Australian-based Artists In Focus / NTS & Boiler Room @ Potato Head, Bali
Two separate events.
Both at Potato Head, Bali.
One month apart.
Smack bang in the middle of so-called Australian winter.
Throwing my emotional-support puffer jacket back in my friend’s car as we arrived at Tullamarine airport, I felt lucky to be escaping the cold for the 6-hour journey from Naarm to Bali. Ignoring the nascent goosebumps rising on my skin, I was itching to replace the synthetic warmth of endless layers with that of the humid sun.
The week before our flight we had danced at RISING Festival’s NTS Closing Party at Max Watts. Stomping until the early morning, several artists from the lineup were joining us on this expedition a stone’s throw north: ethereal Melati ESP, bass-heads RE:NI B2B Laksa and left-field duo Salamanda. The Australian-based artists joining these ~hot shots~ were the harbinger of energy C.FRIM, awe-inspiring Aarti Jadu and hallucinatory-duo CS + Kreme.
JUNE 24, 2023: NTS x POTATO HEAD: MUSIC IN PARADISE
First up was NTS Radio x Potato Head’s Music in Paradise. NTS’ Indonesian debut, the event traversed three stages at Potato Head Bali, showcasing a range of talent primarily from Asia, the UK and so-called Australia.
Aarti Jadu was the first act on Sunset Park - a stage on the upper level of the venue, surrounded by panoramic views of the ocean. Aarti is an artist whose set I’ve seen countless times in various formations: solo, in a duo, trio, with an orchestra, even transposed into a choir. This time she performed in her duo set-up with Emma Ovenden, and they both stood gloriously on either side of the stage with an impressive array of gear in-between them.
With the dramatic backdrop of a grand staircase, I stood watching as Aarti’s manipulated vocals harmonised with Emma’s, and their sonic output flew into the sky like a smoke - tangoing with the oranges and purples of the falling sun. I felt fully encompassed within the sound world they were creating - one formed between their vocals, keys, samples, beats and Aarti’s modular synth.
When the sun fully hid itself like a shy school boy, the stage became washed in a bright blue light. Matching the luminous intensity, Aarti played piercing synth-lines while big bass growls reverberated throughout the open air. “Sorry, I didn’t find what you were looking for” emerged a SIRI-like voice over the pads, “they were held onto in times of contradiction, not knowing what I could park into my soul”. And then the beat followed.
Aarti is easily one of, if not my favourite, local artists. I’m constantly in awe of her output, with all the attention to detail and narrative she puts into her art. In the grand space of Potato Head, she combined eastern modalities with bass-heavy rhythms and her vocals which were sometimes vocoded to low depth, or twisted with the creativity of purposeful auto-tune. I could hear the convergence of her influences nodding a her many evolving identities - between her diasporic identity, queerness, and position within our local club community.
When the set ended, I felt a release of pure joy watching my favourite set of hers so far. And what a blessing that people from across the globe were able to experience it too.
“I stood watching as Aarti’s manipulated vocals harmonised with Emma’s, and their sonic output flew into the sky like a smoke - tangoing with the oranges and purples of the falling sun”
After the captivating experience of listening to Seoul-based duo Salamanda for the second time in a week, it was time for Aus-based duo CS + Kreme to get on stage. They were equipped with a bass guitar, microphone and electronics, with an orange-pink hue of lighting over them, a reminder of the sunset that had passed.
A pair with a cult-like following in Naarm, CS + Kreme played their idiosyncratic meditative music that swerved between dub, jazz, post-punk, experimental electronica and ambient. It transported me right back to the bush, dancing amongst the smell of gums and imagining the feeling of dirt between my toes. Their music has always exuded the quality of the Australian-bush to me, so it was refreshing to see it in a new context, now shaped by the damp smell of humidity in the air, and the distant echo of waves breaking on the shore.
Aware of the long night ahead, I welcomed the hallucinatory state their music beseeched me into. A gentle lullaby, rocking me into a spell before the chaos that was soon to ensue. For a moment the spell was broken, as their sound resolved into a singular kick-drum, before again evolving into disparate percussion and a whirl of SFX. Before I knew it, I was hypnotised again.
Photographed: George Riley
Post CS + Kreme, we stayed glued to the rooftop stage. The UK’s George Riley followed, a set which danced between pop, nu-soul and R&B that re-awakened me from my drowsy post-hallucinatory state. With lyrics like “I want money”, it felt like her full performance was a manifestation - and one that I wanted to be involved in.
Bali-based Melati ESP followed, who I had seen the previous week in Naarm and was a stand-out of the entire show. Like Aarti, Melati ESP invites you into a curated world of dreams and illusions, carried by the hypnotising effect of her vocals, instrumentations and beats Kaazi, who opened the Beach Club stage earlier that day. Melati’s sound performance alone is already transportive, which is doubled by the use of a circular structure with translucent cloth that she stands within, and visuals are projected onto. Her set teleported me into an imaginary world where we’re all aliens, and her music is what we hear in our heads as we’re bouncing across the stars - guiding the way to constellations.
After hours spent nourished to the brim in the way that only live music can do, it was time to head downstairs to the Beach Club to witness the party that had well and truly begun. C.FRIM was up next, a name that any Australian (heck, probably the world) is aware of.
Wedged between Tommy Gold and RE:NI B2B Laksa, C.FRIM played her classic global club music touching on everything from gqom to afro-beat and bass. Her energy behind the decks is unparalleled, seeing her sing along as she dropped the just-right amount of remixes including the Veronica’s ‘Untouched’, Flo Rida’s ‘Low’ and Amaree’s ‘SAD GIRLZ LUV MONEY”.
As the set progressed, she moved further into bass territory - a nod to the act after her. A highlight was watching her play Tempa T’s ‘Next Hype’ as she let the drop hit, then back-spinned, hit that cue button to infinity, and let it roll out once more. Clearly her enthusiasm behind the decks and drum-driven cuts was infectious, as we observed a dancer get up on a platform so that she could dance ecstatically, levelled closer to the stage. Killing it with her moves, we watched as a security guard came up to get her down, but she simply turned the other way and kept the rhythm. That’s what C.FRIM invokes in people. I want to be that girl.
JULY 22 & 23: BOILER ROOM, BALI
One month later, after travelling to Yogyakarta and Bandung where we witnessed incredible local musicians and Djs at every stop, we returned to Bali for Boiler Room’s second weekend-long event in Asia. This year’s Boiler Room featured mostly Indonesian and Asian acts alongside international heaters - an excellent way to platform the unstoppable artistry within Asia on a global stage.
There was one Naarm-based DJ on the bill: Ones. Originally from Yogyakarta, the full-time husband, part-time DJ played on the Beach Club stage on the second day, after a night of non-stop dance.
Ones was the first act I witnessed that night, sprinting out the door of my accommodation so that I could hop on a bike to get there before he started. Still exhausted from the previous night, I stood at the back, watching him perform to an already heaving crowd as I ate noodles I’d bought from a nearby stall.
Ones is beloved all across Indonesia as a DJ, with several now-established acts telling me that he was their first inspiration. You can tell why, as his old-school cuts pulled me out from my slumber-mode to dancing at the front to left-field house, balearic and beyond. The perfect introduction to the second night of Boiler Room, with hands flyinging to the sky as he dropped an electro-house track with a roaring bass-line.
While it was a pleasure travelling abroad to witness Australian-based artists kill it, it would be amiss to write this article without featuring any of the local Indonesian acts that I discovered, and loved, along the way.
In no particular order, below are five of the stand-out acts based in Indonesia that I watched during NTS x Potato Head: Music In Paradise and Boiler Room Bali. There’s a whole scene with amazing music at the moment, so don’t be shy to continue to do research past this…
Melati ESP: As aforementioned, an incredible artist with an immersive audiovisual sound-world alien-like in quality. Song in Indonesian and English, IDM percussion and beats, transportative pads - a real dreamscape.
Sattle - Producer/DJ who played at Boiler Room, wedged in-between Bagvs and Overmono. Recently released a 2-step/UKG/breaks EP, influenced by living in Bali.
Bagvs - I will rewatch his Boiler Room again and again. Master level shit.
Raissa - Played both NTS & Boiler Room B2B hatagarah, excellent cuts.
Loreng - DJ, visual artist, producer. Blew me away at NTS.
Article by Margarita Bassova.
Images by DION CLARENSA and RUBBEN.
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