words and images by: Rx Zenabi
You want extreme harsh noise/power electronics/industrial/extreme sound art played at tinnitus inducing and brain disintegrating levels? Then hop on a flight to Jakarta for BONES, their top tier harsh noise/experimental noise fest.
Our third on-location exclusive coverage of Indonesia for THC ‘zine is the annual BONES Festival in Jakarta. Held in May 3, 2025, this extreme yearly event showcased yet another combined international and local lineup, from the local notorious OGs and Asian hard hitters, to guests from Japan, Europe, and the USA.
This is your host’s second journey to Indonesia. Solo Harsh Fest 2024 already destroyed my brain with its 2 day awesomeness last year. After I barely recovered, it’s time for another megadose of extreme noise brutality. I didn’t need to go to China, Japan, Europe, or USA to catch some of the lineup—they’re already playing here.
Again, I had the privilege and honor of being a spectator and participant of this killer experimental and harsh noise festival. It featured some of the sickest, loudest, and most extreme harsh noise/experimental/extreme sound art purveyors today.
Rossi Musik again hosted the fest, with its spacious interior and graffiti and sticker-ridden walls complementing the various extreme frequencies that decimated the city. It was the perfect venue to house this insane lineup.
Your humble scribe arrived in Jakarta the night before, at midnight, with none other than international harsh noise entity, Jaw Surgery, whom I collaborated with in our set.
After catching zzz’s we headed out for some lunch and coffee then we teleported to Rossi Musik. At early afternoon, we got to the venue and hung out with the local and international noisers.
The first attack was Enoyza X Torex, instigating the total aural punishment. Their set was just a dose of things to come, but the deadly duo already destroyed the crowd with massive electrocution by harsh noise. It can be quite difficult to follow up the massive frequencies they produced.
Not to be outdone, OG Squaresolid kicked things off again with an energetic harsh noise and cut up mastery, ensuring that the destructive, textural noise attacks remained at HIGH level. His set didn’t let up, pushing harsh frequencies further into the brain. You want more harsh noise? SS f’n destroyed and more than delivered.
Shoah proceeded to destroy, annihilate, and destroy again with an intense harsh noise/power electronics set. He raged so much that he wound up thrashing around the floor and just annihilating with a very damaging set.
The Jaw Surgery x Zenabi mindF’ry came up next, a power electronics/harsh noise/industrial acid bath immersion and psychosis from the depths of hell. We did good I think (hehe).
The Bengawan Noise Syndicate was in full force at Bones. Earsplitting harsh noise cutups reigned supreme through a multiple tag team set that comprised DDD, OTTR, LOVEPOISONOISE, and NASU that made things even wild. I experienced it in Solo last year, and it happened again in Jakarta. Massive moshing, Indonesian harsh noise, and all around mayhem ensued. Another f’n highlight.
Malaysia’s top noise import Slaughter Table assaulted the crowd next with his brutal brand of self-destruct harsh noise cacophony. Having just finished his tour of duty in China for A Bunch of Harsh Noise, he picked up where he left off, pulverizing the crowd with intense blasts all throughout. F YEAH.
Sodadosa‘s intense set followed after, churning intense pulsating waves of controlled chaos and precision. Another top local harsh noise destructor, the marred frequencies drilled inch by inch deeper into ears and into the skull with increasing intensity. Check elsewhere on the site for a review of his tape under Gerpfast Records.
Dick Trump from the USA’s hilarious antics and harsh noise with various samples was a killer set with added fun. But make no mistake about it, his type of noise carries a political stance that everyone agrees on.
He also has full coverage of the show on his record label page on Instagram so add it now and check out the killer vids. It’s the next best thing if you didn’t experience the fest, but of course, there’s nothing like experiencing the real thing live, and the full barraging destruction.
Singapore OG Terminal Liner proceeded to annihilate next with ultra heavy, reverberating industrial/harsh noise/drone/power electronics, seething with methodical layers of chaos and dissonance. That crackled radio static voice and heavy droning layers felt great, enveloping the stage room of Rossi Music.
Radioage played in complete darkness, save for some occasional lights from the audience and the mini-light signals from his devices. The huge droning walls were f’n massive and dense, completely dominating the venue with ultra loud low and lower frequency walls that eroded everyone’s souls that night.
Alessandra Zerbinati from Italy’s ultra chaotic harsh noise power electronics set captivated everyone. Complementing her sound was an intense visual assault performance art that has destroyed and provoked many stages around the globe. Indonesia got to experience the dose of mega chaos and destruction with bloodletting and mindF’ery ritualistic noise annihilation. F’n killer.
Saaba‘s cut up harsh noise was very energetic and destructive at the same time. The stop and go and harshly textured set didn’t let up even after Zerbinati’s full sensory assaults. He punched in and out of his stream of consciousness destruction and kept the intensity going.
In what could be described as an intense, pissed off harsh noise/grind destructive stand up comedy, Individual Distortion raged onstage. It was charming as hell too, and he also named many of the noise artists on the lineup and included them in his set, destroying with short, intense blasts of noise and loud grindcore vocals, poking fun at everyone, including himself. His self deprecating total grindpunk assaults were very effective and people had a good laugh.
Having seen Anti Itch Cream just a few months ago, I was ready again for another bombardment, and in another country no less. Kae played a more minimal set with a laptop and minimal pedals, going crazy with preprogrammed drums and samples with harsh noise loops and industrial grind electronics noise attacks. What a killer set. Check out our reviews section on her latest CD.
The dark, eerie, and heavy noise of Grintabachan came on next. His samples of mysterious Indonesian witchcraft chanting, drones, noise, and narcotic, lysergic downer ambience finally took grasp of my brain and destroyed it. Beware before taking a trip in the inner mystical worlds of his dark arts, much like taking a dose of The Devil’s Trumpet, you might never come back.
Division Fracture played an intense set that contrasted his meditative zen demeanor, attacking the crowd with heavy, dense, face melting harsh noise power electronics. Heavily textured with various frequencies, he disintegrated everyone’s brains and fried them into organic rubble.
Mei Zhiyong‘s chaotic skull scraping power electronics industrial set destroyed the Indonesian audience anew. After warping my brain on his tapes and other records, I finally got to see him live. The industrial snake like contraption attached to his helmet created disjointed, warped, and demented industrial and electronics harsh noise sounds.
This fest won’t be complete without Bergegas Mati. Fresh off his Japan tour, his momentum concluded in this local show. One of the most solid examples of the Indonesian harsh noise sound, this fest was another opportunity to bask in his brutal cut ups that attack with his signature power frequencies and energetic approach. Wild moshing and thrashing around ensued.
It’s my first time experiencing Like Weeds and I was bombarded with heavy industrial dub electronics. If I couldn’t watch him in Japan, then Bones gave me that opportunity to see him live finally. Loud, super heavy bass and spine tingling electronic pulses made sure it was a set that lingered in the brain even weeks after.
Another most anticipated set is Ratred‘s f’n killer mayhemic set of extreme f’n noise. When I hung out with him last year he mentioned ending his old monicker, which I though meant he was stopping live shows. But it was a more of a new beginning with his new stage name. Fear not, it’s the same quality audio shock, but meaner and nastier, which got the crowd superstoked, with wild thrashing and moshing.
Another opportunity that I won’t get to see live was Government Alpha, which was made possible by being there at Bones. The total harsh noise/power electronics wipeouts of the Japanoise OG devastated the crowds, replete with harsh screams beyond the digital noise wasteland circuitry. F’n epic set. I was broke and he agreed to trade with me, and I now have two of his killer records (see review elsewhere on the site).
VT-OO‘s cold, calculated, and dark techno/industrial/power electronics got everyone headbanging, and maybe shaking their booty a little too. These heavy beats, sophisticated sounds, and performance art are the perfect backdrop to resistance and rejection of oppression. It’s a killer little break before one of the main performers.
Like many of the players on the lineup, I’ve only heard Kazumoto Endo on a few records and vinyl that I have. So I’m thankful for the opportunity to be in these fests and it’s something I never take for granted.
Kazumoto ended the show on a HIGH f’n note. He depleted whatever brain cells I still had and it was a demolition by audio punishment. It was a complete audio visual brain corruption/corrosion through harsh noise. He had this square guitar noise/particlesmasher device that sent destructive waves to all the crowds.
We ended the night at a local resto and had a killer time. Me and Jaw Surgery will be back next year to witness more noise mayhem. We don’t have anything like this in the Philippines, and while there are one-off noise and experimental shows here and there, Indonesia’s country wide scenes and wild shows are just something else.
After being sleep deprived straight off work and into Bones, I woke up too late to get around Jakarta. With a flight back home lingering in our brains, the only time left was to get coffee and a very late lunch. Then we hung out with Alessandra and Dick Trump, walked around, chatted, and had dinner at a mall (thanks for the treat), smoked some ciggs for a bit, before going straight to the airport. Thanks so much.
TERIMA KASIH to Remon, Ed, Mochamad, Rossi Musik, and everyone involved at the show, and the beautiful people of Jakarta, Indonesia.
[Apologies if photos weren’t complete or if there were errors or wrong sequences. Hard to keep track of all the fun chaos that happened.]
Post-tour post script:
We chilled at the airport and Jaw Surgery treated me to some coffee and bread and we recapped the crazy trip that is Bones. Thankfully our set was also good and we completed our mission.
On the flight home, after the early dawn dinner, the stewardesses had snacks and alcohol for everyone, which was awesome. They kept bringing several shots of red wine, which knocked me out.
I woked up in the Philippines in the morning, trying not to remember I still had to f’n work that night. Me and JS recapped the journey again engulfed in a cloud of smoke, before I finally headed home.
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