Annemarie

REVIEWS:

This is the sound of international jangle pop. This is the sound of annemarie. The band themselves hail from Java, Indonesia. ‘abc on tv’ appears to be their first full LP. It’s released on Sweden’s Music Is My Girlfriend and Peru’s Plastilina Records. So that’s Indonesia, Sweden and Peru covered. I don’t think I’ve ever reviewed a band from Indonesia before. Not that I can tell. This is a pop record.

A pop record that is achingly good. It’s gentle. It’s subtle. It has songs that you’ll be humming for weeks. The 10 songs that make up ‘abc on tv’ clock in at just over 27 minutes in length. That’s a whole host of sub three minute pop gems. Guitars shimmer. Electronic keys gurgle. This is indiepop of the highest order.

You want a few reference points? Take all that’s good in current Swedish pop (bands like The Charade, Acid House Kings) add some more than memorable songs and you’re halfway there. Becaue there is more. This is also would fall very happily onto the fab Skipping Stones roster. Which is praise, indeed.
You can hear faint echoes of Moe Tucker sung Velvets songs on ‘The Living Model’. The jangle pop sound pioneered and perfected by Johnny Marr during his Smiths days is hinted at also. Each time I think of an influence, it’s from the top draw. And at no point do annemarie fall into pastiche. I don’t think I’ve heard a more accomplished debut pop record in a very long time.

annemarie are good. annemarie are very good. I just thought that that needed saying. I can’t pick out a highlight. As the whole LP is pretty much a highlight. Although I doubt calling a song ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ is that wise a move. It’s got a history that song name. And I’d imagine people might expect a cover. It isn’t.
So, to sum it up, you want the sound of gorgeous pop? You want a band to cherish. A band to fall in love with? That band is annemarie.
/Lost Music


A fact overlooked by many people is that Indonesia actually has one of the best pop music scenes in the world right now, with tweepoppers Annemarie leading the way. They’ve appeared on compilations from both Fruit Records and Plastilina Records, and released an absolutely stellar EP in 2005 on Sweden’s Music Is My Girlfriend label. This past Monday their debut album ABC on TV was co-released by the aformentioned Music Is My Girlfrtiend and Plastilina labels. It’s full of pop gem after pop gem of cutesy girl vocals and jangly guitars, with the uncanny ability to put a smile on your face and a dance in your step even on the unhappiest of days.

Bubblegum I See, from the new record, is so cute and catchy it forces me to make up words! Tantri’s vocal melody in the very first few lines: “Here comes something amazing to me, so I go there” is so perfectly executed that if they just repeated that over and over throughout the whole song with the jangling guitars and swirling keyboards setting it in motion, the song would probably still be just as great as it already is. But, then I guess they couldn’t call it “Bubblegum I See,” and surely that would be a sad loss.

Please buy ABC on TV, it will make your day so much better!
/Matt @ Scatterbrain


Annemarie are an indie twee pop band from Java, Indonesia and their first album is released conjointly on two labels, Music is my Girlfriend (Sweden) and Plastilina (Peru). They seem to be influenced by Red Sleeping Beauty, Club 8, The Softies or Acid House Kings, iconic figures of the style.

Annemarie started in late 2004, their members were still in high school and the project went on when they moved to the university. Going through a few member changes they are now six musicians, several of them are singing so we have a few bright vocal harmonies and combinations of male and female vocals. Besides, we can hear the usual jangly guitars, bass, bright keyboards and gently bouncing drums. All of them are indie music fans in the UK tradition, from The Smiths to The Cocteau Twins, from Joy Division, to Blur, but their world of expression is defintely the twee pop scene.

Apart from their origin, Annemarie aren’t that different from the many bands of the contemporary twee scene, except the fact that this album is incredibly cute, addictive and brilliant. The melodies are beautiful and sensitive; their music is radiant and joyful; their aesthetic is thorough and extremely refreshing.

ABC on TV is a short album, ten songs for twenty-seven minutes, but it is also one of the best and more enthusiastic records you’ll have the opportunity to hear this year. I knew there was a well developed twee pop scene in Indonesia but I never suspected it was so good, and Annemarie is delivering here a new classic for the style. There are also two videos on the CD (you can see them on Youtube) and looking at these you can’t escape falling in love with this band!

Most of these songs are immediate naive sunny hits, Annemarie make you smile all the time, convey images of heavenly sunny days, during late spring or early summer, dozing peacefully on the green grass, spending time with your friends, with the heart full of euphoric, sentimental and nostalgic emotions.

Apple (Suicide on your Stereo Set), Wonderboy and The Living Model are perfect jangle pop songs and will make you want to dance. Love in the morning, Seems Like Yesterday and ABC on TV show you can’t reduce Annemarie to simple straightforward melodists, some of the songs like these ones, have a more melancholic, subtle, dynamic or ethereal approach that will make you think of Field Mice or Brighter. Bubble Gum I See and Lazy Sunny Day have got a sugary sixties pop feel. Wont’ be nice and Seems Like Yesterday recall me of Sodastream and early Belle & Sebastian.

A brilliant and amazing debut, highly recommended.
/Didier Goudeseune @ Derives


Je vindt indiemuziek in allerlei soorten en maten en veel daarvan zijn afgelopen jaar hier wel voorbij gekomen. Twee-pop, een van de leukste muzieksoorten, is echter nog erg weinig aan bod gekomen. The Radio Dept., Dýrðin en Math and Physics Club zijn een paar voorbeelden. Nou, daar komt er vandaag weer een heel leuke band bij.
De band heet Annemarie en ze komen niet uit Amerika of Zweden maar van Java, Indonesië. Het begon allemaal in 2004 en in november 2005 verscheen hun debuut-ep “The Living Model” bij Music Is My Girlfriend (het label met de leukste naam) uit Zweden. Na het verschijnen van deze plaat verlieten enkele leden de band en Annemarie bestaat nu uit Dian, Tantri, Inu, Jojon en Iqbal. Dit vijftal brengt de volgende week het eerste volledige album “ABC On TV” uit, weer bij MIMG. Een album vol prachtige popliedjes, tenminste als je afgaat op het gratis neerlaadbare voorbeeld “Bubblegum I See”. Om de liefhebbers een plezier te doen, zijn hier “The Living Model” en “Apple”, twee prachtige songs van de eerste ep van Annemarie.
/Heet Stof


Bandet Annemarie kommer från Indonesien, men det låter som att medlemmarna fått i sig svensk indiepop redan med modersmjölken. De kör långsam plagiatpop med mycket melodier och glad känsla. Det är en kvinnoröst och en mansröst som turas om att sjunga bababa-refränger och texterna är lite dumsöta, i stil med ”bubbel gum, I see you”. Det är ingenting som förändrar världen, men lite charmigt trots allt.
/Västerbottens folkblad, Jessica Dalman
- Music is my girlfriend