Indonesia noise / Jogja Noise Bombing

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I was searching forum if this was being mentioned before. Apparently not. Several years ago on playlist/reviews included review of Indonesian noise compilation, but that's about it.

Some days ago linked the disciplemag noise interviews. They have also done neat documentary of 2020 Jogja Noise Bombing fest. Part of the fest is "public noise bombings". Someone with amp and usual harsh noise gear blasting few minutes on busy street corner. Half way through and fest progresses into bigger indoor events. 

Discipline Mag travels to Yogyakarta, Indonesia to document the Jogja Noise Bombing Fest 2020. Expect weirdness, experimentalism, and a bunch of public displays. The wild world of Indonesian noise music does not disappoint..

Produced for Discipline Mag
www.DISCIPLINEMAG.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r10wyRiTnKo

I suppose the public noise gigs at street been "thing" for long time, and they serve often other kind of function than gigs where tasty sound, good ear-candy and such are desired. With small amp, outdoors location, it is quite different things for different aim - I guess.
What is more striking, is similarity of global noise! I remember back in the 90's when talking with Con-Dom about certain Ecuadorian noise compilation, that was most of all noisecore stuff. He said it is interesting as its so different (for him). For me it was good, but nothing totally new in field of noisecore. For him, it was so different from all the harsh noise, free improv and power electronics, that it was interesting and he mentioned it'll be good until they adapt into the scene and start to sound like everybody else. As good as some of Ecuadorian harsh noise became, that's pretty much same as same era US harsh noise.

I know it may be lame describe Indonesia as exotic location, but lets be honest, for westerners it is. Idea of wow, Indonesia noise! What it could be like? Well... if it was old noise, perhaps it would have some different flavor, but looking at the documentary made in 2020, you got same gear, same technics, same sounds as it would be... anywhere in the world? Looking at street performance of noise act, it is indeed just that. Neat, but exactly that you'd think what is the noise, how it is made, with what "instruments" you use for it. What constitutes as crazy noise show, what type of spastic body movement and tables crowdsurfing belongs to noise show.. hehe Surely, the locality is crucial element and DIY noise activity flourishing in Indonesia certainly seems nice. There are other short documentaries of Jogja noise scene where they talk of rising local experimental sound scene.

It is curious to know how much it connects with global noise scene. Does it cross over with western "harsh noise tape label / distro" scene? Do Indonesians follow what is being done by European and American, listen podcasts etc.. or just operate more locally? No idea really. It feels that idea what is noise, is so known, that someone who starts to make it now, may unconsciously end up working with almost identical set up as the guy blasting in someone basement on other side of planet?

[Krigsverk]

Almost on topic - not sure if Indonesia has been covered but; check out Unexplained Sounds when it comes to noise/experimental materials from places you would not expect them to be found:

https://unexplainedsoundsgroup.bandcamp.com/music

[cosmonaut]

It is curious to know how much it connects with global noise scene. Does it cross over with western "harsh noise tape label / distro" scene? Do Indonesians follow what is being done by European and American, listen podcasts etc.. or just operate more locally? No idea really. It feels that idea what is noise, is so known, that someone who starts to make it now, may unconsciously end up working with almost identical set up as the guy blasting in someone basement on other side of planet?

I have met some of the people behind that scene. I think it was 2016 last time. They were definitely aware of the international noise scene --consider that Southeast Asia is internet-obsessed and Indonesia has been quite well connected also with fast smartphone service since the early-mid 2010s. But my impression (not anything more than that) is that to the extent they cared about what was happening abroad they might have looked up to Japan more than Europe or the U.S. The scene was (at least in their retelling) born without full knowledge of the existence of noise as a genre, or at least of its development at the time they started. It was a mix of punk/metal dudes and art-school people with interest in sound experiments. In any case, there was, I suspect, quite a bit of awareness about noise as a genre quite soon if not at the very start. For instance, I bought a little noise machine almost a decade ago from this dude https://www.instagram.com/kenalirangkaipakai/ , he was making various models of drone/noise machines; he told me he was drawing inspiration from existing ones in the West and Japan.

[grintabachan]

last 10 years ' Indonesia scene more more connect with global worldwide noise scene , I from Indonesia , based in Bali .
I running noise label released on tapes,cdr  ' Ohoi Records ' https://ohoi.bandcamp.com/ and make podcast talk about focus  harsh noise / PE ' Apotek Operator ' https://www.instagram.com/apotek.operator/ and I have project Harsh Noise with name ' Grintabachan '
This my last released split with Macronympha  https://bizarresdigitalantientertainment.bandcamp.com/album/macronympha-grintabachan-split-album-2018
I have a lot recomended harsh noise / PE / Industrial sound from Indonesia you can check : Lacked ,Sakaratul, radioage  , Sooncrazy ,Nihil , Detroak , Jeritan , Kalimayat , Saaba ,sodadosa , Paralaks. etc .

some recomended label from Indonesia : Spasm Records , ArtRape , Potong Jari Records .

l

[grintabachan]

for festival In Indonesia who focus only harsh noise / PE ' it's SOLO HARSH FEST! https://www.instagram.com/bengawannoisesyndicate/ .
also In MY city in Bali ' we have festival for  exprimental / noise every year ' CHAOS NON MUSICA FEST  ' It's already 5 years from 2017 and still on!

[nezalezhnye]

It is curious to know how much it connects with global noise scene. Does it cross over with western "harsh noise tape label / distro" scene? Do Indonesians follow what is being done by European and American, listen podcasts etc.. or just operate more locally? No idea really. It feels that idea what is noise, is so known, that someone who starts to make it now, may unconsciously end up working with almost identical set up as the guy blasting in someone basement on other side of planet?

Cool how this thread was posted only a couple of weeks before the Black Maghreb - HOW (Campaigns of Death & Martyrdom) 7" reissue came out on Tesco. Good to have something more widely available from this crew. Not a long release but it acts as a good reference point for what the Eternal Oblivion Productions label have been up to for many years. I think this release answered some of the questions you posed - it appears these guys do follow what is happening in the US and Europe.

I dug up this 2020 review of Sakaratul - Mortuary Voyeurism tape. Adding here for posterity.

Having reached the first anniversary since the latest release from Jakarta's SAKARATUL, with sadly no new output since: now is as good a time as ever to recollect some thoughts on the project. Let's pursue a foreign policy of advancement and make the most of geography to shine a light on a relatively new project from the neighbouring island archipelago nation of 270 million people whose shortest distance to the Australian mainland is similar to the Melbourne - Sydney route. Sakaratul is festering 3rd world harsh P.E. and the name itself appears to be a Qurānic term that looks like it translates to "the agony of death" or "the unconsciousness when one is about to die", or maybe it's got another layer of meaning in Indonesian... Considering this country formerly had a Muslim majority political leadership who fashioned themselves as the "New Order" and accomplished an anti-communist politicide with almost a million murdered mercilessly for the sake of a national purification. & Sakaratul here too has a penchant for perpetrating merciless audial extermination. Just an interesting side note to ponder whilst listening, regardless of whether or not that's relevant to the project...not sure about the current climate within which this project exists. There is an innate might to this work that is admittedly somewhat impalpable to an outsider... While still remaining in the southern hemisphere, our cultural contrasts are stark. But that is part of it's appeal. It would be highly dubious to suggest that there is any confraternity between us, and them. That doesn't mean it can't be admired. The material is blistering, sulphurous and autocratic with no room for compromise. Again, it's advisable to experience HN in headphones at point blank range. Afterward, there is pain and numbness like a chemical burn. Noise posers down under, beware...    With only a scant discography: as follows: "Mortuary Voyeurism: Feasting On The Swell Of The Fourth Stage Of Death" / "Satanik Bootkamp: Werwolf Paramilitary Kommando" 2 x C10 set. (This was initially preceded by the debut "Demo" CS on Eternal Oblivion Productions in 2017.) Segmented into two separated C10 tapes encased in individual standard Norelco's glued together. Self-released no label stamp. With xeroxed J-cards plus A4 foldover cover on black cardstock with insert. In ziplock bags. Recorded at the Shrine Of Gestalt Hell. How apt. Released in an edition of 10?!! as a demo only release... Considering the unique thew that pertains to this project, it seems like a good time to be nostalgic. "Severe Headache: The Psychogenesis of Mental Disorders" is the most recent pogrom that we can bear witness to... Haemophilic industrial harsh P.E.; one might even hear a bit of a crushing Scatmother-esque style in there, just as a passing thought; because influences in noise all just dissolve into the work of the present... It ends in the track called "Anatomy of an Epidemic: Torment of a Damaged Mind" - note that this was released on CS back in December 2019: truly a harbinger of things to come... The fundamental & foremost point to end on is - when will the unholy Kris-bearing SAKARATUL resurface to purge our current Antipodean nightmare? There is a growing sect of followers down under awaiting his eminent return.