Are we out of the woods yet? Maybe not. The year 2022 was definitely a turning point for the Indonesian music industry, filled by the return of festivals and micro gigs. This year was still somewhat-strange with an aural landscape that felt a bit unfamiliar, but the collective outlook seemed to be a bit “brighter”, maybe?

To celebrate, The Jakarta Post has put together 10 brilliant albums by local acts released in 2022 along with a few honorable mentions on the side.

#10 Leipzig, Garbage Disposal Communique

(Mirza P. Wardhana/Leipzig) (Mirza P. Wardhana/Leipzig)

At just 13 minutes, Bandung-based Leipzig blows past every track with instant catchiness in debut album Garbage Disposal Communique. Rambles of social malaise are spread in the most chaotic ways in a mix of the English, Indonesian and Sundanese languages. Its devil-may-care attitude brings in short, hard-hitting punk tunes reminiscent of the Dead Kennedys’ funky riffs and beats.

Tracks like “Gazelle [Noam Chomsky’s Unanswered Question]” find the fun melodies The Cure usually produce coalesce with dark, spacey drums of Joy Division in a song. “There are hundreds of used tea bags and cigarette butts in my head,” frontman Mario Prasetya thinks out loud in an impressionistic manner, the very best a post-punk outfit can offer.

#9 Perunggu, Memorandum

(Courtesy of Podium Records) (Courtesy of Podium Records/.)

The catchy hooks, head-bopping percussion and swoon-worthy guitar licks of Memorandum might earn the band a case for being the spiritual successor to Sheila On 7, but it is the album's tale of dreams and survival that has the magic to draw a teardrop or two from its listeners. The feral "Tarung Bebas" (Free Fight) portrays how anger makes the best fuel in facing life's unfairness whereas the muted "Ini Abadi" (This is Eternal) is a so-vivid-it's-almost-unsettling crossroad between dreams and despondency.

Producers Dennis Ferdinand and Giovanni Rahmadeva further help bring Memorandum to its satisfying closer "33x", in which Perunggu proudly shares the two key ingredients for manifesting one's dreams: God and a healthy dose of stubbornness.

#8 FLEUR!, Fleur Fleur FLEUR!

(Courtesy of La Munai Records) (Courtesy of La Munai Records/.)

A bit of a cheat for FLEUR! to start off as a cover band of Indonesia’s ‘60s rock & roll female group Dara Puspita just to grow into one of the most promising Indonesian rock bands itself. Still dabbling in the ‘60s sound that Dara Puspita was hailed for, FLEUR! puts a modern twist and production into its debut album Fleur Fleur FLEUR!, carefully avoiding any rock & roll clichés. In one track it shimmies to an upbeat, slick riff track complete with traditional angklung (West Java’s traditional musical instrument made of bamboo), in another it goes on a trippy, psychedelic piano solo, which can put its less-adventurous contemporaries to shame.

#7 Dere, Rubik

(Courtesy of Tiga Dua Satu) (Courtesy of Tiga Dua Satu/.)

The 20-year-old singer-songwriter reminds her love-obsessed generation what music is supposed to be about: To make the audience feel less alone. Dere, as if playing psychic to her peers' most tight-lipped thoughts, covers nearly everything that makes being young in the 21st century a constant agony. The title track finds the musician taking shots at her identity crisis, with Mikha Angelo's whimsical production turning Dere's plight more beguiling and, ultimately, relatable.

Petra Sihombing also helps bring out the best in the folk-pop ingenue, either when she falls apart in "Tumbang" (Collapse) or when she feels like throwing her social media against the wall in "Keluku" (My Numbness). Sometimes, a record that describes life as it is, without romanticizing it, is the best love letter a music fan could ask for.

#6 Rekah, KIAMAT

(Courtesy of Rekah) (Courtesy of Rekah/.)

Post-hardcore troupe of eternal sadness Rekah’s debut album KIAMAT (Doomsday) has a terrifying open-wound quality to it. An empathetic yet vengeful album, KIAMAT stands firm with its brooding, raw lyrics and a generally suffocating nuance in its instrumentation that seemingly manages to capture an explicit image of the band’s hometown, Jakarta.

In KIAMAT, vocalist/guitarist Tomo Hartono sings in painful cracking wails about alcoholism, trampled flowers and being dictated to by machines. “You should’ve said earlier that there’s no flower garden at the bottom of this bottle,” Tomo writes bitterly (in Indonesian) in “Kabar dari Dasar Botol” (News from the Bottom of a Bottle). In “Kereta Terakhir dari Palmerah” (Last Train from Palmerah), Tomo and drummer Junior Johan pray for the Messiah to descend, seemingly wishing for the end of the world. “Or Dajjal [the Antichrist], maybe,” they sing.

#5 SCALLER, Noises & Clarity

(Courtesy of SCALLER) (Courtesy of SCALLER/.)

Jakarta duo Margareth Stella and Reney George Paul Karamoy were seemingly content exploring ideas of duality in their sophomore studio album Noises & Clarity. Seeking balance in paradoxes, SCALLER goes for a more sanguine/survivalistic perspective on now-familiar topics of anxieties and uncertainty.

Noises & Clarity is a solid, riff-heavy rock album brimming, at times, with thick warbled fuzz. A strong and compact follow-up compared with the duo’s 2017 debut—dynamic yet still consistent and not unclassifiable—it is ultimately anchored in Reney’s jubilant experimentation of the high desert sound and Margareth’s sheer vocal expressiveness.

#4 Logic Lost, Degenerates

(Courtesy of Logic Lost) (Courtesy of Logic Lost/.)

Logic Lost (the stage name for musician Dylan Amirio) dismisses any hope that he has left for humanity in his fifth studio album, Degenerates. For an album that does not include any comprehensible spoken word in any of its tracks—aside from “You Don’t Deserve Everything You Want” in which he compiles recordings from random shortwave radio broadcasts—Dylan delivers a gratingly hyper-negative context where he seemingly snaps and spirals into a series of explosive rages.

Degenerates, in general, is a delightfully abrasive album molded by the culmination of humanity’s perversion, filled with grinding narratives, ear-numbing thumps and build-ups that sometimes coarsely decay into oblivion. Humanity is doomed to extinction and we will be the ones who caused it, but “hey, if you’re in hell, might as well enjoy it, yes?” Dylan writes in the album’s liner notes.

#3 Solemn Imagist, Into the Night That Never Fades

(Courtesy of Bandcamp) (Courtesy of Bandcamp/.)

If Solemn Imagist’s album cover reminds you of the classic In the Nightside Eclipse by the Norwegian black metal band Emperor, it is a good sign because the music is just as menacing. The band, shrouded in mystery, released its full-length debut album after drawing listeners in with its demo Shimmering Lair of Depraved Moonlight last year. With Into the Night, the band polishes its sound and presents a riveting soundscape of symphonic black metal. Not a single track feels too long despite their 10-minute runtime.

Sinister and beautiful, Solemn Imagist paints a vivid picture of a seemingly endless, bloody night with its orchestral music, but charmed listeners might actually want to bask in it forever.

#2 Romantic Echoes, Paradisa

(Courtesy of Orca Music) (Courtesy of Orca Music/.)

What happens when an artist impetuously jeopardizes his signature identity by toying with (nearly) all music genres? The result could be either a career-ending monstrosity or, when done with genuine pep and spark, an applaudable magnum opus called Paradisa. As the man behind the moniker, 28-year-old Jack Alfredo gives shape to the oxytocin in his head, the final product being a fairytale meet-cute between joy and madness as they drive into the sunset of Hagi coast together.

The Boodles-assisted "Mortal One", in particular, is easily Jack's finest masterstroke to date: An aural odyssey that starts with a Ghibli-like piano cantabile before morphing into an ode to mid-00s The White Stripes before morphing again into glossy beats of 2010s city pop. Running for 63 minutes, Paradisa is, quite literally, Jack Alfredo's golden hour.

#1 The Jansen, Banal Semakin Binal

Album of the year: The Jansen's third album “Banal Semakin Binal“ finds a more polished and mature-sounding collection of punk bops. (Courtesy of The Jansen) (Courtesy of The Jansen/.)

It is not easy to please punk purists, rock revelers, indie listeners and the pop-leaning public all at once, but that is what The Jansen did. Shedding the straightforward punk sounds from its two previous albums, the Bogor-representing trio (now quartet) shifts its focus from complexity toward simplicity. The result is a cohesive record of garage-sounding, ‘70s punk tracks with ‘90s pop-infused hooks that beg a stadium sing-along.

Keeping its high-octane energy while talking about a date on the bus or at the Bogor Botanical Gardens, Banal Semakin Binal shows a band maturing sonically. Its simple chord progression on top of banging drums makes this album so infectious for the ears.

 

Honorable mentions:

Several albums came close to snatching our top-10 spots this year, and their musicality deserves some recognition:

Feby Putri, Riuh

Courtesy of Feby Putri & BYNC Records (Courtesy of Feby Putri & BYNC Records/.)

The 22-year-old folk newbie cleverly recounts her growth from a wide-eyed Makassar teenager to an imperishable young woman in her debut album, all over a hushed orchestration that is made more breathtaking by Feby's nebulous vocals.

Tulus, Manusia

Courtesy of Tulus Company (Courtesy of Tulus Company/.)

Some listeners might have missed Tulus’ jazz-infused first two records or the more emotive 2016 Monokrom, but the pop tunes he churns out here remain undeniably catchy, case in point: 2022’s biggest song “Hati-Hati di Jalan” (Safe Travels).

Joey Alexander, Origin

Instagram/Joey Alexander @joeyalexandermusic (Instagram/Joey Alexander @joeyalexandermusic)

The Bali-born wunderkind enters adulthood with an assortment of 10 original compositions that both charm and dazzle. Origin might also be Joey's most ambitious record to date as he gives voice to the season cycle with joie de vivre and blanket-warm coziness.

Oscar Lolang, Jalan Sendiri

Instagram/Oscar Lolang @oscarlolang (Instagram/Oscar Lolang @oscarlolang)

The folk troubadour goes for what he does best in his latest record, presenting life's woes in a warts-and-all stream of consciousness. The Alan Davison-featured "The Only Blue I Love the Best", especially, is a cautionary tale of how a man is just a guest in a woman's life.

RL KLAV, POV

Courtesy of Double Deer Records (Courtesy of Double Deer Records/.)

Rizkia Larasati and Keisha Aita join forces in a contemporary R&B delight that takes no sass whatsoever. With tunes like the sweet-and-snappy "Get It, Got It" and the clubby "Losin'", the duo reminds all the ladies to never settle their crown for less.

Lorjhu, Paseser

(Courtesy of Lorjhu') (Courtesy of Lorjhu'/.)

Tales from the coasts of the island of Madura wrapped in colloquial Madurese visual cues and sung in the vernacular tongue, Lorjhu’s (Badrus Zeman) debut Paseser is intriguingly traditional yet modern at the same time.

KUNTARI, Larynx

(Courtesy of KUNTARI) (Courtesy of KUNTARI/.)

Electronic artist Tesla Manaf flirts with a more primal take on minimalist music in Larynx. Fusing amalgams of ancient rhythms with the bellows of his unorthodoxly played, mating-call-emulating cornet and cross-stringed guitar.