82 track Indonesian Punk Playlist!

So as it’s Valentine’s Day, I guess I should admit a secret love: I love Indonesian bands. 264 million people, the fourth most populous country in the world: that’s Indonesia. Of course, they’re gonna have some good bands. The real question is why has it taken us so long to notice them? Somewhere around 2020, it all began to click with me. Specifically, the guy from Battlebeats started posting on the usual online haunts. His favorite band was Teengenerate. Wait, that’s my favorite band, too! Oh my, and his band sounds like Teengenerate. I’m gonna have to investigate this. And I did, slowly but surely.

I guess I can come out of the closet now: for the last maybe seven years I’ve been posting on Reddit way too much. Specifically, I noticed how dead r/garagepunk was & I decided to do something about it. “There’s like no real Punk Rock on Reddit, only poser shit. No one else is going to do it, it has to be me.” I’ve now posted literally a couple thousand links, and a good 80-90 of those were Indonesian bands. This playlist is a compilation of those links over the last five years.

The first thing I love about Indonesian bands is the fucking accent. It’s great and meshes with punk rock perfectly. Now, most of them sing in English, and I’d prefer native language, but those pressures to international audiences are all too common.

The next thing I dig about the bulk of these bands is the lack of pretense. What I mean is, a lot of US/UK bands are very careful and considered and know exactly what sound they are going for. Ya know, “perfect” guitar sound, vocals that sound identical to a million other bands. No originality, but they do fit into whatever genre they aim for.

The bulk of the bands on this playlist though just sound like what they sound like. They could afford this guitar, this amp, this recording and this is what they sound like. Sorry if it doesn’t fit into the narrow genre you’ve decided you approve of. That’s been the case for every band I’ve ever been in.

Lastly, these bands are fucking fun! That’s what I want from music! Activate the adrenal gland and remind me I’m alive! So that’s what I’m offering you this Valentine’s Day: Secret Loves, Coming Out Of The Closet, and Activating The Glands!

 @_____benchwarmer