Stars & Rabbit
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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.
Hightime Rebellion
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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.
Polka Wars
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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.
Roman Foot Soldiers
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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
The Triangle
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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.
Deugalih & Folks
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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)
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.
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