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AlbumReviews: 'Haai' by Kelompok Penerbang Roket
Following many before them, rock band Kelompok Penerbang Roket arenât the first punk musicians in Indonesia
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Following many before them, rock band Kelompok Penerbang Roket aren't the first punk musicians in Indonesia.
In the early 1960s, president Sukarno imprisoned Koes Bersaudara for playing Western-inspired ngak ngik ngok music. Dara Puspita thrived as a garage band that silenced those who felt that rock music only belonged to men.
Ten years later, Asido, Doan, Benny and Hans Pandjaitan came along as Panbers. They played songs that were heavily indebted to the true grit of hard rock (front man Benny Pandjaitan sang like Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin sometimes). Where is punk rock these days?
Based on Haai, Kelompok Penerbang Roket's brilliant Panbers cover album, it's in their hands. Released by Sinjitos Records, the eight-track Haai is a sprawling and faithful tribute that sounds more like character development than a mere repeat.
Haai is Kelompok Penerbang Roket's second album in one year: their first Teriakan Bocah was released in May and it earned rave reviews for its gut-twisting, stark punk songs whose lyrics range from topics like frustration to existentialism.
All of this came after many years of rehab-stints, the fear of never being able to release an album they had made and, worse, the threat of dissolution. You have to admit: That's some pretty awesome work ethic they've got.
And then there's the music. Kelompok Penerbang Roket, after I listened to their two records back to back, are punk in its most immediate and visceral; their rapid guitar-wails, the menacing bass lines and the wild drumming are punk, like something that could demand that the President stand down. Haai, despite being recorded in a rush (how punk!), is cleaner than Teriakan Bocah, except that the words they sing are not theirs.
Instead of choosing the more popular ballads like 'Akhir Cinta' (End of love) or 'Gereja Tua' (Old church), Kelompok Penerbang Roket went with Panbers' psychedelic songs.
This might seem like a risky move: Panbers are not known as a psychedelic band. You won't find their original songs like the hard rock-infused 'Bimbang dan Ragu' (Confused and Doubtful) or 'Mr. Blo'on' (Mr. Dumb) on YouTube. By Kelompok Penerbang Roket, they were given the more electric treatment; adding layers of guitars and great vocals.
Haai was recorded live, so that's probably why the record sounds dirty and aggressive. 'Hujan Badai' (Storm) is a ferocious rock and roll beast, while 'Djakarta City Sound' opens the record with some kind of energy that remains untamed until the very end. My favorite song here is 'Bye Bye' where Kelompok Penerbang Roket retain the 1960s funkier moments and do a really good job at it.
For an album that had 80 percent of its legwork done already, Haai sounds fresh and loud, all 40 minutes of it. Part of the charm has to do with Kelompok Penerbang Roket's real attention to detail.
Record centerpiece 'Let Us Dance Together' boasts a hypnotic bass line. Coincidentally, this song sounds like it took the most cues from a Panbers original: retaining some of the first-take aesthetic while turning the volume up.
Even more so than the Benny Pandjaitan-featuring final song 'Haai'. All in all, at the end, I was left with mad respect for Kelompok Penerbang Roket because they (a) put out a great album and (b) took the job of being archivists along the way ' whether it was their initial intention or not.
Haai will make you interested in Panbers' original compositions; a lot of which remain as buried and dusty as you can imagine. It's always great to be reminded of great music of the past because, well, people forget sometimes.
