KEKAL is now offering no time-limit Free Downloads of their 3 albums: "Audible Minority" (2008), "Acidity" (2005), and "1000 Thoughts of Violence" (2003). All download links as well as info on where to buy the CD can be found on this page:
http://www.kekal.org/download

Kekal's Official Website, Myspace, Facebook, Reverbnation pages, etc. will be kept online as sources of information, and are currently being run and maintained by a couple volunteers/street-team members. There might be some new additions and updates to the sites but will not be as frequent as when the band was active.

As Jeff, Leo and Levi are no longer in the band as for now, they can't be contacted either via Kekal's email and MySpace, but however, feel free to post messages to them on the wall of Kekal's Facebook page so that they will be able to read them. Despite there is no current active members in the band, the status of Kekal is NOT disbanded.


Thank You for keep supporting Kekal.

http://www.kekal.org
http://www.myspace.com/kekal
http://www.facebook.com/kekalofficial

http://www.last.fm/music/kekal (Scrobble your Kekal listening experience!)

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.
http://www.myspace.com/kekal
http://www.facebook.com/pages/KEKAL/8716024541
http://www.last.fm/music/kekal

Up to 3 past Kekal albums will all be opened for Free Downloads, they will be available pretty soon on this site:
http://www.kekal.org/download
and I will also upload all the videos of the 2004 European Tour to my Youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/spitonself

All upcoming updates will be announced on Kekal's blog (hosted by MySpace) as well as on the band's Facebook page.

We are pleased to let you know that our 2008 album "Audible Minority" is now available in 256 kbps mp3 on 10 songs, all Free to Download!
The URL is:
http://www.gimmesound.com/KEKAL
or just visit our main download site: http://www.kekal.org/download

The songs are already ID3 tagged properly, if you have a Last.fm account and familiar with the use, please have the songs scrobbled to their server as you are listening to, so that the album will gain more number of listeners tagged.

Many of you still wonder if "Audible Minority" will ever be available on CD. Well, I have to tell you that we already give up the chances that it will ever be released by the same label who was supposed to release it 7 months ago. It is an embarrassing experience for us, but we made mistakes, and having ourselves dealing with an unreliable and unprofessional record label played a big part of those mistakes.

But Kekal is stronger than whoever wants to stop us from moving forward or play things on us. Mistakes make us stronger and at the end of the day we will stand elegantly. We are currently looking for another record label (a more professional and much better one) for a possible release of "Audible Minority" on CD format later, but it would take time and energy. In the meantime, please accept our apology and enjoy the free 256 kbps mp3 of 10 songs.

Talk with us directly on Facebook!
Our Facebook page has been set-up for discussions and you can easily ask anything about us on the Wall, and we the band will answer any of them the best we can. http://www.facebook.com/pages/KEKAL/8716024541
Don't forget to recommend KEKAL to your friends on Facebook!


Thanks,
KEKAL
www.kekal.org
www.myspace.com/kekal
www.facebook.com/pages/KEKAL/8716024541

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: http://www.kekal.org/download and order the limited edition Digipak CD as it becomes available.. At this moment we don't know when it will become available.. The status of CD is still on "pre-order" (even 4 months after the official release date).. It's a pity, yes, but it's beyond our control..

Stay tuned with updates.. Please to subscribe to our Blog at MySpace, and also join us on Facebook and interact with the band directly http://www.facebook.com/pages/KEKAL/8716024541


Thanks..

http://www.kekal.org
http://www.myspace.com/kekal
http://www.facebook.com/pages/KEKAL/8716024541

Hi.. I'm Jeff from Kekal.. I have a news for you..

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!

Jeff
KEKAL
March 2009

Thank You for all your responses regarding the delay of CD version of "Audible Minority". However, the situation is NEITHER that we are fighting with Open Grave Records / NePlusUltra Music as a record label, nor that we are trying to go against them or their business. It was announced officially just to clarify about their delay, and that they never communicated their reason behind the delay to us before.
Our decision to not continue working with them for our future releases is not based on that issue alone. There are many other things that have been brought into our consideration in the past few months.

The most important of all, Kekal has always been, and will always be, looking for the future instead leaning to the past. We are keep moving forward and never stand still no matter what the current situation is. "Audible Minority" is another statement, that Kekal is what Kekal is. No genre, label/tag, or sub-culture that can put us within their box.

In additional news: We are close to a licensing deal with one record label for the re-issue of our long-forgotten 2nd album "Embrace The Dead" (1999) later this year. This will be an interesting 10th anniversary album re-issue. More updates and details will be coming soon. Please make sure to visit our MySpace Blog regularly.

Thanks.
KEKAL
http://www.kekal.org
http://www.myspace.com/kekal

It has been over 2 months since the official release date of "Audible Minority" last December. The free-download version has been doing very well and we have to thank you for downloading and listening to the free-download version of the album.

But however, as all of us can see on the status of the the limited edition digipak version (handled by NePlusUltra Music/Open Grave Records label); As of today (March 1, 2009) it is still on "pre-order" status. Many of our listeners have sent us e-mails asking WHEN they can expect to have their own copy of the physical product, as they already paid for the pre-order as early as December last year. Sorry to say that we have totally no idea about it either. The record label has not made any effort to keep in touch with Kekal since last December, and even haven't answered any of our email inquiries either.

We apologise to all of our faithful listeners, for dealing with an unprofessional record label. Although we have no idea about what is going on with them (as they have NEVER answered all our inquiries since December), but however we are also responsible for making such a confusion to our faithful listeners by not making any decision to clarify the situation. So this time, we already made a decision.

Although we cannot be sure about the date of availability on the physical product, one thing that we can make sure right now is that this thing will not happen again in the future, so we have decided to stop dealing with NePlusUltra Music / Open Grave Records. Yes, it is finished, and we will not do any future licensing deal with them. We, however, still demand them to finish their legal obligation to Kekal by releasing "Audible Minority" digipak CD and mail the products all the ones who already did the pre-orders.

Now it is time for them to clarify about this.

And yes, we are looking for a professionally-managed record label for our future albums as well as album re-issues. Feel free to contact the band at: kekalband@gmail.com  

Thank You.

KEKAL
http://www.kekal.org
http://www.myspace.com/kekal
http://www.facebook.com/pages/KEKAL/8716024541

Free-Download Audible Minority: http://www.last.fm/music/Kekal/Audible+Minority+-+free-download+version

Hello!

Thank you so much for the great amount of response about our new album "Audible Minority". This is the first album that we offer for Free Downloads right before the official CD & digital versions hit the streets.

Well, the main purpose of this Free-Download is for the "checking-out accessibility", that means we are hoping everyone is able to listen to the music carefully before actually decide whether you want to buy the "real thing" or not. And by downloading the music (as opposed to only streaming it on the net), you are able to listen to the music at your own convenience, you can bring the music in your iPod on the way to work/school, share them to your girlfriend/boyfriend/grandma/co-workers/etc.

But however, we've got questions from some of you, asking why it's in 128kbps and the sound level is not 'that' loud. Let us explain.

Yes, the mp3 files are in 128kbps (pretty low bitrate for today's standards), only 8 songs (out of 11 total) available, and they don't have the same amount of mastering-level as on the official CD/digital versions. So, if you found out that the music is enjoyable, we encourage you to buy the CD or digital versions for maximum listening experience. Also, that way we would be able to continue making and recording music in the future. We don't like selling our music as a commodity, and we don't do music for living ourselves, but we do need the money to cover expenses and keep going as a band.

The CD version will be available later this month (first print is a limited-edition Digipak), and you can pre-order this limited edition Digipak exclusively through Open Grave Shop for US$9.99:
http://www.opengraveshop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=12866

And the good thing is, after you did the Pre-Order, you will have an access to download all 11 songs instantly while waiting for the CD to be sent to you by mail, and the mp3 files are in 192kbps with full mastering-level, the same as on the CD version.

However, the CD version will be available worldwide at select distributors and shops (including Indonesia), and the digital version will be available at some known places like iTunes, Amazon, etc. Merchandise will be available soon as well. Just stay tuned by joining our mailing-list.

There will be no tour supporting "Audible Minority", and no shows planned for 2009 as well, main reason because we the band-members are living in 2 different countries with the very long distance to each other: Indonesia & Canada.

Our next plans? Along with doing promo for "Audible Minority" throughout 2009 as well as making another music-video, all our next plans are to work on a couple album re-issues later in 2009 and 2010 ("Embrace The Dead" is one of them), and it might take at least 3 years before we are able to release another studio album.

Thanks again and Best Wishes for 2009!


KEKAL
www.kekal.org
www.myspace.com/kekal
www.facebook.com/pages/KEKAL/8716024541

Press Release: December 25, 2008

NOW AVAILABLE - Audible Minority: 7th full-length album from Kekal. The title “Audible Minority” is based on the fact that the music on the album has mapped itself into the extreme minority status: something beyond recognition of the musical norms. “Audible Minority” is a stateless, nameless, and label-less manifesto made from all the bitterness and pain. Almost 2 years in the making, “Audible Minority” was constructed during various personal events of the band members’ lives.

FREE DOWNLOAD:
This album also has a free/by-donation download available on first 8 songs out of 11 total, which can be obtained directly on Last.fm:
http://www.last.fm/music/Kekal/Audible+Minority+-+free-download+version
or redirected from Kekal website:
http://www.kekal.org/download

PRE-ORDER LIMITED EDITION DIGIPAK:
The first pressing of CD will be a special Digipak release with hand numbered and limited to 777 units. This CD version contains all 11 tracks total, including A-ha cover "Locust", and will be ready very soon!

Pre-Order The Limited Edition Digipak for US$9.99 exclusively from Open Grave Shop:
http://www.opengraveshop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=12866

Note: For all who did the Pre-Orders will receive a link to download entire 11 Tracks right away!

For more details about the album, obtain lyrics, latest blogs, where to buy the CD, etc. please visit:
http://www.kekal.org/album-audible.php (album information & lyrics)
http://www.myspace.com/kekal (latest blogs)

Feel free to share the information about "Audible Minority" to all your friends. If you like what you listen, you are more than welcome to buy the CD or make a donation.


Thanks! Happy Holidays!
KEKAL
http://www.kekal.org
http://www.myspace.com/kekal
http://www.facebook.com/pages/KEKAL/8716024541

Barack Obama was elected as a next U.S. President. His victory evokes many questions for us to reflect, one of them is "What does Obama's victory mean to you?"

Obama has been an inspiration for KEKAL. Not because he was once living in the hometown of Kekal (Jakarta, Indonesia) that many Indonesians connect themselves for the sake of that alone, but his victory is an example of the movement that is inevitable. He sucessfully created a people's movement to bring a fresh air to their beloved country and a hope to overcome its recent economic depression and 8 years of disillusionment, even though he came from a minority background (and being hated and misunderstood just because of his minority background alone). History has proven to us that being a minority does not automatically mean being a loser!

Kekal is another example of minority, in a much much smaller tiny scale. We are the band that has been simply misunderstood everywhere, being feared-of and unwelcomed.

Our upcoming album "Audible Minority" captures what is like as the minority. It captures all the pain and bitterness throughout the 13 years that appear within the process of fighting for recognition, struggling against discriminations, against misunderstandings, and against all the odds. The only thing that motivates us is our passion in keeping to bring a fresh air to the stagnant world of music, and clinging to a hope that our voice will be heard still. There is no reason to keep the band going if we are just like the rest of the world, and there is no reason to keep the band going if we don't belive that there are like-minded people in this world who share the same vision as Kekal and willing to support the band for what we are. With all these support, it is proven that we survived the past 13 years, and we believe we will survive for another 13 or even 30 years to come.

Stay tuned with the latest updates from Kekal by joining our mailing-list. "Audible Minority" will be released in December, and it will have a free-download version available. Also, we just got a face-lifted Website now, with more user-friendly navigation and enhanced accessibility. Come by and visit http://www.kekal.org

Thanks for your support!

Cheers!
KEKAL

http://www.kekal.org
http://www.myspace.com/kekal