A real classic and retro band from Indonesia. Both sonically and visually.

I was surfing through the channels on Astro a few nights ago and I landed on Channel V, which was showing Amp at that very moment. The thing that caught my eye was this music video which has the old school 70’s retro look, and it was sung in Bahasa, Bahasa Indonesia to be exact. The tunes were very bright, catchy and had a happy vibe to it.

Further watching revealed that the band was called White Shoes and The Couples Company (WSATCC for short) and they were all from an art institute in Jakarta. The name of the band was formed due to the fact that they wore white shoes and that 2 members of the band are dating (a couple). Besides playing the standard guitar, drums and bass instruments, they also do use a cello and a piano. Not sure whether brass instruments are at play or not. They were also listed in the Rolling Stones Top 25 MySpace bands last year (not to mention that our local boys, Couple and Ferns were in the list as well!).

So far, they have released 2 albums, the first one was a self-titled debut album and the second one is titled Skenario Masa Muda. According to them, the second album is more like a collectible, featuring retro-looking photos where some of them were hand-cut by the band members themselves. Besides that, they were also signed onto a US based label and also played in the SXSW (South by Southwest) event.

I highly recommend that you check them out and have a listen to some of their tunes. Some of the notable tracks which I like and have received very high rotation on my playlist are Windu & Defrina (MUST LISTEN!!), Tentang Cita and Senandung Maaf. By the way, Windu & Defrina was written by Sari, their lead vocalist, for their friends, a couple who are aptly named Windu & Defrina.

Do check out their music videos on YouTube as well (that way you can see their retro fashion!!)
Windu & Defrina
Sunday Memory Lane

Other links:
Official homepage
MySpace page