I Know You Well Miss Clara, Chapter One

What's in a name? The band name I Know You Well Miss Clara must have meaning to the band members. And possibly Miss Clara. But in the end a name is a name and what counts is the music. In the case of I Know You Well Miss Clara and their inaugural Chapter One (MoonJune 057), the music says it all. This is a crack fusion-prog outfit out of Indonesia. It's a quartet with Reza Ryan wizardizing the guitar, Adi Wijaya on keys, Enriko Gultom on bass, and Alfiah Akbar on drums.

The songs, instrumental in form, written by Ryan with a few co-written with Wijaya and one by all the above and Gultom, have tensile strength and plenty of substance and power. They are not at all in a fusion cliche mode, which is a delight.

There are plenty of exploratory moments where keys, bass and guitar set up interesting moods. And then there are the sections when the band cranks it. Reza Ryan is a heck of a guitarist and he has technique in abundance but also his own ideas about line-weaving. So he stands out. But the whole band, here with their first album, has a pretty fully formed identity already too. And I suppose part of that is the rich musical culture of Indonesia but mostly I think it's because they've found a way and a direction of their own.

Listening to this album, given all the above, is a total gas! This is very together music. Do not pass this one by if you want to hear something new that both thinks and rocks!

Ligro, Dictionary 2

From Jakarta, Java, Indonesia, there's Ligro, a guitar-bass-drums fusion outfit that brings it on. Their first international release, Dictionary 2 (MoonJune 047), is at hand, and I for one am glad of it.

It's a fusion trio that has absorbed the Lifetime-McLaughlin-and-beyond legacy and made something of their own of it. This is music with bite. No small part of that is due to the playing of Agam Hamzah. He has facility, a great harmonic-fuse sense. He writes well too. And he can pace a solo with taste and drama, never at a loss for ideas. Adi Darmawan plays bass the way bass should be played in an ensemble like this--strongly foundational and rock solid, yet loose when called for and in no way cliched. Drummer Gusti Hendi has great chops, the independence to get the complex sounds that drive and goes his own way to boot, avoiding the repetitive formulaic approach and hitting it with full force.

It's a rather amazing debut. It's hard-hitting all the way but there's plenty of variety, even including an interpretation of Stravinsky's "An Easy Piece Using Five Notes."

It's a surefire winner for anyone who digs on advanced guitar wielding, the fused arts, and a hot trio going at it with music that rises above the repetition of accepted formulas to make something very much new out of it all. You are warned: things are happening musically in Indonesia today. This is an important piece of that and it should not be missed! Hurrah to MoonJune for bringing this to us.