Freaky Forecast: Strange Weather’s Experimental Gigs Are A Breath Of Fresh Air
This is far from your regular programming, with residents like Yetpet keeping it that way (Credit: Courtesy of Strange Weather)
A decent DJ knows how to make people move. An exceptional one, however, knows how to captivate, challenge, and introduce unforeseeable narratives to a dancefloor. The Strange Weather crew are such adventurers in their event escapades, transforming the conventional form of dance music into a malleable, amorphous entity that’s the vessel of their experimentally-inclined pursuits. There’s certainly no misnomer in their identity; the forecast of Strange Weather parties are often whimsical, gutsy, and a little bit freaky.
Naturally, you won’t find your four-on-the-floor anecdotes here. You might wander into a cold expanse of industrial EBM with sci-fi textures, or a prickly sojourn of sensual electro with heady doses of psychedelia. Or perhaps you’ll melt into a miasma of dystopian noise that obliterates with fuzz and broken beats. It’s a curious blend brewed by its resident selector crew that comprises Aalely, Yetpet, Kindergachy, RTJ and Yadin Moha. You’ll recognise some of these names as staunch veterans and others as trailblazers that’ve propelled into the fray in recent years. Together, they represent a collective of camaraderie bonded by the niches they’ve owned in what’s becoming a saturated and homogeneous party circuit.
Aalely is one of the several resident selectors of Strange Weather (Credit: Courtesy of Strange Weather)
Beyond the left-field soundtracks that’ve featured local guest performers like Prospexx and international tastemakers like Mr. Ho, Strange Weather favours events with a multi-disciplinary twist. Noteworthy excursions include their collaborations with art consultancy, Mama Magnet, with which they organised the sense-overloading Mysteries In Meatspace gig late last year.
Come 18 March, Strange Weather’s pulling out all the stops again with Upacara Kampret!, a special gig showcasing UWALMASSA from Jakarta’s DIVISI62 label. Expect a hybrid of synthetic and organic sounds with deconstructed gamelan elements, enhanced with the movements of Singapore’s RAGAURA dance ensemble and Alina Ling’s light magic, and complemented with yet another Mama Magnet collaboration showcasing the contemporary batik art of Arwin Hidayat. It’s a lot to take in, but like all Strange Weather events, it’s best to come with a free, untethered mind.
Before they embark on a break from events in the coming months, I chat with the Strange Weather folks about the idiosyncratic atmosphere they’ve formed in a scene that sometimes feels safe. Through their experimental antics, they’ve caught lightning in a bottle.
The first thing that strikes me is the clear camaraderie between all of you. How has your friendship influenced the work you put out? Does it push you all to work harder or does it allow you to be easier on yourselves?
Most of us have been good friends for many years, way before starting this project. We definitely have a love for music and partying in common, but we’re also a really diverse group with different skill sets and interests. Everyone in the group chips in with what they’re good at – writing, design, floristry, even stuff like accounting and communications. It’s always nice to work with people you actually want to hang out with.
“We enjoy a big drop as much as anyone else but we really really love it when things get a little fucked up in between.” (Credit: Courtesy of Strange Weather)
How did the idea of starting Strange Weather first pop into your collective consciousness? What triggered it?
Essentially, we wanted to start throwing parties so we could dance and party to the kind of music that we really enjoy. These sounds can be a bit niche so we’re glad to have found a community of partygoers that appreciate them as much as we do.
Having gone for your events, it’s clear that the soundtracks are boldly experimental and deviates from usual 4/4 conventions. How do you determine the programming of your events? What makes the cut, and doesn’t?
Our group has a pretty wide range of musical preferences but the common thread we all share is that we love dance music that challenges the usual tropes of the genre. We enjoy a big drop as much as anyone else but we really really love it when things get a little fucked up in between.
Where do y’all like digging for new sounds to play? Where do you get your inspiration from?
We all listen to a lot of genres outside of what is generally considered ‘dancefloor-friendly’ music – stuff like noise, folk, krautrock, post-punk, coldwave, free jazz, contemporary classical, psychedelia in all shapes and forms. So we tend to gravitate towards dance music by producers and musicians who share these influences.
With the influx of parties in the local scene, there is an underlying fear of saturation and repetition. How would you prevent our party culture from getting stale?
If people like the music you play, they show up. If they don’t, they go somewhere else. There’s something out there for everyone. So we just focus on being true to ourselves and making sure our community has a good time every time we throw a party.
Mr. Ho and Uwalmassa are amongst the international acts booked for Strange Weather events (Credit: Courtesy of Strange Weather)
Strange Weather has collaborated with art entities like Mama Magnet to produce multi-disciplinary events. Where does the world of art – and visual expression – sit in the sphere of Strange Weather?
Whatever we are trying to do musically – in terms of digging for music which is forward-thinking, blurring the lines between genres and is unafraid to experiment – Mama Magnet does exactly that in the visual arts. We fit together well and it’s been a very fruitful collaboration.
And to trail off, what makes up the essence of a Strange Weather party?
At the end of the day, it’s just about having a good time. If we can turn people on to some new sounds and experiences along the way, that’s amazing for us. We’re super excited about the upcoming show with DIVISI62. Uwalmassa’s brand of deconstructed gamelan really blew us away when we first heard it and they’ve been at the top of the list of dream bookings since we started. There’s a great supporting lineup as well with live performances by AFTERVOLTER x Rudi Osman, Django (Divisi62) and RAGAURA.
Mama Magnet is also exhibiting some really stunning batik artwork and paintings by Arwin Hidayat. It’s going to be a real celebration of Indonesian arts and our shared Nusantara heritage. There’s so much talent around us and we hope that Strange Weather can be the platform where different realms of art and music can coexist and be expressed freely.
(Credit: Courtesy of Strange Weather)
(Credit: Courtesy of Strange Weather)
(Credit: Courtesy of Strange Weather)
Follow Strange Weather on their Instagram page to stay updated with their activities. Visit this link for more details on their next event on 18 March 2023.
