js Tohpati Ethnomission is the brain child of Indonesian guitar star Tohpati and ‘Save the Planet’ is their first release, although you can hardly tell as there is nothing amateur about this highly polished project. Fans of mid-70s aggressive fusion and fusion leaning progressive rock may find a lot to like here, but Tohpati Ethnomission offers a remarkable difference with their Indonesian sound featuring traditional percussion, suling flute and Indonesian rhythms. The similarity to 70s fusion comes in Tohpati’s use of rapid fire unison melody lines that recall Shakti, Dimeola, RTF and Mahavishnu. The references to classic progressive rock come in the occasional sentimental melodies and Fripp like guitar intricacies on tunes like ‘Drama’. Another influence could include the gypsy raga rock of Gabor Szabo which seems to influence tunes such as ‘Inspirasi Baru’.

Probably the salient feature to this recording is the fiery brilliant guitar technique of Tohpati. Easily in a class with the greats of modern Asian fusion such as Pranna, McLaughlin, Shankar and Ranjit Barot, Tohpati’s guitar lines burn with fierce intensity and display an extremely polished technique. Despite the extensive use of Indonesian percussion, the overall sound of this band is probably closer to the big sound of a rock band than a jazz band.

Highly recommended for fans of high octane Asian fusion, Tohpati and his band have the speed and skills, but they rarely settle for simple ‘paid by the note’ fusion, but instead keep things interesting with electronic textures, intricate percussion breakdowns and occasional pastoral melodies.

progshine Tohpati Ethnomission's a group from Indonesia, yeah, Indonesia. And probably the first thing we have in mind when we think about this country is some kind of exhotic music, well, it's not that the exhotic don't make any part of the group's music, but it's not the main focus here, the 'thing' here is gather both together, exhotic and 'secular' music, like jazz/fusion, progressive rock and rock n roll. The mind behind the group is Tohpati (guitars), that is also part of simakDIALOG. In Save The Planet, first album of Tohpati Ethnomission he's with Indro Hardjodikoro (bass), Endang Ramdan (percussion), Demas Narawangsa (drums and percussion) that had only 16 years old on the time they recorded, Diki Suwarjiki (suling, a kind of flute) and Lestari (voice on track 2).

What we have in Save The Planet is quite good, in fact, more than good. Highlits like 'Selamatkan Bumi' and his 9 minutes long, 'Drama' (that reminds some King Crimson's Robert Fripp moments), 'Ethno Funk', 'Inspirasi Baru' (and the great bass solo), 'Perang Tanding' (moments that resembles some Frank Zappa) and 'Amarah' (and the various guitars), shows us that the band have A LOT of potential.

But unfortunatelly the group sometimes bet on calm and slow compositions, which I don't like, I don't think it fits their style.

But all in all Save The Planet worth the hearing! Specially when it comes to jazz rock/fusion lovers. The album have some irregularities but shows clearly the bright future Tohpati and his mates can have if they keep playing and writing like that. It's a waiting game, but in my opinion it'll worth.

kev rowland I have no idea how many albums I have reviewed over the years, but it is well into the thousands, but I can honestly say that I haven’t ever come across an album quite like this. Although I have heard some of Tohpati’s previous work with simakDialog, it hadn’t prepared me for his debut work as a bandleader in his own right. He has brought together a group of traditional musicians and created a world/jazz/traditional fusion that is as deep in colours and context as it is broad. Indro Hardjodikoro (bass), Diki Suwarjiki (suling - Sundanese flute), Endang Ramdan (Indonesian percussion - kendang, gong, kenong) and Demas Narawangsa (drums, Indonesian percussion - rebana, kempluk) have combined with Tohpati to create something that is breathtaking in its’ complexity yet combine it with simplicity and traditional sounds to truly fuse together different worlds, not just of music and culture.

Tohpati can be as fluid as Holdsworth when he wishes, combining with Diki to provide a double hit of melody that as incredibly tight as they take flight, or can be in straight jazz areas with a band that is incredibly highly structured and rehearsed or then again can throw all of the rule books out of the window with an amalgam of styles and textures that is all their own. This is progressive fusion in its’ truest sense, played by masters of their craft. www.moonjune.com