Spreading Taste Far and Wide
The band Loca’ practices in a music studio at the Prolog Art Building in Makassar, Wednesday (18/10). The jazz rock band is one of the bands from Makassar that is under the management of label Vonis Records. The label has produced fours music albums and created the background music for a number of films. Record labels play a big role in producing various new musical works.
The independent music scene in Indonesia has been getting crowded and warmed up in the past few years. Music festivals, such as Synchronize Fest, have been held on multiple occasions, with crowd turnouts increasing two-fold. Record labels have played a big role in boosting the "indie" industry.
The quiet evening by the man-made lake, which was full of water hyacinths, was disturbed by noise coming from the Prolog Art Building in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Wednesday(18/10).
Jazz-rock music coming from inside the studio rumbled loudly through to the open field. Inside, the band Loca’ was practicing as its members are slated to perform at a creative youth festival in Makassar.
The Prolog Art Building is a creative platform initiated by Juang Manyala, 27. Its walls are decorated with murals. A set of sofas are available for visitors to chat. There is also a shelf of cassette tapes and CDs of bands from Makassar as well as indie bands from several other cities.
Across the studio is a kind of laboratory for Juang to mix records. In the tidy and comfortable room, he has composed the soundtrack of several films, including Athirah by Riri Riza and the latest film, Suhu Beku by Rusmin Nuryadin.
Suku Beku tells the story of a group of high school students that form a band of the same name. The band joins the record label Vonis Records, formed by Juang in 2011. “Initially Vonis Records was aimed to accommodate my previous band Melismatis,” said the graduate of music arts from Pasundan University in Bandung.
Six members of Melismatis, who have known each other since they were children, jointly financed and produced their own album Finding Moon. “We met a label in Jakarta and they were ready to produce our album. But after some consideration, we decided to produce our first album,” Juang said.
The band wanted its first album as a monument of its creative work.
So, Melismatis chose Vonis Records. Vonis is taken from the name of a magazine they published in 2009. The self-funded magazine offered music and film reviews as wells as literature by youths in Makassar. It produced three issues before turning digital until 2014.
Milesmatis produced two albums before halting operation because its members were too busy.
Chaidir Isham, 24, alias Didi, a radio presenter at Madama FM, regretted the decision. He is a fan of Melismatis. “Music events in Makassar without Melismatis are not complete,” Didi said.
That band, through a collaboration with Vonis Records, brought new colors to the independent music stage in Makassar. They organized tours in eight cities, starting from Manado in the north to Makassar in the south in 2013. They also prepared and organized a single concert at the Makassar Art Building.
Such events were memorable among fans of independent music in Makassar, including Didi and the four members of Suhu Beku.
Juang did not expect to have such an immense impact on the community’s music lovers.
Vonis Records personnel felt the same. The drum has been beaten. The spirit and excitement to run the record label must be continued. Suhu Beku was the first name they invited to join.
As a producer, Juang was involved in a workshop on songwriting, including arrangements and composition. The songs were recorded and sold in CDs during the Record Store Day Makassar in April 2017.
After the album was released, Vonis Records did not stop helping. Juang thought about marketing the new band.
At one occasion, film director Arman Dewarti expressed his intention to make a film about the band. Juang did not let the opportunity go. Juang proposed Suhu Beku. His efforts worked well. Three days after the film was released, offers for the band to perform started to pour in. They were offered millions of rupiah to perform.
Currently, Vonis Records is working with solo singer Maizura, a high school student who has thousands of Instagram followers. Also, Juang is preparing his new band Loca’, which he established three months ago.
“There will be special strategy for Maizura and Loca’. We learned the work patterns of Juni Records in Jakarta,” Juang said.
Juni Records is the label of Raisa and Barasuara. It aims to release the albums of Maizura and Loca’ in February. The music scene in Makassar will become more festive.
Expanding taste
From Bandung, where Juang satisfies his passion for music, there is a record label called Orange Cliff Records, which started in 2012.
Four friends from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Anindito Ariwardono, Risyad, Haikal Azizi and Mirfak Prabowo, were the pillars of the label.
The last latter two were members of rock band Sigmun. Like Vonis Records, Orange Cliff Records was initially formed for Sigmun. Its first product was a compilation album of three bands, Sigmun, Suri and Jelaga in vinyl in 2012. The album was released on top of Moko Hill in Bandung, a place almost ignored by the music organizer at that time.
Despite the uphill trek to the venue, local music fans still came out in droves. The vinyl – around 100 copies – was sold out. The band was excited.
As of today, it has released 20 albums, mostly heavy rock or stoner rock. Orange Cliff Records was responsible for the spread of this music genre in the country. “The taste of the young people is expanding. We find great music. They are industrial, mathrock and French antique pop,” said Anindito, also known as Dito.
A mini album by solo singer Vira Talisa is the only female artist the label has produced.
Orange Cliff Records personnel search for new musicians on the internet. They also receive demos. If they find one they like, they will discuss it, then select the music that has a good reference. Of course, their personal tastes also come into play. “Finding original music is hard. So, we focus on songs whose references are not too clear,” Dito said.
But using their instinct does not always work. Some albums the label released turned out to be flops. But the members don’t really care. For them, it was the risk of a business based on taste. “This is a labor of love,” he said.
Re-release
Love is the reason for Alfian, David and Gandes, who live in Tangerang, Banten, to establish Langen Srawa Records label. The label was founded in August. Its first products were four albums in cassette formats, namely by Ballads of the Cliché, Dear Nancy, Morfem and Candrabhakti.
They were distributed during Cassette Store Day on Oct. 14.
Candrabhakti from Kudus, Central Java, had never released an album. Alfian said he instantly liked the band’s song when he accidentally found it on YouTube. The three others are old bands whose albums were distributed on CD. “We distribute old albums that we love. The price of those albums is high because they are rare. So, we want to help their fans who want to collect the albums,” said Alfian, 27.
They know the market because Langen Srawa Records is an online music store.
The rare albums will be produced as long as there is demand. The label does not only aim to serve nostalgia, however. It also plans to produce albums from new bands in November.
Different from Vonis Records and Orange Cliff Records, Langen Srawa is not involved in recording the musicians it produces. Those bands let the main records be copied.
Those three companies are examples of many independent record labels in Indonesia. The independent production movement, which started in the 1990s, is only starting to grow.
