Saturday (15/03) marked the 5th episode of Music Gallery, a local music festival which was organized by BSO Band FEUI. With significant improvements of quality in each year, Music Gallery –or known as Mugall, is gradually making its way as the local festival to look forward to. The tickets were selling out so fast at some point it became hard to find, all because of the enticingly hard-to-resist line of performers. The 5th Mugall invited Jirapah, MMS, Monkey To Millionaire, Ramayana Soul, Banda Neira, Payung Teduh, and NAIF. And beside the selection of incredible local talents, this year Mugall added an international act, the France-based indie-pop band Tahiti 80. Another intriguing part laid on the setlist that there were SORE, Mondo Gascaro, The Trees and the Wild, and BARASUARA. We couldn’t help but wonder how’s the reunion going in the backstage.

Shifting spot from the usual Upper Room Annex Building to a more southern part of Jakarta, the 5th Mugall took place in Gandaria City. Around 2pm the Bookstore Club, Selimut Cokelat, Circarama, and Jirapah warmed up the Pertamina Stage on Skeeno Hall, while Solace, Fourtwnty, Bageurs, and Monkey2Millionaire entertained passersby from the Piazza Stage. While we were around the Piazza, we could gaze and contemplate upon the art installations of Synaesthesia: Tasting Words, Seeing Sounds, Hearing Colors.

With the separated venues located on different levels –3rd floor and ground floor, one would have to choose the more desirable stage. Not really a pleasant options, then We decided to start at Pertamina Stage to see BARASUARA. Iga Massardi, the lead vocalist, shared the fact that he’s about to be a father before he continued to rock the stage. Within their 8 songs, the constant sing-a-long and the perfectly synchronized lighting boosted up their already powerful performance.

The huge venue was starting to feel packed around the time for The Trees and The Wild, and the entrance queue had just become really long. Whereas people who needed outdoor air would likely choose to hang out in Piazza Stage as Mondo Gascaro soothed the ambiance with “Our Day Will Come” and “Naked”. Along with Mian Tiara, they sang the rendition of Chrisye’s “Serasa”, followed by “Komorebi” which attracted the audience to come closer.

Banda Neira was scheduled to perform almost in time for Tahiti 80, but the audience in Piazza Stage grew larger. They brought melancholy to a historical level with the song “Mawar” –titled from the name of an army squad responsible for kidnapping activists in New Order era, and “Tini dan Yanti” which lyrics were adopted from writings on a prison wall. “La historia me absolvera, history will absolve me”, Rara Sekar (vocal) explained the excerpt of the song.

Upstairs at the Pertamina Stage, Xavier Boyer greetings of “Halo Jakarta, senang bisa bertemu kembali!” responded with loud cheering. It’s their third visit to Indonesia and they haven’t lost their charm. Boyer (vocal, keyboard), Pedro Resende (bass), Mederic Gontier (guitar), Raphael Leger (synth, percussion) and Sylvain Marchand (drum) were excited to be back. Though they were sweating because of the heat, that did not stop them from being energetic on stage. With songs from their latest album, Ballroom,  Boyer lead the audience to sing along. After about 12 songs, Tahiti 80 signed out without “Heartbeat”. Of course that’s a cue to request an encore. So they went back on stage and served the most awaited line: Can you feel my heartbeat when I’m close to you?

It’s almost midnight, but the audiences stayed for NAIF and Payung Teduh. NAIF songs never fails to please the crowd for a classic karaoke session, from “Air dan Api” to the classic hit “Piknik 72″. It is an admirable decision to put NAIF as closing act; a gesture of staying committed to Music Gallery’s main purpose of showcasing great local bands.

More photos: The 5th Music Gallery 2015 on Facebook

Consistently providing a delightful option to enjoy local music pride, Music Gallery is now hitting 4th year with “Sense the Vibe” as its theme. The S.I.G.I.T, White Shoes and The Couples Company, TIKA and the Dissidents, SORE, Adhitia Sofyan, L’alphalpha, Morfem, Sunmantra, Fuzzy Cats, Andre Harihandoyo and The Sonic People, Knees and Toes, Parisude, Orkes PMR, Glovves, Tokyolite, Blue N Berry, and BSO band; the list of performers were surely hard to be missed.

The afternoon started out easy. Some were hanging out while puffing cigs and listening to bands at the Propaganda stage which was located outside; some other were catching up with their friends at the Upper Room –the Auto2000 stage. To our observation, we saw quite a number of attendees wearing SORE’s “Sorealist” tees or Insurgent Army logo embedded to their attire. It was when SORE’s performance the audience really crowded up. The cheering went louder when Tigapagi’s very own Sigit joined the stage. And oh, the flying freebies! It’s hard not to get jealous of those who got to catch the“Sorealist” umbrellas thrown to the crowd as giveaways. Throughout the show we heard people whispering “Ssst..” loudly, as if telling to quiet down, when it’s actually a request for SORE’s newest single. Look around and you would find some confused or perhaps annoyed faces, not understanding what the shushing’s about. So cute.

An outdoor stage was a good point, so we would still get to watch bands while we’re doing things that are not allowed to do inside (eating, drinking, smoking, etc). Though that night, the hot and humid air of Jakarta combined with the bar-like cigarette smokes don’t really make people want to stick around longer. The bands who’s got to perform there had better be extra catchy to grab the attention. Or at least had been quite well-known, like Adhitia Sofyan, who most girls deliberately came to see, not only because they had to go outside.

The name Sense the Vibe was working out well, especially the background which screened different theme for each bands. Like the dreamy Aurora Borealis and shooting stars on L’alphalpha’s set, or the quirky slides for TIKA and the Dissident’s set. Sponsors were given special place on both big screens beside the stage; mutually beneficial yet way better than spreading logos as background. For the price of IDR 65000, you could even make profit by winning Mugall generous giveaways, such as Bratpack worth IDR 1,500,000. Other than the undeniably good music, numerous freebies, and enjoyable decoration, the strategic and convenient location of the venue was also a winning factor. It’s their 4th year and it definitely gets better. Way to go, Music Gallery!

More photos here

To complete our Kaleidoscope lists, we made a special list ’Local Album of The Year’ and gave you some reason why you should love them.

Frau – Happy Coda

Why we love this album: An orchestra of Frau’s sole vocal and her piano, the intertwining combination forms a strong characteristic. Whenever we heard her music, we just know it’s her. Happy Coda consists of eight tracks, in which if we try to make analogy, is like a recently grown-up woman telling bedtime stories based on her life experience. She shared the emotion of the story in such an intense yet graceful way, and gets us carried away until we sleep.
Our favourite pick: Water

Maliq & D’Essentials – Sriwedari

Why we love this album: What’s not to love? Their skill to create music is undoubtedly. They put lot of colour and power in this eight tracks album, From jazz to dangdut
Our favourite pick: Drama Romantika

Pandai Besi – Daur, Baur

Why we love this album: Pandai Besi is Efek Rumah Kaca’s alternate universe. Eventhough they’re just revamping ERK’s old numbers, they managed to create this significant distinction from the original version. Female background vocal from Nastasha and Irma adds an eerie-point to most of the songs. A good kind of eerie, fleeting beautifully with Cholil’s vocals and the trumpets. The arrangement gives more space for the instruments to show off their harmonious intricacy. It excites you with all the new details while you can still feel the sense of familiarity as you vaguely trace the original notes.
Our favourite pick: Menjadi Indonesia

Raisa – Heart to Heart

Why we love this album: Like many musician in this generation, Raisa has put a lot of effort for her latest album. She poured her heart out, she wrote some song by herself. The harmonious music suits her hauntingly beautiful voice.
Our favourite pick: Hari Bahagia

The S.I.G.I.T. – Detourn

Why we love this album: The record greeted us with haunted sound that can gives you goose bumps, then they rough it up with up beat and powerful guitar riff. The S.I.G.I.T. didn’t waste the seven years to just make an ordinary album, they mixed every kind of tunes that can create one mighty album.
Our favourite pick: Conundrum

SemakBelukar – SemakBelukar

Why we love this album: Crunchy percussion beat, sautéed with exquisite sound of accordion, and elegantly garnished with meaningful lyrics, makes SemakBelukar’s self titled album as one of the best album that everyone should put on their Album of The Year list.
Our favourite pick: Kalimat Satu

Sore – Sorealist

Why we love this album: Three songs that means a lot. Marking their comeback, it tells the fans that SORE is still alive and ready to get back in the field. And their single “Ssst…” is just incredibly refreshing.
Our favourite pick: Ssst…

Tulus — Tulus

Why we love this album: With the song “Sewindu” airing on major radio stations, this is the year where Tulus had his career catapulted. A rising star, as what most media says.The jazzy singer wins most hearts with his tender baritone voice, catchy tunes, and the heart-melting lyrics. Tulus sings about love; a theme that will forever be related to mankind. You might think you have had enough love songs in this world that it all just becomes tacky, but not with this one. The sincere poetical lyrics woven to swing-able tunes have made this album easy to digest, and made its way to warm your heart.
Our favourite pick: Tuan Nona Kesepian

White Shoes and The Couples Company – Menyanyikan Lagu-Lagu Daerah

Why we love this album: White Shoes and the Couples Company is doing covers of some selected Indonesian folksongs. And boy, aren’t they catchy. It also broaden our knowledge about our very own country and its folksongs, which most of us have never heard. Indonesia has amazing local tribe tunes!
Our favourite pick: Tjangkurileung

[photo source: band's facebook page]

Written on the audience booklet, “Joyland Festival is a two-day outdoor music festival located in a breezy park. It will be full of music, fun, happiness, and entertainment.” More people were coming in after the sun has set, just in time for White Shoes and the Couples Company (WSATCC). This year we have watched WSATCC shows every so often. It definitely goes at the very top on the list of Bands-We-Have-Seen-in-2013, yet it has never been boring. This night they played clips from Indonesian old movies, Tiga Dara (1956) and Ambisi (1973). If you felt familiar with the dialogues, it’s because those are the ones they covered in Skenario Masa Muda album: “…Siapa yang Salah-”, “…Foto Siapa-”, and “…Kenapa Melarang Kesenangan Saya-”. The crowd clamored when Nona Sari’s scream led to an intense outro of “Tam Tam Buku”. After WSATCC left the stage then we’re sure an encore is not gonna happen, we followed the crowd shifting to stage B. The indie-pop duo, Bandaneira, was already on stage singing songs from their first EP, Berjalan Lebih Jauh. Later they invited a fellow musician from Jogja, Gardika Gigih, adding pianica in collaboration of their guitar and glocks tunes.

Beside music gigs there were also movie screening. Hulahoop Soundings, a short movie by Edwin starring Ladya Cheryl and Nicholas Saputra, was catching audience with the dialogues of a phone-sex operator. The movie screening also gives a down time for the audience to enjoy the festival surrounding or fill our tummy. The night went on with more performance: Luky Annash with a pair of fury black wings, looking like a raven, playing gorgeous notes from his piano; Rock ‘N Roll Mafia getting us dancing shoes; and Dialog Dini Hari inducing harmonious choir of the longing crowd, as we don’t get to see them often here in Jakarta.

The Trees and The Wild (TTATW) was last to perform. It’s been a while since their latest gig. Without too much talking (even no talking at all), they brought out numbers from their upcoming album: “Serangan”, “ Tuah Sebak”, “Saija”, “Nyiur”, and “Empati Tamako”. No more Irish Girl or Fight the Future, TTATW new materials were shaped as long haul of each instruments building melodious suspense. Lyrics are set to minimum, mostly repetitive. Combined with the harmony of Remedy’s thin yet deep vocal and Tami’s powerful, high-pitched tone, TTATW delivers a hauntingly beautiful performance. By hearing this whole new package live hopefully means the album release is just around the corner.

On day 2 of the festival (08/12/13), the venue seemed to be brighter with all the little colorful lamps turned on. It started out with drizzle when Sajama Cut performed. That didn’t stop the audience from enjoying the day; what’s more romantic than watching your favorite band play while singing along under the umbrella with your loved one, right? Or, well, dancing under the rain has been proven to release serotonin that makes you happier. Seriously. So we get on our dancing shoes to the playful tunes of Sentimental Moods, continued with Bing and Polka Wars.

Later on Stage B, TigaPagi enchanted the audience with its live version of Roekmana’s Repertoire. The show’s gotten even more fulfilling when Ade Paloh joined in for the song “Alang-Alang” and Pita for “Nada Fiksi”. We thought the festival could not be more exciting than this but there were still three of the big guns for the night. Like a pingpong ball, the crowd then moved to stage A for Tika and the Dissidents. Other than “Red Red Cabaret” and “Mayday”, Tika and the Dissidents is in a mission to familiarize us with their upcoming album. It’s interesting that she narrated what’s the song about each time before they played it out. An oration delivered in the most contagious form: music. Each of the song has powerful message intertwined with blues-rock beats.

Float was up next. Meng (vocal) warmly greeted the audience and started the show with “3 Hari Untuk Selamanya”. It’s like a joyful rekindle with a long-lost friend. Catching up stories, singing it all out. Especially in the song “Sementara” which everyone always wholeheartedly sings. The set feels too short as it’s been very enjoyable. On stage A before SORE went on stage as the final act of Joyland Festival, there was short videos compilation, then Reza (guitar) revealed some of SORE’s new album material. Seems like there’ll be a lot of anticipated album for 2014!

The crowd cheered when finally SORE showed up on stage, but it was incomplete without Awan (bass, vocal). Right after the first song Awan joined the band, apparently all the whatnots before was to buy more time waiting for him to arrive. We did not mind at all, for the band gave the most numbers on setlist which included “No Fruits for Today”, “Mata Berdebu”, “Merintih Perih”, “Lihat”, “Setengah Lima”, “Essensimo”, “Karolina”, “Etalase”, “Pergi Tanpa Pesan”, “Ssst…”, and last for encore “Funk the Hole”. If the festival was a full course dinner, then this is the perfect dessert for a delightful treat.

Joyland Festival has brought local music festival to a whole new level and it’s definitely on the lead. With its interesting concept, jaw-dropping line-up, quirky-thematic decoration, reasonable ticket price, pleasant choice of venue, and the on-time schedule; everything was satisfyingly well organized. If you did not get to come to this year festival, our condolences to you because it really is an awesome weekend and you missed out a lot!

More photos here!

(Photos by Andriani, Andhika Budi, Satya Adiluhung, and Popomangun)

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

After we created a post on Buzzfeed people keep asking us why we didn’t put Tigapagi on that list. Well, this time we featured Tigapagi for this week’s Local Vocal. Tigapagi is a Bandung-based band consists of Sigit Pramudita, Eko Sakti, and Promadian Febrianto.

According to a biography on their website, they describe their band’s name Tigapagi was taken from such a view of one single point in time, when everything is about to begin in the moment when everything comes to an end. Tigapagi was born into the world after Sigit invited Eko and Prima to form a band in 2006. Seven years later, Tigapagi finally released their debut album ‘Roekmana’s Repertoire’ in 2013.

Roekmana’s Repertoire is a mix of classic and modern styles. Tigapagi is successfully partying Sundanese-keroncong with some touch of western. Sigit’s voice really suits the gentle strains of the guitars in ‘Alang-alang’, a single which released a week before the album. Some big names like Cholil Machmud from Efek Rumah Kaca, Ade Paloh from Sore, and Ajie from The Milo also helped Tigapagi to wrap this album. Not like any other indie bands that need process and time to adapt their music, Roekmana’s Repertoire will give you an amazing experience right when you listen the tracks.

Yes, we absolutely agree with you guys, Tigapagi is an incredible band that you should listen to.

Catch their performance at Joyland Festival 2013!

Festival Info
JOYLAND Festival
Taman Krida Loka, Taman Stadium Kolam Renang Senayang
Saturday – Sunday, December 7-8 2013
15.00-end
Ticket price: Rp 50.000/day
Ticket Box:
G Production
Jl. Wijaya II No.28
Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan
Phone: 0813 8248 2211
Ouval Research
Jl. Sultan Agung No. 3A-B
Bandung
Phone: 022-4265161
FB page: Joyland Festival
Twitter: @djaksphere

For our fellow readers in Malaysia, the hypest two-dayer festival, Urbanscapes in Malaysia is back!!! With Franz Ferdinand, Two Door Cinema Club, Tegan and Sara, Efterklang as their headliners, Urbanscape will kick your ass. This festival will be held at Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) on 23-24 November 2013.

Beside of three big headliners, the festival will give you top notch international and local names, fashion retailers, art installation pieces and comedian shows. This annual festival will feature three indonesian bands, they are L’Alphalpha, The Experience Brother, Sore plus Oh Chentaku, Kyoto Protocol, Obedient Wives Club and They Will Kill Us All for the regional performers.

The other good things about this year’s Urbanscapes is it’s not about the big weekend but they’re also adding two satellite shows. The first one is before the big weekend (on 31 oct) featuring Explosions in The Sky and Mew and the second show after the big weekend (on 2 dec) featuring Metric. Urbanscape founder and organiser Adrian Yap explains that the reason they made satellite shows is because they don’t want to lose out on acts who aren’t able to make it for the weekend festival. So for you cool Malaysians, are you sure you want to miss such a great festival experience like this one? Go grab your Urbanscapes tickets!!

Weekend passes:  RM187 (early bird); RM227 (presale); RM247
Satellite show: RM177 (per gig)
All-Access passes (festival plus satellite shows): RM397
Tickets are now on sale at www.ticketpro.com.my

Follow urbanscape on twitter and facebook for more info!

(Ena)