NewBreeze to stand their ground

NewBreeze to stand their ground

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

In a music scene saturated with bubblegum music and bedtime lullabies sung by self-appointed divas, it is very hard to consistently play left-of-the-dial music and get signed by a record label.

Acid jazz band NewBreeze is one of the many musical talents that have been ignored by the country's major labels, but the group has still labored its way out of obscurity.

The eight-piece band had the last laugh on Tuesday when their aptly titled debut album Baru (New) was released by local label Pro-Sound.

The group had a single released by Sony Music Indonesia as part of a 2002 compilation of songs from the Jakarta Music Festival. However, a deal with Sony fell into limbo when the label reportedly declined to release the group's full album, citing a lack of audience for their type of music.

Formed in early 2000 by brothers Arman and Ravi, NewBreeze played tunes from acid jazz progenitors like Incognito and Brand New Heavies, blending a percussive beat, neo-soul vocals and heavy saxophones and trumpets. Their music is equally appropriate for the dance floor or the bedroom.

Arman, who plays keyboards, and Ravi, who plays drums, inherited their musical talent from their father Dave Gusman, a renowned pianist in the late 1960s who once formed a band with Indonesian jazz legends Jack Lesmana, Olle Pattiselano and Benny Mustafa.

In 2000, they recruited Iko to play percussion, Armstrong on guitar and Gandhi on saxophone and began rehearsing. After enlisting a number of friends to sing, in 2001 they featured Dexter and Icha in their lineup as full-time vocalists.

Aware of the band's potential, Pro-Sound agreed to record and market their debut after being given the go-ahead by Sony.

"However small, there will always be a captive market for this kind of music," Suseno M. Hardjo of Pro-Sound said, adding that unlike Peter Pan and Sheila on 7, who sold millions of records, NewBreeze only hoped to sell about 10,000 copies.

Ravi said that to appeal to younger listeners, NewBreeze infused their debut album with a pop flavor.

"You can hear a lot of guitar work with a rock flavor in our songs here," he said.

The trick appears to have worked, as the first single from the album, Cinta Tak Pernah Salah (Love is Never Wrong), has broken into the pop charts at several youth-oriented radio stations in the capital.

However, after the release of their debut, NewBreeze will have to work harder to hone their craft in the studio for their next album and not let their live performances eclipse their recorded work.

Aside from Cinta, most of the songs on Baru take a while to kick in and listeners have to convince themselves that they are listening to good songs. The songs lack much-needed hooks, while Icha and Dexter's back-to-back singing sometimes goes discordant in between sparse sonic arrangements.

NewBreeze will have to keep this in mind if they hope to top the ubiquitous Peter Pan.