rock music.

The first band was four pieced cool guys from Brisbane, Last Dinosaurs. They succeed proofing that Brisbane wasn’t just a place for multicultural kids to grew up but also to make catchy indie music, as we can see that most of the crowd can sing a long to their songs from Zoom album. A plus from me personally when they covered songs that only people who lives in the 90s can understand how it feels when Modjo’ s Lady and Spiller‘s Groovejet cheesy songs plays in a catchy indie tunes - Time. To. Dance.

The second act from Australia is no other than the cute group San Cisco, as they always reminds me of a younger version of British band Metronomy, same concept – catchy tunes and a girl as drummer. Its amazing how I found out about these bands several years ago and never thought they succeed taking Golden Revolver to Metaphors a half way through the globe and finally perform in Singapore and seeing them live still as cute as I remember them back then.

From catchy Australian tunes we moved to the American indie lo-fi music, as  Jack Tatum with his band Wild Nothing entertain more laid-back-chill crowd. To be honest, they are the reason I came for the festival on the first place, and it was pretty sad that due to the technical problems, their performances wasn’t as good as I expected, but anyway they handle it pretty cool, and played songs I wanted to hear live, which mostly from Empty Estate album such as Ocean Repeating, Data World, A Dancing Shell, and mixed of Nocturne and Gemini album such as Midnight Song, Nocturne, The Blue Dress, Summer Holiday and Chinatown.

The next performance was this bearded big guy with heart of gold (I just add that so it sounds mellow), William Fitzsimmons smoothly weeped all the sweat and tiredness of the heat with his swift modest acoustic folk tunes, which mostly taken from his Golden In The Shadow album and a little of Derivatives.

This was the second time I saw Ra Ra Riot performance, as they have played in Jakarta last year for Love Garage, in which reminds me of our cool interview and their quick snap in snap go catchy show back then. But as it was in a different place and time, this time they were more relax playing mostly form Beta Love album, and suprisingly they played songs from The Rhumb Line as well such as St. Peter’s Day Festival.

Then, the one and only California Best Coast came on stage with her Metallica shirt and not mention the multi instrumentalist Bobb Bruno stealing everyone’s attention with songs such as Crazy for You, Fade Away and The Only Place and everyone’s ultimate hits song, Boyfriend.

It was kind of embarrassing sometimes when it comes to recognizing band members, I will probably be the worst of all since I am one of those person who care less about who’s who in the band, all I want to know is how well they play. So when Ryan greeted us before their performance, we thought he was just some random tech guy, which then we realized that he was the member of The Cribs in which that night played We Share The Same Skies, Things You Should Be Know, Mirror Kissers, Glitters Like Gold, to Chi-Town and Leather Jacket Song. Well, they are pretty cool peeps though, and a plus for singing songs from my high school era..

Apparently, Indonesia (and some other asian countries) can be proud of because being able to brought Mew for the 4th time and now finally be able to play in Singapore for the first time. So it wasn’t a surprise when the crowd couldn’t stop being amaze by the symphonic tracks from Special , The Zookeeper’s Boy , Making Friend. 

There’s no other better way to end the festival beside watching Explosions in the Sky explode the sky literarily with their lighting stage and songs which taken from Those Who Tell The True Shall Die, Those Who Tell The True Shall Live. And as the clock heading to midnight, it’s time for us to catch the last train downtown (Oh well singapore!) and looking forward to see more progress on their sophomore festival

More pics & infos from the fest here

Tracklist:

1. El Guincho – Bombay
2. Goldfrapp – Happiness
3. Wild Belle – Keep You
4. Twin Sister – Stop
5. Supercar – Yumegiwa Last Boy
6. Radio Dept. – David
7. New Radicals – You Get What You Give
8. Modjo – Lady (hear me tonight)
9. Atlas Sound – Logos
10. Beach Boys – Good Vibrations
11. Blur – Song 2
12. Fleetwood Mac – Dreams