Those Shocking Shaking Days (Double LP)

The full title is Those Shocking Shaking Days: Indonesian Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock and Funk 1970-1978. And as is probably obvious, it presents the untold story of Indonesia's various underground 70s musical scenes.

Few are aware of the progressive music scenes from 1970s Indonesia, as censorship imposed by the dictator Suharto lead to crackdowns on those courageous enough to rebel. This insurgent sound - marked by relentless fuzz, over the top, politically charged lyrics, strong rhythms and a cranky low-fidelity - is as similar to that of Rare Earth protégés Power of Zeus as it is to that of South Korean psych-god Shin Jung Hyun. It is as informed by James Brown's funk as it is by the hard, progressive rock of Deep Purple and King Crimson.

This anthology contains 20 tracks of hard, psychedelic, progressive rock and funk that has been largely unheard or ignored outside of the confines of this island nation. This is all thanks to the tireless (and expensive) research of Canadian hip hop producer and Southeast Asian music specialist Jason "Moss" Connoy, the trust that Indonesian rock legend Benny Soebardja placed in Now-Again Records as he traversed his homeland's islands securing the necessary rights for the tracks contained within this anthology, and the cultural context added to the proceedings by Indonesian ex-pat Chandra Drews, who assisted in a track-by-track annotation.

This anthology is the first of its kind - the first Western-based survey of the most impressive organizations to offer their take on the psychedelic and progressive rock and funk sounds during the shocking, shaking days of Suharto's regime.