Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Press Release:

Good News! Kekal is NOT dead, and it is proven that new songs are currently in the production.

After speculations about the current status of Kekal following the departures of all band members last year, it is confirmed that a new Kekal studio album is planned for 2010.

The new album will be some sort of 'collective effort'. It means that all 3 former key members (Jeff, Azhar Levi and Leo) have contributed in making 'the whole art-form in one package', while not limited only on the music side. Levi is currently making the entire artwork for the album and Jeff is producing the music. 2 songs will also have Leo's guitar works.

About the album direction, Jeff told that each song displays its unique character as a balance between electronic and organic elements, rhythm and melody, aggression and atmosphere, simplicity and complexity, beauty and the beast. Confirmed instruments being used on recording are: electric & guitars, drums, samples from field-recordings, theremin, analog synths, vocals, vocoder, and TR-808.

The album will redefine the term 'experimental' in its true sense, but yet listeners will find it accessible and digestible.

Kekal is currently looking for a potential record label to release the album on CD and digital later this year. More details including track listing and album title will be announced in the coming months.

However, there is no plan for Jeff, Levi and Leo to rejoin Kekal. Kekal will stay member-less. Stay tuned with the news.

 

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Press Release: Jeff and Leo are leaving Kekal, but the band remains exist without band-members

KEKAL Press Release, August 12, 2009.

Jeff Arwadi and Leo Setiawan are leaving Kekal effective immediately.
Throughout the past few months, Jeff has been securing all copyright and other rights of the entire Kekal's 'intellectual property' including the band's entire releases back-catalog as well as all official internet sites, and also plan to make some of the band's important albums for free download. However, after seeking some legal advices, he decided to keep Kekal to remain exist as a band (read: institution) albeit without active band-members.

The following is the statement made by Jeff:

I cannot describe how sad I am at this point, but the situation is simply inevitable and I have made a decision, a very tough decision I've been thinking about for more than a couple years now: I am leaving Kekal.

Yesterday, I celebrated the 14th anniversary of Kekal in a very low-key; drinking alone quietly in sadness and grief, remembering all those years we have been through as a band. It is hard to believe that I had to leave this way, but it is better to end like this than to suffer by not being able to express myself properly to the band, and not being able to handle the band all by myself.

After about 3 years of living in such a different atmosphere (being closer to the nature: parks, lakes & mountains, and being placed in the city of 1 million instead of overcrowded 13 million that I used to live), I found myself devoid of all the anger and bitterness within, and further, that turns out that I am unable to express myself with music. I realized that I had used music to express negative feelings for far too long, to channel pain, anger and bitterness, if you don't have them in you any longer to a certain level, you can't force yourself to make that happen or they might influence you back into your life. I am all against fake expressions, and there is no way for me to lie to myself pretending that I still have that kind of negative feelings and continue to write songs for Kekal.

There are indeed some other reasons which contribute to my final decision, but they are more personal and private.

As for the other remaining member, Leo, he agreed that if I leave Kekal, he will leave too. He has his own music project at this moment and he wants to keep his focus on that, so this means he is leaving Kekal with me. And Levi already left Kekal earlier this year.

So does that mean Kekal has ended? No, absolutely not. We all understand that Kekal CANNOT be dissolved as a band. No one has a right to disband Kekal legally as it is already bound to copyrights, licenses and all the legal stuff as an independent institution. But it is a good thing to see Kekal as a band will stay forever in the music world, even without current active band-members. The energy and music will stay there and it will touch many more people in generations to come. All internet sites of Kekal will remain running and active, and the band itself has as many as 7 albums on the back-catalog.

I am asking you fellow music enthusiasts, to keep listening to the music of Kekal and keep share it to all your friends as many as possible. I always believe Kekal should gain many more listeners than it has today, and it's up to us, including myself, to keep spread Kekal's music to the world.

I am asking you to please share Kekal's Myspace, Facebook, and Last.fm links to all your friends and let them listen the music and experience Kekal.

 

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Moving Forward

Hi, I'm Jeff from Kekal.. It's been a little while, but lots of things have happened here..

As announced on the previous news, from this point forward, Kekal will have an entirely different approach in recording and composing music.. There will be no more in-studio recording sessions within a specific period involved.. Most, if not all, of the recording process (read: capturing sounds) will be done outside studio walls, and we will work each and every song individually during our spare-times.. There will be no deadline, only when we get enough material for a full-length album, that would be a perfect time to compile the songs together and master that for an album..

Well, we just can't stop to continue working on music.. In fact, Leo is recording some acoustic and jazz guitars now as he's making songs for his solo-project, and I have started with some field-recording using my Portable Digital Recorder, where I capture sounds from many different places and at various degree of atmosphere, then I would transfer them to my laptop, manipulate and arrange them later within a context of a song, then add guitars, vocals and other organic musical instruments as needed.. The kind of approach we use is more in common with current electronic and hip-hop artists than average rock/metal bands.. We can't avoid to use this approach because our circumstances just don't allow us to work on music in a traditional sense..

I believe that music should not be limited by anyone and any circumstance as it is a part of our expression.. You already know and it is proven, that no certain genre can limit what we do.. Now not even studio walls can limit us to record the sounds we want..

In the meantime, feel free to download our 2008 album "Audible Minority" (it's free) at: www.kekal.org/download

Stay tuned with updates.. Please to subscribe to our Blog at MySpace, and also join us on Facebook and interact with the band directly.

Thanks..

 

Friday, March 13, 2009 

Press Release: Departure of Levi and Entering the New Era of Kekal

Just recently, I got a message from Azhar Levi that he decided to leave Kekal.. I am not in the position to tell you what the reason is, but it was nothing inter-personal, we remain friends and respect his decision in this case..

Without Levi, Kekal will never be the same again.. His departure from Kekal closed a book of ours.. But it will not stop Kekal as a musical unit.. Life is about moving forward, and Kekal reflects our lives with all the bitterness and struggles.. So to speak, both Leo and I have agreed to continue with the name, and to keep the legacy.. Kekal should be "kekal" in its literal meaning, and disbanding Kekal is totally out of question..

"Audible Minority" marks as the final album from the first era of Kekal, a 14 years era that now has been closed with the departure of Levi.. We are now moving forward into the new era of Kekal and start over again from page one.. As soon as all things left behind have been sorted-out, Kekal will be resurrected with an entirely new focus, new approach, new musical direction, and new vision!

We wish Levi a best of luck on his ventures, and will remember all those years with him..

Thank you and see you again later in all NEW everything! More news coming.. Stay tuned!