It's hard not to at least be aware of the local noise scene if you live in Yogyakarta. That's because, most of the time, the scene comes to you, whether you want it or not. Recently, we were on a Jogja city bus when a small crowd got on board with their arms full of speakers, cables, and DIY electronic noisemakers, and proceeded to blast out the bus, exposing the riders to a new soundtrack of discordant noise.
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It was another performance by Jogja Noise Bombing, a collective that believes in staging secret, but very public, happenings throughout the city. They do this often enough, taking over parks, streets, and other public spaces. But there was something special about this performance because this time, they weren't alone.The entire city was full of experimental artists, 57 in total, for an international music festival called Nusasonic. It was the biggest noise and experimental festival of its kind to be held in Jogja and, true to the scene's outsider status, it pulled of eleven days of music, discussions, and workshops without the kinds of corporate sponsorship (read: tobacco money) that usually seep into arts and music festivals in Southeast Asia."It's about time we have festivals that focus on things like this," said Rully Shabara, one half of the experimental duo Senyawa. "So many have forgotten their essential function and turned this into an industry. This is why we desperately need festivals with a clear vision like this."Experimental music is having something of a moment in Indonesia, in no small part thanks to the international success of Senyawa. But they are far from the only noise artists making some noise in Southeast Asia.Here are some other standout artists from Asia's experimental music scene.In Ikhlas, the latest album by Fauxe, the Singaporean producer's brand of hip-hop and downbeat influenced electronic music mixes in samples of Hokkien and Tamil music, as well as dialogue from local films, to create a sound that's sonically—and culturally—rich. And how cool is that? You can dance and explore the deep history of the Malay archipelago at the same time.
Fauxe
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Cheryl Ong
Potro Joyo
Setabuhan
Sote
Sote stood out as one of the most eye—I mean ear—opening acts of Nusasonic. The performer, real name Ata Ebtekar, combined the sounds of his native Iran with glitchy computer clangs in ways that were minimalist, abrasive, and entirely unpredictable. The result sounds like the score to some still unmade Iranian apocalypse film and it's definitely worth your time.
This article was written as part of a collaboration between VICE and the Goethe-Institut.