“Turtleneck” by Elenin

Jakarta, Indonesia seems an unlikely place to find some of the best shoegaze bands on the planet, but Elenin are one of many bands from Indonesia continuing to develop the reverb-washed chiming guitar dream-pop style. Here’s their superb “Turtleneck”.

Elenin are Ramadhina Dewi (Vocals, Synth), Aga Rasyidi (Guitar, Vocals), Yudistira Abjani (Guitar, Vocals), Adrian Rinaldi (Bass, Vocals) and Niko Bimantara (Drums). “Turtleneck” chimes with perfect melodic shoegaze energy right from the first note and Dewi’s wistfully melancholic vocals are a perfect foil for the quieter passages between the miasma of guitar sound in the choruses.

If you like the sound of Elenin, check out their fine 3-track EP “Massa Masa” released last year, and the other bands on Don’t Fade Away Records too.

“Sullen” by Barefood

I came across Indonesian label Anoa records recently when I heard about their compilation cassette of Indonesian shoegaze bands.

One of the bands discovered on their Bandcamp page is Barefood. “Sullen” is the title track from their December 2013 EP. It would sit comfortably alongside the classic 90s guitar pop of the likes of Teenage Fanclub or Catherine Wheel.

Barefood are Rachmad Triyadi (bass & vocals) and Ditto Pradwitto (guitars), joined on this EP by Novianto Ariprabowo (drums) and, on this song, “Sullen”, a shared lead vocal from Putriani Mulyadi, who also wrote the lyrics. All kinds of perfect, this.

The band appear to be based in Jakarta, capital and largest city of Indonesia, on the main island of Java.

The “Sullen” EP is fantastic, even without considering the weird cultural and generational divide between the post-shoegaze rock scene of the UK in the 90s and Indonesia in 2013, when this was recorded. There’s a more recent Barefood EP here and plenty more great stuff to check out on that shoegaze compilation too.