Album review: 'NKKBS Bagian Pertama' by Melancholic Bitch
Stanley Widianto
The Jakarta Post
'NKKBS Bagian Pertama' by Melancholic Bitch (Melancholic Bitch/File)
The term Norma Keluarga Kecil Bahagia dan Sejahtera (Prosperous
and Happy Small Family) was a foundation on which Soeharto’s New Order
regime issued the Keluarga Berencana (Family Planning) program.
Theoretically, Soeharto wanted to limit Indonesian families to just two children. In 1992, the program was encoded into law; its spirit — small family equals warranted prosperity — became the regime’s trademark.
Melancholic Bitch, the quiet storm of a band from Yogyakarta, has rekindled this once-virulent credo by immortalizing the Norma Keluarga Kecil Bahagia dan Sejahtera abbreviation, NKKBS, as the name for its third album, NKKBS Bagian Pertama (NKKBS Part One).
As the title implies, it will carry the NKKBS abbreviation through for the band’s upcoming records. In an interview with VICE, the writer, artist and frontman Ugoran “Ugo” Prasad said that he still had no idea how many records would constitute the NKKBS series.
The NKKBS comprises heady concepts for an album — family, childhood pains, childhood gains — but the band is no stranger to them. For example, its 2009 Balada Joni dan Susi (The Ballad of Joni and Susi) is a short story of a struggling couple that was committed to tape.
Born in the late 1970s, Ugo — like some of the other names on NKKBS I’s credits, including Yossy Herman Susilo (guitar), Richardus Arditya (bass), Nadya Hatta (keyboard), Yennu Ariendra (guitar/synth) and Danish Wisnu Nugraha (drums) — grew up nurtured by the regime, transforming it into a lived experience, a recalled observation.
On “Aspal, Dukun” (Asphalt, Shaman) an ecstatic cut of the album, the picture painted in the lyrics might seem opaque or even absurdist at first, but through Ugo’s vision, the song feels legitimately rooted in reality: “Aspal sampai di kampung terujung / Ini pasti jimat orang kota” (Asphalt gets to the end of the village / This must be the city people’s talisman).
And this is what you get from a Melancholic Bitch song. Its intermittent presence might be a good primer, but this is what the lyrics are supposed to do to you. They make you think, or, if you are like me, ready a bunch of Google tabs to ascertain the references within. But Ugo still steers his lyrics away from becoming a screed, obfuscating them enough to make you think twice.
Save for the title, the lyrics on the propulsive cut “Dapur, NKK/BKK” (Kitchen, NKK/BKK). This song mocks a regulation issued by the regime called Normalisasi Kehidupan Kampus/Badan Koordinasi Kemahasiswaan (Normalization of a Campus Life/University Students Coordinating Body) and is twisted enough to make it hard for you to wrest a concrete meaning.
It tells of a baby born prematurely and subsequently being eaten by a dog. Then for some reason, there is a military strike, a village besieged. It is fun to parse this stuff, it may be double the work, but it is all in good fun.
In other places, there are references to the babinsa (village supervisory officers), hiked-up prices for daily needs, covert abuse of the education system and even the empat sehat, lima sempurna (four healthy, five perfect) diet campaign.
But the most important theme in NKKBS I is family, the smallest unit of social agents.
For example, “Selat, Malaka” (Strait, Malaka) repurposes the national hero Tan Malaka’s story to tell of a family member leaving his nest. With its staggering build-up, “Trauma, Irama” (Trauma, Melody) tells of a protagonist missing his mother and home after an unexplained ordeal.
Musically, this is one of the most manic, menacing Melancholic Bitch albums to date. The guitars swirl (“Normal, Moral”), the piano dances (“Selat, Malaka”), Ugo’s deep vocals glide (“Trauma, Irama”). Some songs end flippantly, sometimes with a piano exercise or a disquieting church organ. The music delivers contempt and anger when necessary, sadness when prompted. It is a dynamic, admittedly quite heavy, record to listen to in one sit-through.
But it towers over expectations. Melancholic Bitch is known for the wait it put its fans through. The wait is never unrewarded and that speaks of the band’s quality. What NKKBS I means for the band is not just a smooth re-entry into the scene. It is a key to one of the country’s best lyricists, one of the best bands working presently.
Theoretically, Soeharto wanted to limit Indonesian families to just two children. In 1992, the program was encoded into law; its spirit — small family equals warranted prosperity — became the regime’s trademark.
Melancholic Bitch, the quiet storm of a band from Yogyakarta, has rekindled this once-virulent credo by immortalizing the Norma Keluarga Kecil Bahagia dan Sejahtera abbreviation, NKKBS, as the name for its third album, NKKBS Bagian Pertama (NKKBS Part One).
As the title implies, it will carry the NKKBS abbreviation through for the band’s upcoming records. In an interview with VICE, the writer, artist and frontman Ugoran “Ugo” Prasad said that he still had no idea how many records would constitute the NKKBS series.
The NKKBS comprises heady concepts for an album — family, childhood pains, childhood gains — but the band is no stranger to them. For example, its 2009 Balada Joni dan Susi (The Ballad of Joni and Susi) is a short story of a struggling couple that was committed to tape.
Born in the late 1970s, Ugo — like some of the other names on NKKBS I’s credits, including Yossy Herman Susilo (guitar), Richardus Arditya (bass), Nadya Hatta (keyboard), Yennu Ariendra (guitar/synth) and Danish Wisnu Nugraha (drums) — grew up nurtured by the regime, transforming it into a lived experience, a recalled observation.
On “Aspal, Dukun” (Asphalt, Shaman) an ecstatic cut of the album, the picture painted in the lyrics might seem opaque or even absurdist at first, but through Ugo’s vision, the song feels legitimately rooted in reality: “Aspal sampai di kampung terujung / Ini pasti jimat orang kota” (Asphalt gets to the end of the village / This must be the city people’s talisman).
And this is what you get from a Melancholic Bitch song. Its intermittent presence might be a good primer, but this is what the lyrics are supposed to do to you. They make you think, or, if you are like me, ready a bunch of Google tabs to ascertain the references within. But Ugo still steers his lyrics away from becoming a screed, obfuscating them enough to make you think twice.
Save for the title, the lyrics on the propulsive cut “Dapur, NKK/BKK” (Kitchen, NKK/BKK). This song mocks a regulation issued by the regime called Normalisasi Kehidupan Kampus/Badan Koordinasi Kemahasiswaan (Normalization of a Campus Life/University Students Coordinating Body) and is twisted enough to make it hard for you to wrest a concrete meaning.
It tells of a baby born prematurely and subsequently being eaten by a dog. Then for some reason, there is a military strike, a village besieged. It is fun to parse this stuff, it may be double the work, but it is all in good fun.
In other places, there are references to the babinsa (village supervisory officers), hiked-up prices for daily needs, covert abuse of the education system and even the empat sehat, lima sempurna (four healthy, five perfect) diet campaign.
But the most important theme in NKKBS I is family, the smallest unit of social agents.
For example, “Selat, Malaka” (Strait, Malaka) repurposes the national hero Tan Malaka’s story to tell of a family member leaving his nest. With its staggering build-up, “Trauma, Irama” (Trauma, Melody) tells of a protagonist missing his mother and home after an unexplained ordeal.
Musically, this is one of the most manic, menacing Melancholic Bitch albums to date. The guitars swirl (“Normal, Moral”), the piano dances (“Selat, Malaka”), Ugo’s deep vocals glide (“Trauma, Irama”). Some songs end flippantly, sometimes with a piano exercise or a disquieting church organ. The music delivers contempt and anger when necessary, sadness when prompted. It is a dynamic, admittedly quite heavy, record to listen to in one sit-through.
But it towers over expectations. Melancholic Bitch is known for the wait it put its fans through. The wait is never unrewarded and that speaks of the band’s quality. What NKKBS I means for the band is not just a smooth re-entry into the scene. It is a key to one of the country’s best lyricists, one of the best bands working presently.
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