I was stunned today to find out that my favourite band, Pop Will Eat Itself, are back. Songwriter Graham Crabb sent out a press release yesterday announcing a new direction for the band, which split in 1996. It's unclear who, if anyone, will be present from the original lineup, but this is still exciting news.
Pop Will Eat Itself were way ahead of their time and they laid some of the foundations for the Britpop and indie movements that would follow in later years. They used samples and had a kind of acid industrial sound.
Clint Mansell, vocalist and all-round frontman legend, went on to write the scores for movies like Requiem for a Dream, Pi and The Wrestler. His track Lux Aeterna has been used frequently by Hollywood movie studios. Pop Will Eat Itself also worked extensively with the Sheffield-based Designers Republic.
Pop Will Eat Itself developed a cult following that has lasted to this day. It's perhaps similar to the following The KLF have always had, which was dumbed down for teenyboppers by the likes of Mixmag in recent years. I fully expect publications like the NME to run some kind of feature on Pop Will Eat Itself to get all the new rave tragedies interested.
I doubt there are many of you out there who have heard of this band. They never really achieved mega-stardom, at least not in the modern sense. Anyway, there's a new album and a tour coming this year. I for one am excited to see how it all comes together.
If there’s one thing Indonesia certainly does have, it’s a thriving music scene, even more so than Thailand from what I can see. I listen to as much Indonesian music as I can, especially when the music videos are played on television because they usually put the lyrics up karaoke style.
It’s like the law that every song in Indonesia has to be about love in some shape or form, which is fine by me because it means lyrics are reasonably easy to understand.
The first Indonesian song I got into was Puspa by ST12, which is a tune everyone in Timor-Leste adores. More recently, ST12 did this track called Biarkan Jatuh Cinta, which I rather like.
My favourite band at the moment is this Tatu-esque pop duo called The Virgin. They’ve been getting lots of attention recently. They must be a marketer’s dream. One is billed as the “tomboy”, while the other is the “girly” girl. Mulan Jameela did a great song with Mita from The Virgin called Cinta Mati.
Everyone’s favourite adulterer Krisdayanti still hogs headlines and airtime, but I find it difficult to enjoy listening to any of her music because she seems like an attention-seeking *****. I cannot imagine how the separation with her husband has affected the pair’s children. I'm sure Raul Lemmos, KD's new partner, also has a wife in Jakarta. Actually, I've lost track of this bizarre love-web.
The children only have to switch on a television to be confronted by music videos by both their mother and father cashing in and singing about the separation. What dignity! One of Kris’s more ironic songs is Aku Wanita Biasa, or I’m an Ordinary Woman. Obviously.
At the other end of the musical spectrum you get groups like String with this not-so-instant classic called Honey Bunny Sweety. String are kind of like the Spice Girls all over again. Some imaginative A+R guy has taken five girls who can’t sing, can’t dance and can’t follow choreography, and he’s made them into a pop group. It’s a work of genius because the ringtones sell like fresh durian.
I’ve yet to really get much beyond the pop and indie scenes. I’m sure that given how big the country is and how thriving Jakarta is that there are producers making electronic music. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction.
I like this song because the words are quite easy for me to understand. All Geisha songs seem to be about love in one form or another. I guess Geisha are the Indo equivalent of Endorphine, although not quite as interesting.
