We hurried our way upstairs as we heard melodious brass instruments playing: Sentimental Moods was up. The rooftop was already filled with attendees, most have taken sitting down position. Too bad since the venue had been perfect for a dance floor and the music was so catchy. This Jakarta-based ska band pulled an all-out, lively performance to get us dancing. Everybody should have taken off their shoes and danced along, but it was a rather laid-back crowd. Still, Sentimental Moods has set the night to a good start. Up next was Racun Kota, and the tune changed drastically 180°. A techno guy with Macbook controlling the beat, a casual looking guy doing rap, and a shirtless guy with a bottle of Anggur Merah dominating the microphone with raging vocal, made some digital-absurd-noise-hardcore concept of music. The stage was set as provoking riot of which the audience seemed too startled to respond. Hightime Rebellion ended the rooftop session with their mixture of danceable pop-funk.

Downstairs in front of Salihara Theater, lines of people were already formed, waiting to get in. Most of today’s attendees were presumably WSATCC’s devotee. “No need to line-up now, if you already have the ticket you will get a seat,” said one of the organizer to the eager crowd, yet they were unmoved. Once everyone’s comfortable in their seats, the lamps dimmed and spotlights on. WSATCC warmed the stage with three songs back-to-back before greeting the audiences. What interesting was the interactive stage designs where lamps and properties were played to enhance the ambiance of the show. The glamorous disco ball lighting up the room somehow made it feel like the 80’s school dances, and if it were not a full seat theater maybe we could all finally move our feet and dance like Sari did.

Everything was great until “Lembe-Lembe” was pronounced as the last song on setlist, then the room went lightless. Almost too dark for a show, not even spotlights to the band. We thought it was another stage setup as we saw all the little bulbs behind them were taken away, but that was it until the end of the song. It felt like you were in a restaurant, still eating but the waiter had already cleaning up the table. Kind of a bummer.

After WSATCC, the white backdrop was pulled away, revealing a mystical set for Kelelawar Malam. As a horror-punk band, Kelelawar Malam has known for the theatrical-horror stage act; sometimes they even came with people dressing as Indonesia ghosts. Sadly we had to miss the last show of this “Hiburan Malam Minggu” event. This whole night was supposed to be a dance party with all this dance-able beat but perhaps it’s just not our thing here? If you like the beat you should dance to it, alright! Nevertheless, it has been an enjoyable night and we do hope there will be more of this in the upcoming year.

Before we caught music performances, RRREC Fest played some clip from old movie ‘Ambisi’. Benyamin S and Bing Slamet were the stars in that movie. After that we watched four movies made by Jakarta’s film maker. One of our favorite is Sinema Elektronik by Anggun priambodo. It reminds us about some Indonesia’s Tv Series that we used to watch in early 2000.

Nine guys with black shirt came up on stage. It was Sentimental Moods. The upbeat tunes from nine differents music instruments including percussion, saxophones  and trumpet. They started the show with song Gradasi and also played new song for their upcoming album that will be released on June/July this year Head Free. People started to shake their body and feet when Sentimental Moods played their songs. Approximately they played eight songs. This ska band also covered Ismail Marzuki’s Payung Fantasi with their own style.

second to perform was Jirapah. Ken Jenie, Mar Galo, Januar Kristianto, Yudhis Tira, and Nico Gozali started making some noise with their song Telephones. The post rock ambiance suddenly showed up with a help from the breezy weather followed by their song Muto. Although Jirapah is a Jakarta based band but Ken (vox & guitar) started the band as one-man-show in New York, USA. They performed eight songs and closed their performance with SOL.

Indie pop band with female vocalist, Hightime Rebellion that we put on our Most Anticipated Local Bands in 2012 was up with their sophisticated aura. With the powerful bass-line they succeeded to make the crowd gone wild. This was the second time they played in RRREC FEST.

and the last but not least Sigmun. The rock band from Bandung was conquered to create an epic rock atmosphere to close the third show made by Ruang Rupa with some songs from their latest EP “Cerebro”. Even though they haven’t released their album yet we can say that they are currently the most rocking local band.

Well however the line ups weren’t as many and as big as the RRREC FEST #2, but Ruang Rupa can still show us  another round of how to serve great local acts to the local fans.

If we can quote from George Gerswhin that ”True music must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time..” ,  probably that prove whats happening right now in our local music scene. Time changes and we can get influences and ideas from so many places, some are just making it worst but some making the best of us out. Here are some of our local bands that we sees potentially giving their best out for this year.

STARS & RABBITS ( YK ) are an Indonesian folk music duo, formed in early 2011 in Yogyakarta. The group consisted of singer-songwriter Elda Suryani (born May 29, 1983) and musician Adi Widodo (born July 31, 1983). Their single ‘Worth It’ drew them attention from a small variety of communities in Indonesia and the United Kingdom, as part of the indie pop/folk scene. Stars and Rabbit engages a do-it-yourself approach to writing and recording. Their music is a melding of pop and folk influences with raw simplicity of composition, arrangement, and performance.

Why? In this folk era which is getting bigger specially in Indonesia, this Jogja’s duo may have more attention because of the vocalist, Elda which previously was with supergroup EVO, have more soft and comfortable sound in this band.

contact:
+62 812 2704 0992 / +62 856 4380 4520 / link 

HIGHTIME REBELLION ( JKT ) A breath of fresh air with a unique breed between Brit pop, funk, folk, the psychedelic beat and baseline of House music, perfected with the sultry voice of its female vocalist, Indonesian indie band Hightime Rebellion, shapes a music genre of its own. Their upcoming album, which includes singles ‘Crest of Mind’, ‘Waking Hour’, ‘Writer in the Window’ and the notable ‘All Things Borrowed’, sounds like a Beatles-esque cover of Blondie songs with an atmosphere reminiscent of the Mamas and the Papas.

Hightime Rebellion gained early popularity and cult following through the club music scene such as Indo Dance Music Festival and Revive, transgressing to indie gigs namely JKT: Superbad!, RRREC Music Festival, Time Out on the Up BDG: Minimaliste, Interlude. They finally drew public attention through large events, such as Nylon Music Festival 2011, Trax FM Terusik Traxkustik 2011 and Java Rockin’land 2011.

Why? Maybe this is one of the bands that we heard mostly in every gigs in 2011. After releasing 3 of their singles last year, they promised to make their full studio album this year, as one of Jakarta’s band who got signed under FFWD Records their debut album will be one of the most anticipated this year by indie music listener.

contact:
Marine Ramdhani of FFWD Records at 0818220164 / hightime.rebellion@gmail.com / @hightimeband

POLKA WARS ( JKT ) is an alternative band which formed in early 2010. At first, this Jakarta-based band consists of 4 young men : Karaeng Raja Adjie, Billy Aulia Saleh, Giovanni rahmadeva & Xandega Tahajuansya. Polka wars will also be assisted by a variety of reliable producers with a variety of different backgrounds from Indonesia. The first is Uga Swastadi, who’s continuing his musical studies in US at the moment, to the various experimental / noise / hip hop musicians such as Rizky Auliya (Sawi Lieu, Sangsaka Worship) and Wing Narada Putra (Maverick ), with hope that they’ll got a wide range of song characteristics on their next release.

Why? The rising of folk era will be more competitive because of quite many old bands coming back this year or some of them maybe changing their genre to folk. So this band with some Mumford & Sons kinda style, can be another alternative band we should anticipated as the next big thing.

Contact
Deva +62 857 1686 3638 / +62857 1686 3638 / @polkawars

Roman Foot Soldiers ( JKT ) Like their hometown Jakarta, Roman Foot Soldiers is a blend of many eccentric musical characters. Such contrasts however didn’t produce a clash of creativity, but it did inspire the group to pursue a sound unique enough to satisfy all band members’ appetite.

As for the name of the band, it represents both their fascination for epic war films and solidarity. Six distinct pieces brought together by a common cause: a passion for music.

Why? The band was made in Vancouver, Canada and actually already released their EP titled Kitsilano with 2 singles and a video clip titled ‘You Make Me Feel Like Summer’, and in late 2011 they also released their new video clip titled ‘Waterfront’. We put them on our list is because beside of their good looking appearances and also their songs remind us of a France band, Phoenix

Contact:
link@romanftsoldiers / link 

The Triangle ( BDG ) With sounds of indie rock mixed with acoustic guitar, The Triangle apparently got much influences from many alternative music from Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkin, The National till Snow Patrol. With music that more using dark theme, Riko which we may know from Mocca band, making this band more authentically as dark yet melodically sounded, or as they say their music are “Masculine, sophisticated, grande, technical, and melodious”

This band itself is on the process of making new album, and they said they’re inspired by isolation theme, which we can hear from their first single “How Could You”.

Why? Riko which more recognise from the swing indie pop band Mocca, already make moves and get more attention from his twitter and social network strategy and got positive respond from his fans, so this year they are going to release their second single. Lets see if Riko and his band can erase the image of his pervious swing style band.

Contact
Vira Yudha 0818622344
Triangle Management
Jl. Ambon No.8 Bandung
contact@thetriangleband.com
@triangle_band / link

Deugalih & Folks After spending years setting his “solo career” into first gear—-post-Schizophones—-in 2010, Deugalih officially created another talented ensemble to accommodate his peaking interest in folk music.

On August 17th, 2011, their single album debut, Earth, has been released by Wastedrockers. The single “Earth” was actually an old song by Deugalih, written in 1998. The song then received a full make-over and rearrangement which later was rerecorded as their single debut. Earth begins the Deugalih & Folks’ journey to their debut LP next year. In the mean time, we hope you will enjoy the single “Earth”. (Dede Wastedrockers)

Free download here ► 

Why? Try to download their single ‘Earth’, and you will know why we put them on our list as one of the most anticipated local band which the debut worth to be waiting for this year.

Contact
+62 8180 900 9272 (Ricky Arnold) / deugalih@yahoo.com /  link

[rendha/othy]

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