Word: indonesianness
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Sizing Up a Fresh Face If the four years senator Obama [Dec. 3] spent attending Indonesian elementary schools qualify as his foreign-relations experience, then having my tonsils removed qualifies me as a surgeon. I love Obama, and I think he represents the future of the progressive Democratic Party - just not yet. It will take generations to recover from the damage inflicted on our nation by the blunderer placed in the Oval Office by the Supreme Court, and we need someone with more experience. Let us hope that in '08 we can once again sing, "Don't stop thinking about...
...wouldn't have put money on it, but one of the sweetest sounds in underground music today pays homage to Indonesian film scores and pop acts of the 1960s. White Shoes & the Couples Company, a Jakarta-based six-piece, have parlayed not only a musical but sartorial fascination with their nation's pop culture into a sound and look that have seen them hailed as one of the most "crush worthy" bands of 2006 by influential music site allmusic.com, and "the most blog worthy band on the planet" by Ken Micallef, music critic at Yahoo! Music. Last year rollingstone.com named...
...charm, melodicism and style that we fell in love with immediately," says label head Jim Powers, who signed White Shoes and re-released their self-titled 2005 debut album in the U.S. in September. What American listeners will make of White Shoes' fey and shimmering songs - mostly recorded in Indonesian, with one or two in English - remains to be seen however. Indonesia's biggest stars - platinum-selling bands such as Dewa and Gigi - have never had any impact on the U.S. market. When they tour the States, it's to play to the small handfuls of Indonesian students on American...
...call it Indonesian pop," says 26-year-old vocalist Aprilia Apsari. That's not because it bears any resemblance to the Top 40 fodder on sale in the country's malls and markets, but because it is steeped in the spirit of vintage Indonesian acts like Ismail Marzuki, Jack Lesmana, Noor Bersaudara and Guruh Gipsy. White Shoes is "unafraid to embrace the kitsch aspect of the past and have fun with it in their music and image," explains Ardiasyah. "Hipster kids can relate to their image, which is pop but not cheesy mainstream...
...March to play the SXSW Music Conference and Festival, an industry showcase held annually in Austin, Texas. For now, though, there are more songs to write, and more film soundtracks, vinyl LPs and magazines from the 1960s to scour. How charming that the biggest leap forward in Indonesian pop music should actually be a giant step back in time...