“Indonesian music in the 70s is really good, this is Baby Rock by SAS,” said DJ Cotter Phinney during a special one-hour broadcast on KPiss FM radio in Brooklyn, New York, last November. Cotter, owner of the record label Psychic Reader, played nine songs from the SAS and AKA collections, and the new SAS Bad Shock vinyl records are now available in New York City.
The name SAS Group, a legendary band from Surabaya, is not unfamiliar to American psychedelic rock fans. The band, formed in 1975, with members Soenatha Tanjung (guitar, vocals), Arthur Kaunang (bass, keyboard), and (the late) Syech Abidin (drums, vocals), previously joined AKA (Anak Kali Asin) with Ucok Harahap, before finally deciding to separate. This trio band was influenced by the rock trends of that era, such as Emerson Lake & Palmer, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, and Grand Funk. “In 1975, they released their debut album with the hit Baby Rock, as the explosive catalyst for their birth on the Indonesian rock music stage and recording scene,” said Denny MR, an Indonesian journalist and music critic.
Not only Baby Rock, but a number of SAS songs such as Space Ride, Bad Shock, and Tatto Girl are loved by tens of thousands of millennial and Gen Z fans. They are hunting for cassette and vinyl record collections of more than 15 SAS albums at various reseller stores. The Baby Rock lyric video has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube, showing that SAS is able to transcend all eras.
Since their last album in 1991, for the first time, the SAS Group album collection, Bad Shock, has been re-released in vinyl format by the record label Psychic Reader, New York. “Compared to music from other countries, for some reason Indonesian music seems to be overlooked, even though there are many good musical works,” said Cotter Phinney, producer of Psychic Reader. “I really love SAS, from their musical skills, composition, and arrangements to the phenomenal originality of their recordings. This is the first Indonesian Psychedelic Rock band to be released in New York for all music fans in America, Indonesia, and the world,” added Cotter, who is also known as the guitarist and vocalist of the post-punk band from Brooklyn, Medium Band. All curation, digital-to-analog conversion, were done in New York, premastering, and distribution in Netherland. The SAS Bad Shock Album is co-produced by Naratama, Mastering by Wouter Brandenburg and Digital Transfer by Winston Luhur.
“For me, this SAS reborn is a breakthrough, a revival of 70s Rock music. I never dreamed that SAS's music could still be present and loved until now. Moreover, this album was released in New York, coinciding with SAS's 50th anniversary. This is a great miracle from God for the three of us,” said Arthur Kaunang, who followed the production process from the beginning. All curation, digital-to-analog conversion, remastering, and distribution were done in New York.
Writer and source: Digicora Musik New York
