Goodnight Electric: 5 Asian Acts to Watch in 2008

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Goodnight Electric This trio of 1980s revivalists blends bleeps and beats with a winning hint of self-mockery

Taking their cue from '80s synth-pop acts like Devo and the Human League, Goodnight Electric aim to make "danceable music," explains Henry Foundation, 30. He started the band as a solo project in 2003 before enlisting the help of his art-school friends Oomleo, 29, and Bondi Goodboy, 30. By all accounts, their aim is being fulfilled. Their live show is winning them a growing following in their native Indonesia as well as in Singapore and Malaysia, their videos are on heavy rotation on Channel [V], and they even enjoy a sponsorship deal with Adidas.
It helps that the band looks as good as it sounds. "To us, presentation is important to the package," says Foundation. In

Goodnight Electric's case, that tends to mean identical ensembles of shiny tracksuits, slick shades, sparkling sneakers and gleaming visors. These guys would be oddities in any crowd, never mind a club in Jakarta.

Luckily, the band has the sense of absurdity needed to pull it all off. In the song The Supermarket I Am In, they sing in nonsense English: "Let's get together, look for some fun/ We are getting absurd/ We're gonna play, we're gonna run/ I just don't like mustard." Well, when all you want to do is dance, what do lyrics matter? "[Synth pop] may go away this year or next, you never know," Foundation says. "But dance music will always be here."

Lara Day
source: Time