Good Albums 2018 (so far)

Seperti dijabarkan di artikel business insider dan nytimes ini , mayoritas penikmat musik berhenti mencari hal baru untuk didengarkan di usia 30. Well, di tahun ini, usia saya tembus kepala tiga dan saya bisa mengerti sekali ketika teman teman seangkatan playlist spotifynya adalah album Appetite for Destruction atau Hybrid Theory yang diulang-ulang. Di tahun ini, secara karir (Alhamduillah) saya juga mengemban sebuah tanggung jawab baru yang membuat saya sibuk lebih dari sebelumnya (seriusan, mendengarkan musik di jam kerja pun susah).

Good Album 2018 So Far.jpg

Beruntungnya, masih ada sebuah kenikmatan kecil yang saya rasakan ketika menemukan band atau album baru yang lagu lagunya enak untuk didengar. Ketika ada waktu senggang di antara meeting, tab New Release dan Discover di Spotify adalah pilihan untuk rehat sejenak. Menemukan musik musik baru adalah hal yang menyenangkan sekaligus mungkin sebuah usaha perlawanan untuk menjadi tua dan membosankan.

Dan untuk membagikan perasaan itu, berikut album rilis 2018 yang menurut saya nikmat sekali untuk didengar. Mayoritas album di list ini bergenre hip-hop dan metal.

Semua lagu yang saya sebutkan di artikel ini bisa didengarkan di spotify playlist berikut

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My Pick for 2017 Album

Been a while since i wrote something music related and i believe there are no better time than now. End of the year where many blog pick their best 2017 list and Spotify year-end summary is prevalent all over my friend pages in various social media.

I felt like i didnt listen to as many music as previous year. Bit of growing up (or getting old) probably. I seldom listen to music when im working now because it throw my focus out of the window. However as an effort to be, referring to Seringai’s credo, generasi menolak tua i still constantly and consciously explore new music regularly. I felt that it makes me more creative and keeps me from being boring. I dont want to be that guy in their 30s which still put Hybrid Theory on pedestal of great music and whine about kids these days.

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2017 also the year i switch from free Deezer to premium Spotify. Mainly because the change of status from poor scholarship student into a salary man again. Spotify is great however Deezer often get overlook, the free version is better than spotify in my opinion. Protip: use Deezer web player and install adblock.

So without further due, here are my pick for great albums released this year. Click the header to listen the album on spotify. Also, i compile the tracks on the album and several other tracks i really enjoy this year in below spotify playlist. Listen to it while reading this for maximum experience!.

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2015 dalam album lokal

Salah satu pet peeves saya terkait musik adalah ketika mendengar opini bahwa musik Indonesia makin kesini makin tidak berkualitas. Biasanya juga diikuti dengan retorika jaman keemasan musik Indonesia di era Ahmad Dhani belum hangover akibat terlalu banyak meminum egonya sendiri.

Album Indonesia 2015

Come on man. Musik bagus, seperti halnya revolusi, akan susah ditemui di televisi. Channel youtube Sounds From The Corner bisa menjadi tempat yang bagus untuk memulai eksplorasi. Ada banyak musik lokal bagus di luar studio Dahsyat dan yang kamu butuhkan adalah mencari lebih dalam.

Berikut beberapa album lokal yang menjadi landmark eksplorasi musik Indonesia saya di tahun 2015. Continue reading “2015 dalam album lokal” →

2015 dalam album internasional

Tulisan ini terinspirasi dari postingan Ardi Wilda di facebook yang meminta untuk menuliskan album dan buku terbaik di 2015. Sebagai salah satu panutan dalam hal penulisan dan juga vokalis band folk paling hipster, tentunya undangan bung awe untuk berkomentar tidak dapat saya tolak. Namun hal ini ternyata membuat saya ingin menuliskan dengan lebih panjang apa saja rilisan musik yang mendefinisikan tahun 2015. Mainstream sih tapi sebodo amat.

Best Of 2015

Satu kata kunci yang bisa mendefinisikan konsumsi musik di tahun ini adalah Deezer. Situs streaming musik asal perancis ini satu satunya yang bisa diakses di kantor sehingga membuat saya menjadi pengguna setia. Selain itu, Deezer juga membawa band band indie Indonesia seperti sore dan silampukau dalam layanannya sehingga membuat saya semakin terjebak dengan aplikasi ini.

Cukup untuk basa-basinya mari kita mulai dari yang pertama. Oh ya, posting ini khusus berisi album album internasional. Untuk rilisan lokal akan saya tulis di tulisan berikutnya.

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Not Your Usual Korean Music

Several weekends ago me and fiancee tried a Korean food joint called Mujigae. In that restaurant, while eating you will be blasted by non-stop Korean music video clips. I spent like an hour and half in the resto so that maybe like 30 ish songs. I realized that all of the songs ive heard sounds pretty much the same. Just like the facial features of Girls Generation’s member, i cannot recognized the difference from one to the other. Its all boys or girlsband dancing synchronously , singing pop vocals over dance beats. Superficial and manufactured.

As a staunch believer in music pluralist, I believe theres always good music in every genre. Case in point : Have you heard about Hindi Progressive Rock. Just for the sake of it, i started digging Korean music in Youtube in hope to find quality and non-formulaic Korean music. I found one in peculiar place which is in the most controversial movie this year, The Interview. The movie was in yet another controversy due to unlicensed use of one of the song, Pay Day by Yoon Mi Rae.

Well, i kinda glad that happened because i would never know Yoon Mi Rae . If you havent heard about her as well, youre in for a treat.

Yoon Mi Rae a.k.a Tasha is a half African American and half korean. She is regarded as the queen of korean hiphop. In Black Happiness video above, she rapped about being bullied because of her mixed identities. Man, thats a real gangsta conscious rap shit. Her husband, Tiger Jk is also hip hop musician. Together they formed hip hop collective My Fans are Better Than Yours (MFBTY) which sounds more EDM-ish. I prefer her old solo works which is more boombap style hiphop but some of the new song such as Sweet Dream is quite catchy.

Heres my personal pick of Yoon Mi Rae music that you should really check out

Black Happiness
Pay Day (The Interview Soundtrack)
Memories ( Her classic works in an old skool R&B style rap)
Get it in ( “Youre just another bug in my windshield!”)
Sweet Dreams (with MFBTY)

Being a little bit open mind, i found my Korean music jam thats not fake and boring. Man, i love good music.

Good Albums #2

Wu Tang Clan – A Better Tomorrow

Sounds like : Old skool hardcore hiphop, now with more live instruments
Must listen tracks : Ruckus in a B minor, A Better Tomorrow, Ron O Neal
Recommendation : Listen now while youre reading this blog post. Go listen!

The legendary hip hop collective is back with new materials and once again it served as proof that they really aint nothing to fuck with. After 7 years without a release, Wu Tang Clan gathered again and came back hard with A Better Tomorrow.

Uplifting and fresh, A Better Tomorrow is the reason why i immediately want to write this blog post.

Several reasons why i think this release is solid. First, most of the track was using live instrument kinda like The Roots or Jay Z’s Death Of Autotune. I like this style of hip hop, sounds more organic and give my ear refreshing break in the era of rampant trap style drum machine. The next one is obvious, lyrics and flow. Combination of bad ass self braggadocio in Ruckus in B Minorand critics to the oppression of African American in A Better Tomorrow. Couldnt be more relevant in the lights what happened to Michael Brown and Eric Garner recently.

All in all, Killa Beez is in town to prove once again that they are still number one, still number one one one.

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Good Albums #1 : 2014 Releases

I am very passionate about music. I listened to new albums from various genre almost every week and every time i found great releases, my finger itches to immediately write reviews. Good albums is the manifestation of that itch. To make it easy to organize, ill post albums review here

This week, my Winamp playlist is dominated by 2014 recent releases. Lets start with the first one.

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Soundsfair 2014

Last weekend i went to the maiden event of Java Soundsfair 2014. The three day event featured with international artist such as the queen murderer of the dance floor, Sophie Ellis Baxtor, Skapara a.k.a Tokyo Ska Paradise, Asian Dub Foundation. Local musician was represented by the likes of Tulus, Maliq & D’essentials, The SIGIT , Mocca and Demajor’s gang such as Sore, The Brandals , Leonardo and the impeccable six and many more. Held in the main halls of JCC, It has staggeringly 9 stages with almost 30 bands playing each day.

Coming from the organizers who delivered Java Jazz, Java Rockinland and Java Soulnation, Soundsfair was touted as “mind-blowing modern entertainment at its best for young, urban, modern and creative people”. The concept was unclear for me. Lots of unheard of bands, the rock line up that wasnt really hard enough and theres also a small indoor dance stage set up like a club hazing with cigarette smoke (goddammit you ignorant people). Hipster maybe the word to summarize the concept of this year Soundsfair.

It was still fun nonetheless due to the performance of several amazing artist. So here are my highlights of Java Soundsfair 2014 from attending two out of three days.

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Collecting Physical Records

Theres this record store in Jemursari Plasa , Surabaya where everytime my parents take me there i will spent time checking wall of album covers. After several times admiring the cover, i decided to spend 21k to buy my first casette. This moment kick started my interest in music and it was also the starting point of my fascination with physical records.

It was Slipknot – Iowa, 21k rupiah worth casette tape. Not the most morally sound choice for a 7th grader, but in my defense its either that or Cannibal Corpse’s Butchered at Birth. The later one i considered to buy just solely by the album covers only, never heard CC or any grindcore bands before. Id surely get a lot of trouble when my parents look at the CC album, so Slipknot was a safe choice. A great one i guess, because i still cant enjoy CC until now.

At those early internet pre-ipod time, the holy place for music enthusiast like me is Aquarius Record Store. In Surabaya, it was located in jalan polisi istimewa. I cannot count how i spent hours and hours just to stroll around looking at album covers, listen to the CD samples and going home not buying anything. My pocket money was not that much but hey its still a good way to spend time.

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Indonesian Sounds #2 : Metal Albums

My first early recollection of Indonesian Metal was Metalik Klinik I cassette . It has several legendary band from the local scene such as Jasad, Tengkorak, Bluekuthuq, Purgatory and Betrayer. The bassline from Betrayer’s Bendera Kuning still plays clearly in my head.

Back in 2002-2004, there was Wijaya Metal program in Wijaya FM from 6 to 9 pm. Not just usual radio friendly metal such as Avenged Sevenfold or Edane’s Kau Pikir Kau lah segalanya, But they play even the extreme ones such as to Dimmu Borgir’s Progenies of the great apocalypse, Craddle of Filth & Finntroll’s ridiculously catchy Trollhamaren. The kind of music modern radio wont even poke using a long stick. This programs also play local music which introduced me Surabaya’s local metal music such as Devadata.

One thing i didnt like about the old local metal releases was the shitty recording quality. Getting a overpowered muddy distortion with blast beat banging your ears makes the album not comfortable to listen to. It was really annoying especially in Metalik Klinik series. This issue was gladfully over in this modern days. Even the not-yet popular band like Nectura is able to release metal album with very good audio quality.

Enough for the long intro, heres the review of metal albums taken from my CD shelf for today’s edition of Indonesian Sounds.

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