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The 10 best Indonesian albums of the year
From comeback kings to teenage romances, Indonesian artists have served up some amazing music this year.
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n spite of everything that's happened over the past few years, music has provided some moments of ecstatic beauty. The Indonesian music industry, like its peers worldwide, has been hampered by the pandemic, lockdowns and the attendant economic crisis. But local musicians have not only continued to release work that encourages conversations relevant to today’s situation, they have also created works of raw emotional power and depth.
From youthful romantic emo and lush chamber pop to an internationally acclaimed experiment in music distribution, this year’s top 10 releases by Indonesian artists have pushed the boundaries of music further forward.
10. Milledenials – ‘5 Stages of Doomed Romance’
It’s catchy, heartfelt and unapologetically naive. In short, there’s not much wrong with the Denpasar-based outfit’s debut EP. Fusing elements of math rock, emo and shoegaze with sing-along choruses and chaotic guitar riffs, Milledenials capture the essence of doomed youthful romance with glorious vigor. This is the ultimate music to nurture your inner tween.
9. Swellow – ‘Karet’
Bogor-based Swellow is made up of an unassuming bunch. The group’s debut EP offers simple, slightly overdriven guitar-based 90s alternative rock about the mundane things in life: reading the news or being tired and cold on the road after a day of work. The music sort of just trudges along, and yet it is exactly this simplicity that pulls you in, and before you realize it, you’ll be humming the melodies.
8. Vallendusk – ‘Heralds of Strife’
The members of Jakarta-based Vallendusk have been perfecting their brand of melodic black metal for almost a decade now, making a name for themselves in the local and global metal scene. Their latest effort, Heralds of Strife is uplifting and epic, with many beautiful quiet piano moments that serve to counter the pummeling guitar riffs and folk melodies as the band sings about hope and longing through imagery of war and nature.
7. Kanina – ‘Ode to All Odds’
Style-wise, Ode to All Odds is all over the place. From trip-hop to indie rock and smooth R&B, it’s truly an eclectic mix of genres. But what holds the thread together are Kanina’s vocals, at times gentle and airy, other times celestial and dramatic. Singing for the young generation of women struggling with guilt and self-acceptance, Ode To All Odds is an adventurous debut album created by someone confident with their craft.
6. Basboi – ‘Adulting for Dummies’
With his laid-back delivery, soothing muzak-like beats and witty wordplay, you could accuse Basboi of not taking his craft seriously. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find an artist that’s very much comfortable in his own skin. The rapper’s casual take on modern life and urban dating is a welcome tonic in these chaotic times – because what kind of life are we living if we have no room to breathe and take in the view?
5. White Shoes & The Couples Company - “2020”
On 2020, their first album in over a decade, the retroist sextet White Shoes and The Couples Company delivers its signature 1960s-style Indonesian pop music, but the group is also unafraid to dive into cinematic, semi-instrumental jazz (“Portrait of S.A.S”) and psychedelic garage rock (“Variasi Barongko”). 2020 represents the sound of a mature group of musicians who know exactly who they are while still pushing themselves creatively, resulting in warm, fun and occasionally melancholic songs about home, love and life.
4. Hara – ‘Kenduri’
Rara Sekar Larasati’s angelic voice and dulcet guitar picking has guaranteed her a place among indie folk royalty. But on Kenduri, her debut solo EP, she takes her sonic palette further, incorporating electronic instrumentation, ambient soundscapes and vocal experimentation. Kenduri is a sonic and thematic story of healing, returning to one’s roots and reconnecting with nature, brilliantly told in economic detail.
3. BAP. - ‘MOMO’S MYSTERIOUS SKIN’
Kareem Soenhardjo has made a career out of making albums that sound like emotional milestones: dramatic professions of love, bleak explorations of the human condition and sonically demanding songs that sound like they took everything out of their creator. On his sophomore album, though, the Jakarta-based rapper and producer takes a step back to create an album that’s more stripped down, laid back and bare.
The result is stunning. More focused, welcoming and suffused with love than his previous efforts, MOMO’S MYSTERIOUS SKIN is as much an album as it is a celebration of life and survival, in spite of loss and longing.
[gal:5]
2. Senyawa – ‘Alkisah’
Conceptually, Alkisah might be the country’s most groundbreaking album of the year. Released simultaneously by 44 labels worldwide, its innovative rollout is a timely commentary on decentralization and mutual aid in the artistic community.
Musically, the Yogyakarta-based experimental duo have continued their deconstruction of what it means to make Indonesian music. Their songs are less murky, less impenetrable. There are discernable riffs and choruses now, attempts at making their message clearer and conscious attempts at drawing closer influences from local musical traditions from across the country.
Alkisah is an artistic statement by a group that’s ready to face the world, instead of burying themselves in their own.
1. Kuntari – ‘Last Boy Picked’
After ditching his career in jazz and world music to pursue electronic music, Bandung soloist Tesla Manaf, or Kuntari, once again ditched the more computer-based approach and went back to analog instruments to create a tribal apocalyptic experience.
Relying almost solely on dynamic and atmosphere, Last Boy Picked has the eeriness of a David Lynch movie score, at times the aggression of metal but also the hypnotic pulse of ritual music thanks its to start-stop bongo and drum rhythm, borrowing from both minimalist music and math rock.
A fresh and welcome addition to Indonesia’s already exciting experimental music scene, Last Boy Picked, proves that Tesla can also come on top.
