The Yess Story: Cassettes with A Mission

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Music lovers and album collectors look forward to the Record Store Day, held every year on the third Saturday of April. In celebration of Record Store Day, Tempo takes a look into a story of nostalgia about records copied onto audio cassettes, and the tape-recording 'home industry' which boomed in Bandung in the 1970s and 1980s.

There were at least four labels that re-recorded albums onto tape at the time: Yess, Mona Lisa, Apple and Hidayat Recording. Each label had its own specific identity based on its managers' tastes. Yess specialized in progressive rock, not caring if the market was limited.

Mona Lisa put out southern rock albums; Hidayat focused on jazz. Even today, those self-copied cassettes are still sought after by cassette collectors. Many Indonesian musicians feel Yess played a crucial role in honing their taste in music.

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If you stop at Jalan Veteran No. 107 in Bandung, you will see a furniture store in a shop-house. The furniture is visible from the street through the plate glass window. In the late 1970s, people passing this way would have seen a store with smoky glass, a picture of a drum and the outline of a drummer. This was the silhouette of Bill Bruford, drummer for the progressive British rock bands Yes and King Crimson.

Music lovers know this shop was onc

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