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'Messier 24': A concert of 7 genre-defying bands
Night of music: Jirapah (Giraffe), an indie rock quintet, performs to an audience
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Night of music: Jirapah (Giraffe), an indie rock quintet, performs to an audience. It is among the bands set to perform at the Messier 24 concert held at Kemangâs Aksara bookstore in South Jakarta on Saturday.(Courtesy of Prasvana) (Giraffe), an indie rock quintet, performs to an audience. It is among the bands set to perform at the Messier 24 concert held at Kemangâs Aksara bookstore in South Jakarta on Saturday.(Courtesy of Prasvana)
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span class="caption">Night of music: Jirapah (Giraffe), an indie rock quintet, performs to an audience. It is among the bands set to perform at the Messier 24 concert held at Kemang's Aksara bookstore in South Jakarta on Saturday.(Courtesy of Prasvana)
The Kinosaurus venue located within Kemang's Aksara bookstore in South Jakarta will play host to some of the country's most intriguing bands this Saturday.
Taking the theme of the Sagittarius star cloud known as 'Messier 24', the similarly-named concert will feature seven acts whose music ranges from hard-hitting rock to spoken-word experimentalism.
Perhaps the most well-known of these relatively new bands is Jirapah (Giraffe), an indie rock quintet led by married couple Ken Jenie and Mar Galo.
Both are Indonesians who spent the earliest days of the band in Brooklyn, US ' gigging as a duo (sometimes trio), releasing a slew of free digital EPs between 2009 and 2012, all of which can still be downloaded through their website.
Though the band has yet to release an actual full length, the couple's move back to their home country ' and their subsequent expansion into a five-some, live ' has garnered the band a growing fan-base.
Their music is based on American-styled indie rock but is peppered with hints of Afro-pop, noise rock, free jazz and experimental electronic music.
Next up is Vague, whose singer-guitarist Yudhistira also happens to play second guitar in Jirapah.
The band's sound is an unabashed throwback to the first generation 'Emo core' sounds of the Washington DC region. This means propulsive rhythms, jagged guitars and dramatic shout-scream vocals with lyrics that are littered with emotional catharsis and rugged romanticism.
The trio's debut album Footsteps was released last year to the acclaim of hardcore fans and underground media. The band's shows are always weighted with an aggressive mosh-pit that is better avoided by those with fainter hearts and physique.
Yudhistira, also one of the show's organizers, said the Sagittarius theme was a fun-concept based around some of the organizer's December birthdays.
'Messier 24 started with a bunch of friends wanting to create a fun show and at the same time 'celebrate' a few of the Sagittarians among us ' myself included ' who are celebrating birthdays this month,' Yudhis said.
'I helped out a bit with the lineup and just made sure it was somewhat diverse and 'inclusive' ' noise, punk, pop, spoken word, electronic and the like. The money from the tickets will cover the cost of renting equipment. I'm pretty excited about the show.'
In addition, the cerebral electronic eclecticism of Future Collective, which resulted in one of last year's best records 'Ensemble Instrumental de Musique Contemporaine', is a calculated mishmash of modern jazz and quasi-funk electronics. The duo of Tida Wilson and Sawi Lieu manage to bring their rather-complex sound to the stage with the help of two additional musicians. Their recent stint as openers for American musician Neon Indian's concert here qualifies them to be considered as one of the city's growing talents.
Vague: Vague - Courtesy of Vague
Individual Distortion's experimental noise music should also add to the eclecticism of the concert. The one-man band's tendency to arrive at the most ludicrous side of electronic/rock music by splicing chunks of static, hiss, feedback, and unrecognizable samples into what amounts to music made through stream of consciousness. It is a particularly challenging brand of music that provides a nice blend of artsiness to the proceedings.
The show is rounded up with the addition of Awkward Bear, filmmaker Paul Agusta's noise-infused spoken word project and Amukredam ' a rock band whose traces of post-hardcore and syncopated beats is reminiscent of early 2000s American noise-rock, though far milder.
Last in the lineup is Hara, a newer band whose members also make up the promising-but-no-longer-active Swimming Elephants.
With the growing number of genre-defying bands popping up around the country, shows like Messier 24 provide music enthusiasts with a good view of just how colorful the local music scene is. Away from the dull homogeneity of mainstream acceptance, these acts showcase a growing pool of artistry without boundaries.
