By Azarine Arinta, Programme Officer, UK/Indonesia 2016-18

15 June 2017 - 16:15

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The Great Escape Festival 2017 in Brighton
The Great Escape is now in its 12th year and firmly established as the place to be if you want to listen to new bands emerging onto the British music scene. ©

The Great Escape Festival

Six different practicioners with a variety of roles from the music scene in Indonesia went to the UK last month and attended two exciting music festivals: The Great Escape Festival and Liverpool Sound City 2017.

We asked them about the best musicians they saw during the festival. Check out their selection below!

Slaves English punk duo Laurie Vincent Isaac Holman
Slaves, an English punk duo from Kent consisting of Laurie Vincent and Isaac Holman was recommended by independent music worker and Indonesia's music scene observer, Felix Dass. Felix said, "the good old days of anger has come back. One of those British-at-their-best kind of thing." ©

The Great Escape Festival
The Big Moon
Madrim Djody, a representative of Studiorama, chose The Big Moon as her pick, in addition to Slaves. To her, both The Big Moon and Slaves represent today's urban youth culture with a distinctive 90's vibe.  The all-girls indie rock band just released their new album 'Love in the 4th Dimension' in April 2017. ©

Counterfeit Magazine UK
Swimming Tapes
Another choice by Felix Dass, Swimming Tapes. "I just love those jangly tunes, reminiscent of the great Sarah Records era." London newcomers, Swimming Tapes, has been dubbed as "one of the most promising young bands we've heard this year" by the biggest independent music website, The Line of Best Fit.  ©

The Line of Best Fit
Dan Croll
Sarah Deshita, a representative from Ismaya Live, recommended Dan Croll. "To know his first album was deeply influenced by Simon & Garfunkel and a lot of hip-hop living legends amazed me. Plus, he went to McCartney's Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts and was actually one of the eight students that were picked to have a one-to-one with Paul McCartney himself. As a Beatlemaniac, that kinda sealed the deal."  ©

Getintothis.co.uk
Flamingods UK Music The Great Escape Festival 2017
The choice for Teguh Wicaksono, founder of Sounds from the Corner, falls to Flamingods. He said, "Flamingods caught my attention with their palette of percussive beat, smart usage of exotic instruments and quirky songwriting. Flamingods offers us the ideal, digestible, ear-friendly world music exploration that you can listen without having to wear v-neck tie-dye and a sarong." ©

Brighton Source
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