Efek Rumah Kaca | Indonesian Indie Powerhouse
Indie music has dated a long time in Indonesia, and not only Efek Rumah Kaca, but other numerous bands such as Sore, White Shoes & The Couples Company, Barasuara, and other bands that have made their names in Indonesia’s music industry, especially in indie scenes. Music in Indonesia is not that far behind with western’s music. Here, there are rock bands, electronic bands, even rappers, and DJs. You may have heard of Rich Brian, an Indonesian rapper that has gone international through his single Dat $tick, and since then he has joined 88rising, with Joji and The Higher Brothers. That’s a thing that I can be proud about Indonesia, other than that, maybe some for other time, it’s complicated.
Anyway, the thing is in Indonesia, the music industry or the market itself for indie music are niches. The reality that people in Indonesia tend to like love songs than other kinds of music. This can be seen by almost all Indonesian bands and artists had their names reach the peak of the charts in Indonesia by making love songs, I can list down numerous bands and artists who made it, but really, there’s a lot. Until in 2007 when Efek Rumah Kaca made one song about this particular thing, this very topic, a song named Cinta Melulu.
Efek Rumah Kaca, or Greenhouse Effect in English, is an Indonesia alternative rock or indie band formed in 2001, with Cholil Mahmud as the guitarist and the vocalist, Adrian Yunan as the bassist and the backing vocals, Akbar Bagus as the drummer, and the later addition, Poppie Abidiansyah as the bassist, a temporary replacement of Adrian Yunan who got sick and unable to perform live performances. The band made 3 studio albums, Efek Rumah Kaca, Kamar Gelap, and Sinestesia.
Cinta Melulu, or Always Love. A specific song that literally explains the music market in Indonesia, it’s filled with love songs. But that’s not the only feature songs that they made in this album, some of the songs in this album have relations with the current situation such as politics and media in Indonesia. The song Di Udara, or In The Air, brings up the topic of an activist, Munir Said Thalib, murdered on a flight to human rights mission in Amsterdam. Belanja Terus Sampai Mati, or Shop ’Til You Drop in English, bringing up a topic of Materialisme. Their songs, in an analogy, is like reading a newspaper or a headline of today’s news. With the usage of thought-provoking lyrics and bringing up the theme of politics in Indonesia, it is indeed with no surprises that this band is the one to look for in indie scenes, and with a note, this is the first local band (I myself, an Indonesian) that I fell in love with. Probably because of their uniqueness of bringing up the songs. Melodically, the songs are varied with such various vibes into it, some of it is fast, filled with an upbeat tempo, and some of it is slow, filled with gentle picking guitar, and of course, filled with Cholil’s chilling falsetto voice that shivers me to the spine, which only makes me fell in love more with their music.
Kamar Gelap, or Dark Room. Different lyrics, same sound. I felt like this album is like a Side-B of the previous album, but other than that, this album suffices. With the same concept as the previous album, Efek Rumah Kaca delivered some political-themed songs and some upsetting events that happened in Indonesia. Kenakalan Remaja Di Era Informatika, or Mischievous Teenagers In Information Era, bringing up the topic about the circulation of pornographic content around teenagers across Indonesia. Tubuhmu Membiru…. Tragis, or Your Body Turns Blue…. Tragic in English, tells about a story of suicide in general. Like I said before, the same concept and sound, but with different lyrics and topic they bring, other than that, I wouldn’t say this album is mediocre, but it’s a pinpoint where Efek Rumah Kaca declared themselves as a band that likes to bring the problem that surrounds Indonesia, either about politics, or the events that happened around the year that the album released.
Sinestesia, the latest Efek Rumah Kaca album, is one of the most unique and intriguing albums in their discography, or in my life listening to numerous bands, local or international. The album consists of 6 songs, these 6 songs are a combination of multiple songs. Each title of the songs is named with colors, starting with Merah (Red), Biru (Blue), Jingga (Orange), Hijau (Green), Putih (White), and Kuning (Yellow). The album itself is titled Sinestesia, since one of the members, Adrian Yunan, have synesthesia, which is a condition where people are able to visualize something with numbers, people’s names and colors, which in the case of Adrian Yunan, colors. He named the songs in the album according to his visualization.
There will be a long discussion with this album because, for me, this is their best album so far in their discography. They’ve taken a major and different approach on this album and they finally succeeded at giving new pleasing sounds, with the same theme as the previous albums, which is politics and events that occurs during the time of making this album. I like all the songs from this album, Biru, or Blue in English, is telling a viewpoint of Indonesia’s music industry are filled with songs that are accessible to its market or audience, which in this case, same like the message of their previous song, Cinta Melulu, Indonesia’s music industry are filled with love songs. The song Biru is divided into 2 segments, which is actually 2 different songs written, Pasar Bisa Diciptakan, or Market Can Be Created, and Cipta Bisa Dipasarkan or Creation Can Be Marketed. Putih, or White in English, bringing up the topic about death, which is inspired by the conversation by Cholil had with his friend who passed away before the album’s release, Adi Amir Zainun. The song is also divided into 2 segments, Tiada or Gone, and Ada or Exist. Each song that I mentioned have a different style of approach, Biru has an anthemic rock during the intro of the song, continues with a fast rhythmic guitar and drums, the song is entirely and purely an anthemic song. While Putih has also a different type of approach, it’s more to a mellow song, I’m in love with the bass line and the piano that plays in the song, it’s matching with the theme of the song itself, while the ending of the song, which is Ada, changing into a more melodically up tone song, which brings us a feeling of hope, according to the song itself, there’ll be life after death.
From this point, it can be concluded that Efek Rumah Kaca is one of Indonesia’s indie music powerhouse. Yes, there are still other numerous bands that are preferable over Efek Rumah Kaca, but they’re still one of the bands that I found most intriguing and ambitious in Indonesia’s music industry. Through their consistency at bringing up the theme of the political situation in Indonesia and the events that occurred, they are one of the indie bands that rocks Indonesia’s music industry.