#15: Kok Siew-Wai

03/09/20 • 58 min

Porous Borders: Experimental Music in the Southern Hemisphere

Kok Siew-Wai is a vocalist, festival director, and video artist from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For the past 10 years, Siew-Wai has been the organiser of KLEX, an independent Kuala Lumpur experimental film and music festival. As a musician, Siew-Wai frequently performs as a vocalist in the free improv scene in KL and she's performed and curated film programs all over the world. Siew-Wai is a fantastic performer who brings a really strong presence to group she plays with. I've been lucky to see her play many times on my trips to KL. I last saw Siew-Wai perform at KLEX 2019 as a trio with Burkhard Beins on percussion and Yuen-Chee Wai on guitar, and you can find a link to a video of that performance in the show notes. Siew-Wai went to university in Buffalo, New York, and by chance found herself studying with Tony Conrad. Buffalo's arts community and Conrad's teaching had a significant influence on Siew-Wai's work, so that's where we start our conversation.

Quick reminder to share, rate, review, and subscribe if you're enjoying the show. Also to check out Sonic Vortex, which is a big compilation of noise and experimental music from South-East Asia released by the Mindblasting label. You can find one of my tracks on there, as well as a music by previous podcast guests ASU (USA), Indra Menus, and SIN. Final plug for the Pancawala split, which is one of my tracks along with DJ Miko, Coffee Faith, Dissonant, and BRRR. I also have a new Anquan release on the way, so I'll talk about that a bit more next week.

Links for Kok Siew-Wai
Siew-Wai's Wordpress site: https://koksiewwai.wordpress.com/
Siew-Wai's performance with Burkhard Beins and Yuen Chee-Wai at KLEX 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCoKCIe2d68
Kok Siew-Wai, Nadya Hatta, Cheryl Ong, Riska Farasonalia at Nusasonic 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzKJC0yvQEc
KLEX festival official website: http://www.klexfilmfest.com/
KLEX Facebook group: https://web.facebook.com/groups/klexfest/

Sonic Vortex Vol. 1 (compilation of South-East Asian noise and experimental music): https://mindblasting.wordpress.com/2020/01/25/sonic-vortex-volume-1/
Pancawala split (Coffee Faith, Dissonant, BRRR., DJ Miko, Anquan): https://mindblasting.wordpress.com/2020/01/01/pancawala-split/
Concrescence Records YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqKkFOv5-FOVTTbl0oojrfw

Previous Episode

#14: Yudhistira Agato (Vague, Jirapah, journalist and translator for VICE Indonesia)

Today on the show I'm speaking to Yudhistira Agato, vocalist and guitarist for the band Vague, guitarist for the band Jirapah, music journalist and translator for Vice Indonesia, and one of my oldest friends. I first met Yudhis back in 2007 at a Converge show in Brisbane when he was in Australia studying and we used to hang out at shows all the time. In 2010, he moved back to Jakarta where he started to get involved in the underground music scene, playing in bands and organising shows. In 2016, Yudhis started working as a translator and writer for VICE Indonesia when they opened their Jakarta office. He's since written a lot about experimental and underground music in Indonesia, and he's interviewed Rich Brian, Kamasi Washington, Khruangbin, My Disco, and many others. You can find links to Yudhis's writing in the show notes; not all of it is translated into English, but a good chunk of it is.
Yudhis's main project is a Revolution Summer-inspired post-hardcore band called Vague. He plays guitar and sings in that project and they're quite active in the Jakarta underground scene; they play shows pretty regularly and in the last few years they've been releasing a lot of splits with other underground bands from Southeast Asia. Their newest release is a split with the band Wreck, which is out on HEMA records as a digital release and a 7". They also have splits out with Killeur Calculateur (Kuala Lumpur) and The Kuda (Bogor). All of them are amazing bands and well worth your time. Besides those split releases, Vague has one full-length called Footsteps, which you can find on all the streaming platforms.
Yudhis also plays guitar in the band Jirapah, which is a Jakarta-based project that has played in all kinds of different formats. Their most recent release is an LP called Planetarium, and it's available a pay- what-you-want download from Bandcamp, and it's on all the streaming services as well.
This interview covers quite a lot of ground. We start by talking about Yudhis's projects and move into talking about the differences between VICE Indonesia and VICE in Western countries like Australia or the United States, the politics around choosing what language to use when writing lyrics, the unique relationship Indonesia's underground scene has with corporate sponsorship, and what's new in Jakarta's experimental music scene.
NOTE: A bit of background noise in this one - sorry!
Tracks played: "Menapak" by Jirapah, "Sajak Pucat Pasi" by Vague.

Links
Vague bandcamp: https://vaguejkt.bandcamp.com/
Jirapah bandcamp: https://jirapahmusic.bandcamp.com/
Sajak Pucat Pasi video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YepfXCpTEI
VICE's Top 20 Indonesian albums of the 2010s (in Bahasa Indonesia): https://www.vice.com/id_id/article/v74mva/lagu-lagu-indonesia-terbaik-satu-dekade-terakhir
Yudhis' VICE Indonesia contributor page (in English): https://www.vice.com/en_asia/contributor/yudhistira-agato

Next Episode

#16: Duto Hardono (Hasana Editions)

This week on Porous Borders I'm speaking to Duto Hardono, who is a sound artist based in Bandung, Indonesia. If you're in Australia, particularly in Melbourne, you might recognise his name because he just in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago playing some shows for the AsiaTOPA festival. If you're in Canberra you might also recognise Duto's name from the Contemporary Worlds exhibition last year, where one of his pieces was performed. If you're not in Australia, you might know Duto as the owner of the fantastic cassette label Hasana Editions, which has been getting some pretty good press lately. In the past couple of years they've released work from people like such as Kate Carr and Will Guthrie, along with a number of Indonesian artists. It's an amazing label; I've listened to everything on it and I absolutely recommend that you do as well, especially if you're stuck inside at the moment. Duto also teaches at the Bandung Institute of Technology and he's a very interesting modular synth performer. We talk about all of that in the interview and a lot more, so please enjoy,
A couple of other notes: I'll be inside for the next two weeks (mandatory self-isolation after overseas travel), but the podcast will continue as normal. I also have a new Anquan release coming out in the next week or so, so keep an eye out for that.
Links
Hasana Editions Bandcamp: https://hasanaeditions.bandcamp.com/
Ata Ratu, Anton Toba Lenda & Duto Hardono performance at Goethe Institute, Jakarta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4isYtaRcDNY&t=2s
Duto Hardono website: http://dutohardono.art/
Audio excerpts taken from the above performance with Ata Ratu and Anton Toba Lendra. The whole performance is very much worth your time.
Sonic Vortex Vol. 1 (compilation of South-East Asian noise and experimental music): https://mindblasting.wordpress.com/2020/01/25/sonic-vortex-volume-1/
Pancawala split (Coffee Faith, Dissonant, BRRR., DJ Miko, Anquan): https://mindblasting.wordpress.com/2020/01/01/pancawala-split/
Concrescence Records YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqKkFOv5-FOVTTbl0oojrfw