Lain finds a promosing future in Jakarta

Joko E.H. Anwar, Contributor, Jakarta

Members of local band Lain seem to believe that they have to live for the moment to get their sound noticed. Instead of asking "why", they say "why not".

And it sounds like a very smart thing to do to have their songs recorded and then dump the album in several record stores in Seattle. Just sit back and see how the sale goes.

It is okay if the album titled Djakarta Goodbye did not get an ultra great response from buyers but at least the album was displayed along with albums released by America's major labels.

"Bands must often perform live to really get noticed over there," said Zeke, the group's vocalist and pianist. "Here, it is very easy to get people listen to your songs by submitting them to radio stations."

Unfortunately, the group does not have the opportunity to appear in enough gigs in Seattle or Washington so as to boost the sales of their album.

While three of the band's five members go to college in Seattle, the other two still reside in Jakarta.

"We can't get together in Seattle for economic reasons," guitarist Aghy admitted.

Too bad, since anybody who has ever listened to their music will agree that the group has great potential.

Their gig at Gedung 28 in Kemang, South Jakarta, last week confirmed their gifted musicality to those who had only heard them on record before.

Minus their other guitarist, Arie, the group still managed to mesmerize their fans. Many of them were not able to get tickets as they were sold out shortly after the ticket box opened.

The gig's organizers were surprised by the fans enthusiasm, and were happy to let people in for free.

Zeke's Thom York-ish crooning and their samples-drenched music were hypnotizing.

Unlike many immature bands, Lain successfully avoids self- defeatism, even and even manages to express catchy romanticism sometimes.

Think about a transition between Radiohead's OK Computer and Kid A.. Despite real similarity, Lain's act was far from being a blatant rip-off.

The local audience got the opportunity to buy their cassette singles, which were released last year by Bandung-based indie label, Spill.

At the beginning, the group had to travel back and forth from Seattle to Jakarta to realize their album project.

They worked on Djakarta Goodbye in 2000 in Jakarta for two-and-a-half weeks. The rough material was then brought back to Seattle by Zeke, Arie and Aghie.

Happy with the rough result, the other two band members, drummer Bemby and bassist Iman were summoned to Seattle to record the songs in an album.

With the help of a Norwegian sound engineer, they successfully realized their dream album and released it to local record stores in Seattle. This marked the establishment of their own indie label, Our Coffee Records.

With Bemby and Iman back in Jakarta, the other three band members distributed their album directly by selling it at a number of music events.

"Those who have listened to our album over there were surprised. There were also several musicians who then gave us important input," Zeke said.

The reason they released the album in Seattle was because at that time, they were very disappointed with the commercial music scene in Jakarta, which was dominated by the major local labels. "We were pessimistic that our underground music would get a good response here," the group said.

Being a little bit frustrated by having a band but nothing to show its existence in Jakarta, the Indonesian based members of the group asked a local indie label to release their songs.

The company decided to release a cassette single for a try-out last May. It contains Wool and Train Song, both taken from Djakarta Goodbye and two new tracks, Human Heart and Unthinkable.

The single got a surprising response from record buyers. As a result, the label released another cassette single last July containing three tracks: Veteran Traveler, Boogeyman and Ghost's Cell.

The folks at Spill are also very happy with the sale of the single, which is only available in a limited number of record stores. They are already thing about releasing a full album.

Surprised by the great response from local music lovers, they decided to hold a gig in Jakarta last week.

It seems that by way of a zigzag route, they have come to realize that they have a promising future here in their home country.

We rely on these kind of bands which are not tainted by crass commercialism to add more color to local music scene.

It may be naive, but if they prove successful they will be striking another blow against the monolithic record industry. And that's no bad thing.