A fresh blood in the local hood, formed back in March 2001 and standing in the “Free Pop” genre and worshipping the universal feeling: Love. Filled with Ian (Vocal), Moldy (Guitar), Indra (Bass) and Seno (Drum). This album called “Langkah Baru” (New Step) that contains with average (maybe flat tunes)but freshly scored a Gold Award for selling 75000 copy, a big number for a fresh blood like ‘em and gaining more highlight since one of their song “Tulus” that sounds happy and raunchy become a jingle for one the Sinetron. But still they need to find their own character and color to gain more respect from the public, as I told you: need to find their character, so don’t expect to much. //gino

A really non public request-esque album as Ahmad Dhani (Keyboard) told that: “this album were written according to our taste & not because of public demand, so we don’t care is it gonna be a big bang or not”. Reality say different, their idealism who sell this record. “Shine On” was taken by Yamaha as their jingle for their TV ad, “Pangeran Cinta” (Love Prince) with lyrics showing the raw truth of love, and “Matahari, Bintang, Bulan” (Sun, Star, Moon) sounds a bit Jamaican. Like it or not, anything that they record…turns in to gold. //gino

A lot of the time, Kaiser Chiefs sound like The Jam, but funnier. There’s loads of na-na-na-ing, two step ska-like rhythms and lead singer Ricky Wilson sounds a lot like Paul Weller and sometimes even Bowie. Mashing up all their influences though, Kaiser Chiefs have come up with something very original. Every track delivers an infectious hook and it’s hard to resist their facetious, “I’m from oop north” observations on life –“Girls scrabble around with no clothes on/To borrow a pound for a condom/If it wasn’t for chip fat they’d be frozen” Wilson intones on I Predict A Riot. Slick, accomplished and fun.

New Order deliver an album of bombastic, sometimes tongue-in-cheek synth rock/pop. It starts of all solemn with lots of spacey guitar on Who’s Joe, but picks up immediately with Hey Now What You Doing, a five odd minute groove built on sweetly plucked bass line and triumphal chorus. The pop aesthetic really moves to the fore with the title track and then Krafty, which is just that, parodying a very eighties brand of pop sentimentality. Yeah, the soaring synth choruses get a little samey after a while – most tracks run in at over five minutes, but at the same time they’re all hell catchy anyway so you won’t really mind. They’re not breaking new ground, but they already did that, didn’t they? Savvy & fun.