http://thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20071202.E06
Difficult Psychedelic Experience

Features – December 02, 2007

Artist: Zeke and the Popo
Album: Space in the Headlines
Label: Black Morse/demajors
Rating: **1/2 out of *****
Standout Tracks: Mighty Love, C Song, Menu

As the title suggests, Zeke and the Popo’s debut album, Space in the Headlines, comprises spacey, psychedelic songs, which some people may find difficult to enjoy.

More than half of the songs in this 13-tracks collection sound like The Beatles’ tunes during the band’s flower power/LSD era in the late 1960s, when John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote hits, such as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Strawberry Fields Forever.

The opening track, Profesor Komodo, seems like a mixture between The Beatles and Oasis, while C Song, the most catchy song in this album, sounds like it was written by Noel Gallagher, Oasis frontman.

Besides The Beatles, it is also notable that the band is influenced by Radiohead. However, if the Fab Four was able to produce glorious psychedelic songs, Zeke failed to deliver their multilayered compositions beautifully.

Some of their songs, such as Hope Killer, Subtext and History of Frequency, have too long duration and too much sound effects, which make them boring and wearying.

Zeke, who composed most of the songs, wrote preposterous lyrics that add up this album’s absurdity.

My favorite tracks in this collection are Menu, Mighty Love and C Song, which offer catchy beat.

Overall, I think Space would’ve been a good album if only the band hadn’t made it too sparse.

— Aditya Suharmoko