Thursday, December 30, 2010

Armored



~~Kita kembali sejenak pada abab pertengahan. Masuk ke salah satu kastil dan melihat awan yang membahana dari balkon kastil ditemani beberapa ksatria berkuda di bawah sana yang bersiap mati jika dibutuhkan. Wahahaha... Tampaknya saya terlalu berlebihan. Postingan kali ini memang berhubungan dengan latar yang saya buat di awal, kita seolah dibawa ke abad ketika kita belum dilahirkan. Teman-teman dari ARMORED yang menemani kita ke sana, band Gothic Metal asal Bandung. Mereka sebenarnya sudah tidak asing lagi di genre musik ini, mereka adalah reinkarnasi dari band Terrible Symphonic.
Sangat wajib mengisi playlist kita di sela musik yang itu-itu saja yang kita dengarkan. Seperti sedang mendengarkan Dani Filth berduet dengan Cristina Scabbia serta Sharon Del Adel. Gothic dengan karakter vokal Metal scream Cradle Of Filth. Yeah... Dan saat part 'bernyanyi' membuat kita teringat band-band Symphony Gothic macam Xandria, Within Temptation, Van Goth, Blood Forge, hingga Epica. Saya berimajinasi jika mereka membuat video klip, sangat bercerita dan kental akan atmosfer abad pertengahan seperti halnya video klip Kivimetsan Druidi. Segeralah membuat video klip kawan!! Hehe..  Secara keseluruhan saya suka band ini. Bagaimana denganmu?? jangan buang waktu, langsung download single mereka ini. Gratisss!!!
Make your days more darkest than before! Download their single for free!!

Armored story:
Initially, the band has name of Terrible Symphonic, a gothic metal band that has been running since 2001 and quite frequent of releasing singles or be involved in some compilation. The band also has long experience in stage performances, but since they had been quite frequent of modifying the line-up, the band had once sleepy and it caused their EP release was suspended, which supposed to be released in 2009.
This year, Terrible Symphonic decided to change its name and start all over again. By choosing the name of Armored (which is assumed can represent material they would offered).

Armored contact:


Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Romantic Embrace

~~ Postingan baru muncul lagi, kali ini datang dari band yang menamakan dirinya Romantic Embrace. Band Hardcore asal Bandung yang kali ini memberikan demo mereka untuk di-share secara gratis. Ada 5 lagu jagoan mereka di demo ini dan ada juga versi live mereka saat manggung. Kalian bisa dengar sendiri. Setelah men-download-nya tentu saja. Cukup 'Old School Hardcore' dan juga ada sisi 'Romantic' entah di part yang mana. Download and feel the romantic side that you can embrace from this band!!!

Berkenalan dengan Romantic Embrace:
Bermula dari hanya sekedar kelakar, ROMANTIC EMBRACE akhirnya terbentuk menjadi sebuah band. Mungkin bukan band tepatnya, melainkan sebuah perkumpulan sahabat dan kerabat yang selalu merealisasikan segala apa yang mereka rasakan melalui beberapa buah nada sederhana, chord yang ber-repetisi dengan durasi singkat, ketukan dengan beat yang konstan, dan diutarakan melalui lirik yang positif dan lugas yang mungkin kalian pikir itu adalah bernyanyi tetapi mereka menyebut itu adalah orasi.
ROMANTIC EMBRACE terbentuk pada pertengahan tahun 2008, berpersonilkan 5 orang (Vian – Messenger, Ganjar – Guitar, Dyon –
Guitar, Ganjar – Bass, Marzen – Drums). Line up tersebut tidak bertahan lama, Ganjar pada posisi Bass terpaksa mengundurkan
diri dikarenakan alasan yang klasik umumnya sebuah band. Setelah melalui bursa transfer pada awal musim, akhirnya posisi
Ganjar pada Bass digantikan oleh Gilang (Ex-Shut Me Out). Line up ini berlanjut hingga sekarang. Semula mereka meng-cover beberapa lagu dari Better Than A Thousand dan beberapa band era “Old School” ataupun “Youth Crew” lainnya, namun pada awal tahun 2009 akhirnya mereka berhasil merilis sebuah Demo Tape yang bertajuk “This Is Our Pride”.
Mereka mengklaim sama sekali tidak mengalami kemunduran musikalitas atas karya yang mereka hasilkan, mengingat lirik,
sound, beat, chord dan nada yang mereka perdengarkan menenggelamkan kita pada masa kurang lebih 15 tahun kebelakang. Hal tersebut ternyata membuat mereka menjadi semakin kokoh dan tangguh terhadap idealitas yang selama ini mereka pahami, yakini dan jalani. Sebuah idealitas yang akan tetap mereka patuhi hari ini, esok, dan nanti.

Discography :
Teriak & Berontak (single) // 2008
This Is Our Pride (demo tape) //2009
Spirit of United (Compilation) //2009
Walk Together with The Kids (split with NOTHING FACE )

Romantic Embrace contact:
E-mail / fb: romanticembrace@rocketmail.com

Saturday, December 18, 2010

We Ride: Interview

~~Kali ini postingan dari hasil wawancara kita dengan WE RIDE. Wawancara ini diambil pada akhir bulan lalu, yang syukurnya mereka masih mau menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan saya di sela kesibukkan manggung mereka. Saya suka band ini, ketika ada band-band  yang baru muncul bergaya layaknya band legenda abad ini, mereka dengan santai menjawab pertanyaan dari blog sederhana ini yang mungkin kalau dihitung secara ekonomi dan secara fungsi mungkin tidak bisa membuat mereka lebih terkenal. Tak ada arogansi. Hehe.. Nice! Thanks for our friends in WE RIDE!! Check this interview and feel the Directions of  WE RIDE. Also free to download their demo and album! This is legal! Enjoy!



Borja, Brais, Mimi, Victor




1. How are you guys? Please introduce yourselves.

Hi! We’re WE RIDE, a 4 piece hardcore band formed in Vigo, Spain!
Mimi - vocals
Borja - guitar
Victor - bass
Brais - drums

2. Who had the idea to start WE RIDE (WR)?When and how WR formed?

We ride started in 2009 with our first drummer Dani, with who we recorded our Demo ’09, Borja was back from spending some time outside Vigo and came back with the idea of forming a new band, we gave our first shows and for personal reasons Dani decided to leave the  band, we knew Brais because his other band and that’s where WR started!!

3. I like your band name, unique.Why did you choose WE RIDE as your band name? There is a special meaning behind the name?


When took it from a sentence that says “We ride together, we die together”
It means like friends till the end, that are we!

4. How do you describe your music? What is the biggest influence for WE RIDE?

Our music express the way we see the world every day! Our music, despite being positive, is full of hate and anger for all the people that controls the world today, and try to manage our live.

5. What does Hardcore means for you guys? And until when you were Hardcore? Haha..

Hardcore for us, besides the music we love, has been our direction in this life. A life based on respect towards others, towards animals, towards the environment, and to be always shouting and struggling for a better world. Through the hardcore we met hundreds of amazing people around the world and visiting new cities. As one of our songs says “We ride hardcore till the day we die”. (Wow, it’s a great words, but i think maybe it’s also hard statement when we haven’t great passion for. Hardcore lives!!! WTPz)

6. Are you all Straight Edge? What does straight edge means for you?

Mimi: I am the only Straight Edge in the band!
I’m straight edge for 4 years, it’s the way i choosed to live my life, what makes me happy with myself, my ideals, a lifetime commitment.

7. What do you think About people sellout from straight edge?

Mimi: Go kill yourself! Hahahahaha... (Yeah, you right Mimi. It’s mean like rape our fucking promise. Think twice before make a decision! WTPz)

8. We move to the next question. We ride is a hardcore band with a woman as the
Front. Question to Mimi as a vocalist. Are there dificulties to be the only woman in a Hardcore band? And have you experienced bad treatment at the stage from the audience because you are a girl
?

Mimi: No way!!! I never had any problem for being a girl, opposite, people sometimes is more concerned about you, but i like to be treated like everyone else, there’s no difference on the stage between a boy or a girl, actually we see more and more girls enjoying hardcore shows, i really like that and for me it’s really special sharing stage with other girls. We have a WR t.shirt that says, “female fronted, girls do  it better” Haha..
And as the only girl in the band we never had any problem about that, of spending so much time together sometimes i forget that i’m a girl. Hahahaha...
(Hahahaha, it’s cool. I’ve saw the t-shirt that you said, and the girls should be. Here isn’t much bands who have a girl as a front. WTPz)

9. How do you keep the friendship in a band? How close are you to one another?

We’re not friends…
We are a family! Hahaha..
We’re really very very close! Two of us are roommates and provided that we can go together to eat, dinner, going to other shows, go out partying, or simply drink a coffee or go for a walk!
We’re also a band that rehearse  a lot, we never pass more than two days without seeing us. (Wow, yes you’re family guys. I mean, you’re like a brothers and sister on the same house. Full house! Hehe.. We can learn from you, friend like a family – family more than just a friend. Nice! WTPz)

10. Congratulations for your Directions LP released. You have been doing Directions album promo tour, how's the response?
The releases shows are being really amazing! Every shows we see new people singing our songs, wearing our merch… For us this is something that seems crazy!!

11. I’ve heard your Directions album. I Like it. Do you also plan to make a video clip?

We’ve been thinking about making a “profesional” video clip.
But we finally decided to do it ourselves with help of our friends, so yes! We are thinking a lot about it, we only have to decide the song and work on it. It’s gonna be great! (Sure, it would be great! I can’t wait for that guys. WTPz)

12. How's Hardcore scene in Vigo, Spain?


Borja: The scene today is better than before! There are more bands than ever, and many people struggling to keep hardcore growing!
In Spain we haven’t a scene as big as in other European countries like France, Germany and Belgium ... but certainly between Spain and Portugal any band can make a very good tour here!

13. What is your plan in the near future?

The first for us is to continue releasing our album in Spain and Portugal! We want to play in all cities/towns! We’ve been playing in an abandoned train station in a very very small town in Spain, which lived just 100 people!
I think it was our concert with fewer people, but it was great! We would return tomorrow if they call us! Hahahahha.. (Sounds great there, hehe.. WTPz)
Next month will announce the first dates/countries of our European tour, which will consist of two parts!

14. Thank you for taking the time for this interview and also thanks for an album that you share on our little blog. The last words or messages or anything else to our blog readers or friends on Indonesia?

Thank you for counting with us and for giving us a place in your blog, your work is great! We hope you all enjoy our “Directions”.  It’s amazing knowing our music get’s so far. We hope to see you all one day on a We Ride show round there!
We Ride Hardcore 2010!!!!!!!!!! (Yes, i hope i can see your show in here someday. See you guys! Thank you! Go WE RIDE! WTPz)

Thursday, December 9, 2010

We Ride: Directions LP 2010


~~Serang!! Kembali dengan WE RIDE. Mereka baru merilis album Directions di tahun 2010 ini. Mereka juga telah mengadakan promo tour ke sejumlah kota dan negara. Sekarang kalian bisa men-download album ini. Senang sekali. Dan juga kebetulan kami diberi kepercayaan dan kesempatan untuk men-share seluruh lagu album Directions ini secara gratis. Dan
I
s there anything better than this? Haha..
Bagi kalian yang senang dengan band-band female fronted hardcore seperti: REACHING HAND (Portugal) atau xTRUSTx (Argentina), kalian akan suka dengan band satu ini. Seperti sedang mendengarkan COMEBACK KID yang dipadu karakter vokal very early Candace Kucsulain. Ada semacam gaya hardcore Portugal juga di dalamnya meskipun mereka adalah band hardcore asal Vigo, Spanyol. Download their album and feel the Directions of WE RIDE! It's free till you fucking die! Haha..
And our interview with WE RIDE will coming soon!!

Thanks for Mimi, Borja, and all of friends in WE RIDE to give your trust to us.
We appreciate it
.

Hey, for someone.. Please bring them here!! Hehe.. Go WE RIDE!!
Gracias!

WE RIDE contact:
Email adress: weridehardcore@gmail.com
Booking adress: Thisworldpromotions@gmail.com
Official We Ride Merchstore: http://www.myspace.com/weridemerch
http://www.myspace.com/weridehxc

*We have permission for these free downloads

Download


We Ride: Demo 2009


~~Senang sekali bertemu dengan posting baru. Kali ini datang dari teman-teman WE RIDE, band female fronted hardcore asal Vigo, Spanyol. Ini adalah demo mereka di tahun 2009. Ada 4 lagu apik yang wajib disimak dan didengarkan. Gratis dari menit pertama, Hah.. kayanya pernah denger yang begituan. Haha..
Download their songs for free!!! And we have more about WE RIDE. Keep on this blog frequently!

WE RIDE story:
We Ride born in Vigo in 2009. Four friends (Mimi, Borja, Victor and Brais) and the Hardcore as a thing in common We Ride have toured in almost all of Spain and Portugal during their first year of life, during which they published the “Demo ´09”. In 2010, without leaving aside the shows, they have written and recorded their debut album: “Directions”; 12 new direct songs of Hardcore/punk.

WE RIDE contact:
Email adress: weridehardcore@gmail.com
Booking adress: Thisworldpromotions@gmail.com
Official We Ride Merchstore: http://www.myspace.com/weridemerch
http://www.myspace.com/weridehxc

Download

Monday, December 6, 2010

N4S: Interview

"Feeding the stomachs of the poor is not difficult, but feeding the starving hearts of humanity with Prema Bhakti – that is the greatest challenge."

~~ Hallo lagi! Saya sengaja menjadikan kutipan tersebut menjadi semacam headline. Ini adalah kutipan dari interview kami dengan N4S, band Noisecore punk asal Filipina. Mereka juga seorang bhakta Krishna, vegan/vegetarian, dan Straight Edge. Jujur wawancara ini banyak memberikan pelajaran khususnya bagi saya selaku yang ngedit materi ini. Kesederhanaan dalam berpikir justru membuat kekuatan yang mendalam untuk menjalani hidup ini. Sangat filosofis. Ada semacam sentuhan rohani namun universal. Selamat menikmati! I think this is real transcendental interview. Hehe.. You can download their album here. And this interview would be publish too on Betterday Zine (Printed version, only Indonesian language) and also here: http://betterdayzine.blogspot.com/. Check this one out! Hare Krishna!

1. Hi, guys! How are you? Can you introduce yourselves to our friends in Indonesia.

Namaste. Hello to everyone there, I'm Balarama Das, screaming for N4S, other members are:
Bhakta Joel Pabuna aka Manay Doggie - transcendental barks
Gaurasundara Das - mystical guitar
Bhakta Marco Polo - yogi bass
Bhakta Vic - goloka drums

2. Before I begin with questions about N4S, what do you know about Indonesia?
Hmmmm... As far as geographical location, I guess your the nearest neighboring country of Philippines. I heard about the beautiful Bali Island. And I heard about there's a healthy scene of positive hc punk there. Just very little information about your local scene, so we will greatly appreciate if you will update us about your D.I.Y scene. (Well, I think D.I.Y scene here almost same like in Philippines even not more “colorful” than yours“. But here (Bandung City, the place that i living), to make a gig is very hard. Police will be very stingy to give permission. Moreover if there are any chaotic situation on the gigs, the permission would be harder to get. And I think because the people is not “really” respect. Although a lot of people or bands scream for “respect” as a important thing for this scene. Haha.. It’s a contradiction. WTPz)

3. You just released your album "The City Of Nine Gates". Talk about what this album?
" The City Of Nine Gates" is a portrayal of our inner journey of awakenings from external to internal worlds... It's a commencement of (R)evolutionary progression in the
life of N4S....a total of 17 noises, 5 of them was from the demo album "The noise Of An Old Intelligence" released 2 years ago, then 5 tracks were just played 2 months ago and the rest was played for the first time and recorded on the spot 3 weeks ago somewhere here in Pasig City on the month of Damodara.... The summary of purports of this album were about the nature of this mundane world - How we embraced this material dross. Delusions and dust that slips our hold. Time and again as we try to catch it, the self cannot be cleansed of it's impurities and finds itself powerless to ascend to the inner worlds.... It's about how we run away from a ruby and run after an empty shell...We had forsaken truth and yearned falsehood. We had attained this human form and in carnal joys was wasted- the fool the nectar gained yet it was poison we tasted...we dwell in this temporary material body- the city of nine gates- in absorption and attachments....

4. N4S is a Hare Krishna band, what makes you (your band) form the band with Krishna as the ideology?
N4S was started way back 1994 as a noisecore punk, then after releasing our 10th year anniversary album in 2004, a dawn of fear arises, a thought of change.... I just left behind and leave everything - the rusted modern society, beset by their inner emptiness, a cosmic dislocation and existential uncertainty....disillusioned by the whole show of this world, nothing seemed attractive, robbing the dimensions of our lives, I am sick of this material rat race, riches and games...I want a higher life.... we disguise our struggle by piling up figures in a bankbook to reflect privately our sense of heroic worth or by having only a better home in the neighborhood, a bigger car, brighter children, beautiful wife or big family, gratifying our senses.... but underneath throbs the ache for cosmic specialness no matter how we mast it in concerns for smaller scope.....

This is not an ideology...It's a destruction of poisonous pride....restriction of false ego...a sweet nectar, an inundation of various bliss...She's within our hearts... an unquenchable thirst to serve...at the core of our being is a focus of consciousness that is itself evidence of higher reality.....
Some individuals were categorizing as an "Hare Krishna Band", maybe because of our active involvement in the movement of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the initiator of the Hare Krishna Movement. But this movement is not a religious sectarian group or dogmatic bullshits, it's a transcendental revolutionary cultural movement to develop the potent metaphysical instincts of human beings and giving them a chance to expand and express themselves to it's fullest potential.... This is not a religious formula or some spiritual recreation, but is the most important factor of my life....Our lives....The aim.... The ultimate purpose....The higher taste.

5. And you're a Vegan/Vegetarian band too, is there any relation between Hare Krishna and veganism/vegetarianism? If there, what's the part of that?
Mutual respect for the sacred status of all life forms and all living beings based on their common quality of being emanations from the Absolute Truth....This is the basic principles of life.......as a young practitioner of yoga of bhakti, you will develop a character of compassion and realizations on the interconnection of lives in this cosmic universe, and you will cultivate the mood of humility and by the virtue of true knowledge, you will see in equal vision the man-woman-cow-pig-birds-fishes-dogs...... In the lives of vaisnavas, it's a common practice to be a vegetarian, it's just a natural transformation to avoid the consumption and eating of animals.... (Yes, Ahimsa –non violence. Because the God just receive our present from leaves, flowers, fruits, and water that presented by our prema bhakti. And we’re only get from the rest of the present as prasadam. I’ve red that from the local ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) flyer. WTPz)

6. What does Straight Edge mean to you? And what do you think about people sellout from Straight Edge?
Again the sincere and serious practitioner of bhakti yoga do not take any form of intoxicants like alcohol,wine, beer, cigarettes, drugs and all this unnecessary destructive and nonsense substances....
Those who are serious practitioner of the path of bhakti will develop a taste for higher activities and engagements that satisfies the real self...Through practice of discipline and controlling the senses, one no longer indulge or participate on thighs that will just waste your time and energy...again it's a common practice for the vaisnavas to avoid taking any kind of intoxicants....So there's no separate endeavor to be a "straight edge" once you are sincere and determined to pure bhakti process.....

As far as I know, straight edge is a way of living a clean and pure life..... We are all a bunch of drunkards and drug users before, but because of the teachings of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and our aspirations to live the way of the vaisnavas, the basic practice of the "straight edge" were naturally become common to our daily lives....
I had stopped taking or using any intoxicants or substances almost 7 years ago and I'm a vegetarian for more then 13 years and smashed a television set 15 years ago and I'm not interested reading news papers or listening to radio news....What I read in a "straight edge" zine 20 years ago, some edgers were also avoiding televisions or anything that contaminates our minds.... I don't know if this figures were enough to consider me as a "straight edge" too...I'm not an authority or the proper source to talk about this things, coz as I had said I'm not old school enough to be "in"....Anyway, I don't think it's enough just to be categorized in this another bodily designations, because no matter you called yourself "straight edge" yet you still don't know who you really are, it makes no sense at all...and sometimes, some people who called themselves "straight edge" were heavily intoxicated by PRIDE and ARROGANCE....so there's no difference on a wasted drunkard junkie life.... nothing but a proudfool.

Sell-outs? I guess most of us were sold out souls to the materialistic industrial commercial megamachine.....How essential it is to live what we believe... How vital it is to practice what we shout....better to live in poverty that to sell one's soul for an empty palace of gold...everything the world craves-- wealth, fame, amazing talent, worthless as the dung of a boar...Better to exist unknown than to sell one's soul for an empty fame..........

7. Can you describe your music. And what is the biggest influences for your music other than Krishna?
It's not music at all, it's NOISE, NOISE, NOISE and nothing but NOISE.... Hehe... We had a diverse and vague influences aside from the solemn and meditational vrindavan songs...... Bhakta Joel Pabuna likes UK Punk, Oi! , Grindcore and 70's stuffs Punk Rock...Gaurasundara is more on New York HC type Staright Edge Youth Crew, and Krishnacore bands... Marco Polo is into Heavy HC and Metalcore. Bhakta Vic likes Trashcore, Youth Crew and Grind and Crust Punk... My influences varies from CRASS - RESIST- D.R.I- SEVEN MINUTES OF NAUSEA- 108.. From Anarchopunk to Noisecore to Scandinavian HC and Trashpunk . Krishnacore bands affected our present day moods….

8. Few want to know you individually. Beside the band, what's your daily activities?
When we recorded this “The City Of Nine Gates” album for 7 hours, Bhakta Joel Pabuna missed out 2 working days, so when He showed up for work He was fired! Hahahaha. Now he’s jobless with a wife and 2 growing kids….Gaurasundara no job. Bhakta Marco still studying in College. Bhakta Vic just passed the board exam and will have a job soon…Me I had never experience or tried a waged job…. But We are very much happy with our daily lives. Everyday we maintain our daily personal practice of Bhakti Yoga, Mantra Meditation and we love to cook vegan/vegetarian meals and turned it into amazing Prasadam (Holy food, that present to Sri Krishna, WTPz)….We love to read and study and distribute the books of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. We have our weekly free vegan/vegetarian feast here in our ashram or Yoga Centers. We love to travel and share what we had learned from our teachers the Bhakti Yoga process to different people in all walks of life here in Philippines….

9. Do you participate or join a particular organization (such as the FNB for example)? If so, why do you follow it?
Long time ago we were involved in different struggles and autonomous resistance groups.. Now we are still very much active in collectives….. We just want to utilize our free time in a more progressive and sensible way…Most of us are volunteers of Food For Life, this is a non- profit non-government based on spirit of volunteerism and pure devotion to help alleviate the lives and consciousness of the conditioned living entities…Feeding the stomachs of the poor is not difficult, but feeding the starving hearts of humanity with Prema Bhakti – that is the greatest challenge. (Wow, awesome. What a great quotation. Absolutely much to get from this interview guys. we learn a lot. WTPz)

10. I had talked with your guitarist, Glenn Jason (Gaurasundara Das) about hc/punk scene in there. You have more "colorful" hc/punk scene than in Indonesia. (Negative, positive, religion, atheist, etc). As a Krishnacore-Vegan/Vegetarian-Straight Edge band, how do you put yourself in the middle of this "colorful" scene?
As long as there are kids in the scene who shows interests and enquires about life beyond the cubicle of punk/hc ghettos, N4S will strive for more active participation in the local D.I.Y scene….No matter how they tried to put us down or undermined us and other individuals or bands in the scene who are living a life of transcendence, the struggle and determination will not budge an inch. We will keep screaming for complete freedom, mosh around to bring joyous serenity from the inner depths of our consciousness and deliver the bliss in the midst of overwhelming sorrows, there’s no stopping us! Rediscover beyond deprivation. Sadness- monotony of modernity. Alive in the soul- at the hearts and tongues of those who celebrate it…We will rise above.

11. What is your plan in the near future?
Our plan is to continue what we are doing and maybe a tour outside Philippines…let us see…

12. There's last words to convey to our friends in Indonesia? Previously, thank you very much for your time guys.
Thank you very much again for this effort and for giving some interests on us, We really appreciate it… If anyone would like to learn further about what I had said, please feel free to write or communicate with us and we will surely write back.. You can contact us on this email add: balaramadas_chakra@yahoo.com …. And about our new album you are free to dowload it on: http://sonidosdeliberacion.blogspot.com... And if you like to have a cd copy you can trade with us just let me know….. Thanks again to all of you. Peace. Hare Krishna!