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Discus — 1st
(Mellow MMP 365, 1999, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2000-05-01

1st Cover art

Progressive rock from unlikely places: Indonesia. Sure, we’ve covered a lot of Gamelan influenced music like the recent Mani Nuemeier releases, Gamelan Pacifica, and even the home-grown Indonesian prog / pop / rock artists Iwan Fals, Kantata, and Gong 2000; but not since the Guruh Gipsy debut album in 1974 has there been anything quite like this. The first track, “Lamentation & Fantasia Gamelantronique,” and the last track, “Contrasts” (parts a-f), are worth the price of the disc alone: true progressive rock with gamelan understructures, themes, and instruments. Discus features no less than eight members: reeds, violin, two keyboardists, drums, bass, and multi-instrumentalist / leader Iwan Hasan, who plays guitars, 21-string harp-guitar, Balinese and electronic percussion, and shares lead vocals with female vocalist Nonnie. Of course not everyone plays on every track, which gives the disc a good sense of variety and balance. “Condissonance” is a trio for clarinet, violin, and harp-guitar, very chamber oriented in an After Crying sort of way. “For This Love” is basically a jazz-pop vocal tune front-end that ascends to almost Happy the Man-like heights in its instrumental section. “Dua Cermin” is a Minimum Vital-ish tune with male / female vocal tradeoff, but again, the instrumental section smokes and has one of the best guitar solos on the disc. “Violin Metaphysics” may be reminiscent of Ponty’s live solos with the big echo effects, or something by Daryl Way — very introspective. “Doc’s Tune” is flat-out instrumental fusion, with great chops by all. “Anugerah” is a typical Indonesian pop song, like something by Vina Panduwinata — very well done for what it is. “Wujudhkhan” is the only cut on the disc that does nothing for this writer: a jazzy / bluesy vocal thing with strong pop / show tune like elements; fortunately it’s the shortest cut too. Overall though, this is an extremely strong debut that proves there’s still remains plenty of fertile territory within the confines of progressive rock. Best of the year stuff; this one gets my highest recommendation.

Filed under: New releases, Issue 19, 1999 releases

Related artist(s): Discus

More info
http://mellowlabelproductions.bandcamp.com/album/1st

 

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