Prog rock going from niche to mainstream
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Different answers are bound to come from different people about the definition, and merits, of progressive "prog" rock.
Fans will say something about an intellectual, mature and sophisticated genre.
Others deride it as a pompous extension of psychedelia, the concoction of some brilliant instrumentalists who end up playing a 10-minute long song about nothing in particular, or rock that is so progressive no one gets what it is all about.
The Guinness Rockopedia is about as blunt, describing it as a movement that emerged in the UK in the 1960s, "characterized by the experimentalism of 'Krautrock' groups like Can and Faust, or by ugly men with long hair .... Save for stubborn types like Hawkwind and Gong, prog was taken aback by punk in 1977".
But it did not simply shrivel up and disappear in the punk movement's wake, with its die-hard fans holding a torch for it to this day.
Andy Julias from the Indonesian Progressive Society (IPS) notes the example of Yes, Genesis and other prog rock musicians back in the 1970s.
He emphasized that in this country, as in other parts of the world, the genre still finds fans and a market.
"We have over 200 members, but we figure that the number of people who like progressive rock is much more than that," said Andy, who founded IPS in 2000 along with other fans.
IPS is also aimed at helping prog rock artists to record their creations.
"Through festivals in 2001 and 2002, we found some potential bands. Now we're sure there's the market and we have the artists. All we need now is a label which can distribute it," Andy said.
After much negotiation, IPS succeeded in persuading Sony Music Indonesia to establish a new label for the genre, PRS Records, which was launched last Thursday.
"Basically, IPS provides the materials (the bands) and Sony distributes them," said Andy.
Established in 1997, Sony Music Entertainment Indonesia has produced several local artists, but mostly in pop music. Some of them, such as bands Sheila on 7 and Padi, have gone on to become successful and sold millions of copies of their albums.
"This type of music isn't as big as pop in terms of the market and the distribution. This (prog rock) is very segmented. But we're going to accommodate segmented music like that," said Jan Djuhana, senior director of Sony Music Indonesia.
For the first project, PRS Records recently released two albums from prog rock bands Discus and In Memoriam, respectively titled Tot Licht and The Ultimate Terrorizing Aura of Unlogic Mind.
The label will soon release works by two other bands, Imanissimo and Purgatory, which along with In Memoriam, comprise young musicians in their early and middle 20s.
Discus, meanwhile, has been around longer; their first album Discus 1st was released by independent label Chicoira Production in 1999.
The group has also performed at two international progressive rock festival: ProgDay in North Carolina in 2000 and Baja Prog in Mexico a year later, where they received good reviews.
So, what line of prog rock do these bands present?
They conform to the long duration, for sure, with Anne from Discus lasting 19:23 and others averaging around 12 minutes, while In Memoriam's Overture runs 13 minutes.
Musically, Discus fuses a wide range of music styles, from jazz, classical, folk, rock and Indonesian traditional music. The band brings together dozens of musical instruments, from clarinet to harp guitar, Balinese traditional instruments to flute.
In keeping with prog rock bands' tendency to be musically sophisticated, if not pretentious, in developing their lyrics (take a look at Rick Wakeman), Discus explored the life journey of national heroine Kartini through the book Door Duisternist Tot Licht (From Darkness Into the Light).
"We started from the contemplation of Kartini's journey which is rarely exposed," said vocalist Fadhil Indra, about the collection of letters of Kartini to a confidant in the Netherlands.
Anne, meanwhile, tells the tale of Anne Frank, with some kecak (Balinese dance) music inserted.
As for In Memoriam, the band provides an amalgamation of Gothic rock with rap, punk and hip hop. Imanissimo and Purgatory veer heavily into metal.
Despite having a major label distribute their records, the bands are not embarking on the usual promotional tours or releasing a slew of video clips.
"Promotion eats the biggest part of the whole budget. As the budget is still very limited, we try to cut the budget as much as possible. There won't be any video clips for them because it's expensive and the duration is too long," Andy said.
The organization will find alternative ways to promote the album, such as through word of mouth and the Internet.
For the bands, whatever the forum, it is their chance to finally show people what they have to offer.
"We're glad to be involved in IPS and that we can produce a record with them. Finally, somebody gets what our music is about and doesn't call it weird anymore," said Raymond from In Memoriam.