Hi, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, Internet's busiest music nerd. Hope you're doing well.

For some reason, I'm big in Indonesia. Big Indonesian following, number one Indonesian guy here. I welcome you, all of you, everyone here from the West, from elsewhere. If you're here in the comments being positive, negative, or if you are correcting me on all of the mispronunciations I'm about to embark on. I love that all of you are present.

But yes, I have to talk about a really interesting story that came across my news feed recently that I reacted to, commented on, and apparently it's made a few waves. Ones that I hope are mostly positive in terms of their overall impact. I wasn't really trying to put the band or the story that I am discussing here on social media on blast, but I figure with what has happened so far in terms of a reaction, the cat is already out of the bag. The can of worms is open.

I ran across this story featuring this Indonesian punk duo by the name of Suketani. They have this record that has been out since 2023, titled Gelap Gempita. Apparently around the Indonesian punk scene, this record has been making waves and grabbing attention. It's been released via Dougtrax's records. And honestly, it's not hard to see why.

It's very competently performed and produced punk. The atmosphere is great. The drums are hitting, the vocals are shouty. Sometimes there's some synths in the mix as well. You could tell it's like a very bare-bones, limited member type project, but they're doing a lot with a little and sounding absolutely sick in the process.

Now, there are some tracks off of this record that I guess have been gaining some traction. Mind you, this project has been out since 2023, by no means a brand new release, but still the growing reception around the album and the reaction that I'm talking about here is new.

Now, if you go over the lyrics across this record, they're pretty straightforward. They're pretty blunt in terms of their meaning and their context. If there is a whole lot of irony or implied layers of meaning beyond what can be just plainly read from these lyrics. It's going over my head, I will admit that.

But for the most part, the topics and the philosophy that is conveyed through a lot of the lyrics on this record, a very simple read makes it clear that the band is all about environmentalism, anti-consumerism, opting to make choices in life, and maybe broadly in politics, that are the best of whatever options you have, just trying to stray away an evil path, as it were.

Other lyrics on the album seem to endorse ideas about collectivization and community, family. Then there's the specific track in question that I'm talking about for the most part here in this video, which is maybe the boldest of the bunch in terms of its messaging, and that's "Bayar Bayar Bayar".

Now, again, this track, I think, can be very plainly read, and essentially what it communicates is a message about police corruption where they're from. You don't really need to be a linguistics expert to get what the band is trying to convey here, especially given that, again, it is some very straight-up punk music, stuff that sounds like it really could have come out of the early 1980s. And again, apparently, this song has been gaining traction.

There's footage online of punks from over there, like dancing and singing to this song. Apparently, it's become a bit of a battle cry of sorts, I suppose. And now, as a result of that track, getting the traction and getting the attention that it has, there has been pressure on the band to take the song down and essentially disavow it. As recently, there has been video posted to the internet of the band, pretty much apologizing for the song. Essentially, just basically saying it misrepresented the police.

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On formal streaming streaming services, at least from what I'm seeing, like the Spotifys, as it were out there, the track has been taken down. Now, there has been a lot of discussion about whether or not this is Spotify's responsibility and so on and so forth, and if they're the ones who have done this. Given we have the video apology from the band, which appears to have been recorded under some duress, I'm guessing the takedown was basically done by them and done by the record label.

Now, I won't say exactly where, but there's places on the internet you could still hear the song if you wanted to. Maybe this track could see a return to formal streaming platforms at some point. I guess we will see. But if that happens, I don't think it's going to be without a lot of protest on the part of the band.

Although, again, that may not necessarily be something that I would want to push simply because, especially as somebody who's an outside of this whole situation, you don't know what could potentially happen to the duo as a result of there being some international push behind them as a result of this getting the attention that it has been on social media.

But with that being said, let me say just how sad and unfortunate the whole situation is and how plainly silly and obvious authoritarianism always is, as every single time it tries to get rid of any pushback to its power, it shows its ass right away. Because who is genuinely looking at this situation being like, 'Oh, yeah, that band, they were so sorry about that. They were like, you know what? We were thinking about the lyrics that we said on that track, and it was messed up. We didn't mean it. We were young and stupid at the time. It was all just a big misunderstanding, and there's no way we meant anything that we said on that song.'

Nobody thinks that. Nobody is looking at this situation and taking that away from it. In trying to eliminate the criticism that they are authoritarian and corrupt, the police and the government here have just showcased they are exactly those things, because if you weren't, you wouldn't really care what this punk duo has to say, and you would just let them do their thing and exist. But you can't because they're saying something that is resonating and is a reality for many people who I'm sure that song resonates with.

I would just like to wish the band well, especially since they did write such a fun and lively and interesting song here. I also don't want to see any haters in the comments being like, 'Oh, if they were punks, they wouldn't have taken it down, so on and so forth.' At the end of the day, we should be sympathetic to whatever tyranny these two might be dealing with right now.

Regardless of whether or not the track had to be taken down for the safety and livelihoods of everyone involved, they still stood up and said something. Even with this video, even with this takedown, this statement is out there. The truth is out there. It's plain to see in recording this song and releasing this song and having it get the attention that it has that this band has done more than most people who would criticize them in the comments will ever do.

Now, quick shout out to over here where I am right now, where the state of protest music is sadly not that much better. Because once again, one of the biggest artists out there right now with a mainstream-ish platform that is dropping any music consistently that actually stands directly in opposition without pulling any punches to the status quo and everything going on right now is Mack-le-frickin-more, who just came out with this new effed-up track where he's going to Trump, he's going to Elon, his little salute, Israel, Palestine, digging down once again into a lot of the same themes as he did on "Hind's Hall" not too long ago, but broadening a lot of his criticisms out to the billionaire class and so on and so forth.

And once again, it's weirdly a Macklemore W. He is saying things that need to be said, even if it's stuff that you or I may already know or agree with, which I don't want to hear this debate about whether or not the song is interesting or relevant to you because it's not like ushering you some massive political revelation. It's a protest song. The point is to bolster support and also echo the sentiments of those who are either voiceless or not getting the platform or exposure that somebody like Macklemore could potentially bring to it.

And with the release of another track like this that is doing pretty decent numbers, I would say he's accomplishing that goal. This may rub some people the wrong way, but we're at least sounding very Immortal Technique-esque in some of these bars and with the boldness with which he describes this whole situation. I mean, if Immortal Technique were in his bag right now doing his thing today, as opposed to during the Bush years and so on and so forth. I can imagine him saying a lot of this same stuff. It's not a comparison of superiority and so on and so forth.

It's really a matter of Macklemore filling a certain void that, frankly, very few artists are willing to touch down on the seriousness and the gravity of our times currently. And I applaud Sukatani. I applaud Macklemore and anybody else who is willing to throw their hat in that ring when we so desperately need it.

But yeah, I'm going to leave it there. I'm going to say that. And thank you guys very much for watching the video. Once again, shout out to Indonesia. Shout out to the Indonesian punk scene.

Anthony Fantano. Music. Protest. Forever.