From Issue 1
Java Noise: An Interview with Lintang Radittya
Danny Martin
Sometimes there is a clash between one piece of information and another piece of information, or sometimes two pieces of information are trying to clarify one another: the logic is like noise.
Lintang Radittya is a key figure in Indonesia’s burgeoning community of synthesizer builders and noise artists. In September 2017, I travelled to Jogjakarta from Surakarta because I was curious to hear more about his work, his attitude towards art, and how it all fits into environs on Java and elsewhere. Apart from what I’d heard through the grapevine, I knew very little about him and I didn’t know what to expect. Synths, noise, and electronics, attract a wide crowd of people, and I’d seen lots of online hype for Jogja noise events done up in gnarly death-metal chic. From afar, the scene looked irreverent and gritty. I wondered how much Lintang’s attitude and approach to instruments and DIY music would reflect this aesthetic. When I did meet him, however, these questions lost relevance. Lintang seemed to be less preoccupied with stylistic motivations or identities in his community than with developing his craft and pushing an artistic, social modality in Indonesia that is already being celebrated in a global context. Whereas I had been slightly bashful to ask about a connection with traditional arts, thinking there might be none, I was surprised to be met with such a rich line of thinking between tradition and noise. Lintang’s characterization of his projects and goals read as contemplative and considerate efforts to wrangle a diverse set of influences in the world around him. I have often had the impression that young people in Indonesia must choose between the extremes of traditional arts or forms that appear more modern and attractive today. After our conversation, I was left with the feeling that his work and the community it supports are providing something between or outside of these extremes: a means for expressing something more direct and malleable than previously possible in modern Indonesia. I was also humbled that he took time to meet with me and answer these questions. Here’s what he said:
Danny: What first attracted you to synthesizers?
Lintang: So, the reason why I love synthesizers is because…they’re very common here. In Indonesia everyone, from real musicians to bedroom musicians, we always use software for making music, and one day I started to feel a little bit bored with it. I wanted to have more adventure with sound, and I started to find what I loved in synthesizers. Basically, I couldn’t play keyboard. I couldn’t play musical instruments well, but I really loved sound. And my situation at that time was that I didn’t have money to buy a synthesizer. So, what could I do? I didn’t have money. So I started to learn how to make synthesizers. Later I finally did have money and I bought my first synthesizer, but afterward, I grew bored with it. I felt “ah, I need more freedom to tweak, to play with the knobs.”
D: What was your first synthesizer?
L: I had a drum machine from Korg. An Er-1 Mk2. And after that I tried to learn how to build a synthesizer. During first three years building synthesizers, not one of them was a success. I failed because I didn’t have the necessary knowledge. I had never studied electronics. My background was in theater and communication. I needed to reset my mind in order start learning about electronics. I tried to work backwards using easy schematics at first. Finally, I built my first synth with a 555 chip. After three years I spent around one or two months with a very easy schematic using a 555 iso-timer. And finally, I made my first oscillator. After that, because I started with basic methods for learning electronics, I started to see how to make a more complex synth. My second project was my first sequencer. In the beginning, I really wanted to make a sequencer, because you know, a sequencer is a very interesting thing. We can make an applicator, bass-line, or melody, using a sequencer. When I was finally successful, I was really happy, because I’d made something that I’d wanted for a long time. After that, I learned a lot more about electronic music, and about how to make synthesizers, from YouTube, or just browsing Google, and I found many websites like Music From Outer Space , Synthtopia, Casper Electronics. I think right now it’s easier to find the schematics or methods for making synthesizers. This is why I really fell in love with making synthesizers in the beginning. What I love is making sound, without borders. Sometimes if we use software we have a lot of borders. We need a more powerful PC, for example.
D: Do you think software and working on a computer determines a kind of sound or a way of working?
L: Ya, sometimes. I have friends who make electronic music with software. I also have many friends who code. I sometimes make music by coding too, but only in special cases. Or sometimes I collaborate with my friends who code.
D: It definitely seems different from touching a physical instrument, and something made just for sound.
L: It’s the same when I have workshops. Before a workshop, sometimes people have only worked with a fixed machine that they bought from a big brand, or with software. And I always explain how it’s very different. If you are using an oscillator in software and you go from a low to a high pitch, maybe it’s not really special. But if you made your own synth and you have only one knob, and it’s controlling the change from low to high pitch, you can get a very different feeling.
D: How old were you when you started building synthesizers?
L: I started when I was around 25 or 26 years old. Around 10 years ago.
D: After you finished university?
L: No, I started during university.
D: And your focus there was theater and communication?
L: Ya, but I only finished my communication studies. I didn’t finish my theater studies, because I always fought or disagreed with college regulations. (Lintang laughs)
D: And you said that you never played any instruments before?
L: No, I’ve always used software or synths, but basically, I can’t play musical instruments really well.
D: So, you’ve never had any musical training?
L: Maybe just for one chord or something. Not a full composition, no never. Just mostly teaching myself.
D: Is there any connection with Javanese or Indonesian artistic traditions in your work?
L: Ya actually there’s a lot. In a lot of my previous work, I was working not only as a synth-builder. I was also working as a sound artist and a media artist, so a lot of my artwork has a really strong connection with Javanese culture, especially with Kejawen, which is Javanese ritual. I have one project about Java Noise, meaning Java not as something like a tribe, but a way of life or a philosophy. If we study Javanese philosophy, we will find that there are many layers. Sometimes, if we open one layer, we have another layer, and sometimes we have a lot of information in just one layer. Sometimes there is a clash between one piece of information and another piece of information, or sometimes two pieces of information are trying to clarify one another: the logic is like noise.
D: It’s like there are contradictions?
L: Ya, there are. Sometimes one understanding is trying to clarify another understanding. It’s like noise, because it’s very unpredictable; very crowded in one layer. So, I call it Java Noise because sometimes in Javanese philosophy we cannot open only one layer. We must open other layers too, to get the main understanding. For me it’s very much like noise. And another thing is, I’ve talked with a friend from Holland, he’s basically a musician. I’ve talked with him before about gamelan, and I asked him: “do you agree that gamelan is a very noisy instrument?” He said “yes,” because maybe you know it’s very hard to record gamelan. Especially the gong, because it has a very low frequency, or in Bali the gamelan also has very high frequencies. I had a very interesting connection with him—he understands a lot about Javanese philosophy: sometimes in the different frequencies of the gamelan, there is a message, but only the people that have a gift can translate the meaning of the frequency.
D: Do you mean in the sound as a whole or the sounds from certain instruments?
L: Maybe you can feel it if you listen to gamelan. Sometimes if you listen to gamelan, like in slendro for example, you can feel something transcendental. Maybe you’ve felt that before. I’ve talked before with a friend, who is a musicologist, and he said it’s because the different frequencies from the gamelan sort of…membuat ruang…like create a space. I still I don’t really understand what that means, for gamelan to make a space. I’m still thinking about the meaning of that phrase. But sometimes I’ve felt something very transcendental, like the music is very great, like there is a really amazing feeling, and that’s partly caused by the different frequencies in the gamelan. And that’s the reason why I try to make some work that translates that feeling. I’m not trying to mimic gamelan, but trying to create the same kind of feeling that there is in gamelan.
D: So, there are connections both with the idea of noise, and with rasa, with feeling, between your work and tradition here?
L: Ya, It’s the same as when I learned about wayang. I found a connection between gamelan and wayang. For example, you know Semar? Why does he have his hand like this…or like this… (one hand held up, pointing forward, and the other resting on the small of the back). Why does he have big breasts? Why does he have a big belly? This has a meaning, a very deep meaning. And sometimes if we talk with one person and then another person, they have very different understandings of what it is. Sometimes the explanation from one person is trying to clarify the explanation from another, and sometimes it’s trying to replace it. Ya, it’s like noise!
D: I’ve also experienced that in learning studying wayang repertoire in Bali. People have different explanations for everything. So that kind of noise is a strong metaphor for you in your work? Is it a model for you?
L: Basically, almost all of my work right now is related to noise, but noise in my work is not only about noise as a music or noise as a sound, but a different definition of noise. For example, if we talk about noise in Indonesia, it’s blended into our blood. Every day you can hear the adan (call to prayer) sound, or sounds from the crowded street. In many cases when there is a wedding ceremony, they use a really big sound system, and the people in the area aren’t disturbed. They feel okay. Or if you hear adan, everyone is like “it’s OK.” If you are from another country, maybe you will feel very disturbed with adan because they use a really bad speaker, or a horn. But here, every day we hear the adan sound that way, or we hear wedding ceremonies with big sound-systems, or during a campaign, people modify the exhaust on their motorcycles. We aren’t disturbed, because it’s like noise is blended into our blood. So it’s like we can have a different feeling about noise, because noise is in our blood. Sometimes if we talk about Javanese Philosophy, the people right now feel like it’s a very old thing, and say “why are you talking about old, unimportant things?” Because, it’s part of our blood. So, I try to separate that noise into different parts. I try to split it between us as humans and noise as something around humans. So my work till now has always talked about noise as an independent thing. Sometimes it’s really hard to split that thing, because it’s already blended with our blood.
D: Wow, that’s a really interesting perspective. Can you describe some of your recent collaborations?
L: Maybe collaboration is my way to prove something with music. I think everyone who works with music tries to ask the question: “is it possible for my music to work with others?” I mean not only other people’s music, but working with other people, having interactions with other people. I always ask that question about what I do or what I make. This is the basic reason I must collaborate. And the reason why I collaborate is that I always want to search for new knowledge for myself. For example, when I make a new synth, sometimes it happens because I did a collaboration before with other musicians or other people. Sometimes I don’t have enough knowledge about a certain thing and I collaborate with other people who really know about it, so we do some transfer of information from other people to me, or from me to other people. It’s like an exchange of information. So, why I collaborate is because it’s a way of proving something with my music or my instruments, and the second thing is because I want to transfer information between me and other people.
D: I think it’s a hard thing to do, and it does seem like a way to prove that what you’re doing is real.
L: Ya, and for me, I’m really lucky right now. I live in Jogja, and right now we have a very open mind about music. Maybe it’s a little bit different now. If you know what Jogja was like about 10 or 20 years ago, it was a little bit different, but right now it’s very open. For example, many years ago it was very common in Jogja—many people formed impromptu clubs, or collaboration clubs—just open up a collaboration in one place, they collaborated: “who wants to do some collaboration with me?” Ya, I’m very lucky that I live in Jogja, because we have a really good atmosphere here, a really good ambience.
D: So, what collaborations have you done recently?
L: Uh, I have many. I have one project named Jogjakarta Synth Ensemble. It’s basically an open project. We are very open with anyone who wants to collaborate with the collective. But with this project we always start from making synthesizers, and learning how to use synthesizers, before we perform with them. In many cases we will also have a person in our group who makes a score or a music structure for our performance. Sometimes we also try to settle ideas about the possibilities of making structures with atonal instruments. Sometimes we make very simple synthesizers, and we try make some kind of ensemble. I’ve also done many collaborations with gamelan masters. I have one group with three people: me, a gamelan master, and one electronic music programmer. We mix tonal and atonal music at the same time. Also, right now I’m working on a collaboration with a friend who is a geologist. We’re doing a project about the history of Jogja. If we talk about Java over a long period of time, Java has had a lot of disasters; like volcanoes, earthquakes, and floods. But if we are talking specifically, especially about Jogjakarta, we have two very common disasters here: of course volcanic eruptions, but the second is earthquakes. I found many stories about how the Jogja civilization, the religious system or the social system, has a close relationship with earthquakes. So right now, I have one project with my friend that is an exploration of earthquakes. But we still haven’t found the best method for how to present it…We don’t want to make it really scientific. We want to make something that everyone can feel. For example, we can feel the moment in 2006 when we had a very big earthquake in Jogjakarta. We’re trying to think about how to make it have a more human feel.
D: Ya, you want to communicate a feeling.
L: Ya, and I always try to be open to collaboration with people other than musicians. It’s more interesting working with non-musicians, because we can’t predict the results. For example, I’m working with a geologist, and until now we don’t know what the result of our project will be. Or maybe, some other time, I want to do a collaboration with a shaman or something, or with a psychologist maybe. I always try to find a very different kind of collaboration.
D: Very cool. I’m really interested to see what happens with that project. You also do a lot of workshops, where people can go to learn about building synths. We talked earlier about one that you hosted in Bali, at Tuck and Trap.
Sharing knowledge is very important to me. I always try to put myself in the position of a person who is learning about electronics for the first time, or is making a synth for the first time. How do they want to get their sound?
D: Have you done many of those in Java?
L: Ya, sudah cukup banyak (there have already been quite a few).
D: Is it important to share your knowledge about building synths? How do you approach being something like an educator?
L: Itu sangat menyanangkan (it’s very pleasurable) for me because sharing is very important. Sharing knowledge is very important to me. I always try to put myself in the position of a person who is learning about electronics for the first time, or is making a synth for the first time. How do they want to get their sound? As a musician, you always want to find your sound. For example, you always have an identity card. It’s the same for musicians. You always find your own sound and it’s like your ID card. For me, it’s a pleasure sharing knowledge, because it helps you open your gate, to find another way to find your sound. Maybe you can explore with your synth or software that you bought, but if you never had any experience with DIY, maybe you can get a different feeling through it, and maybe it’s like your way to find your own sound. It’s very pleasurable for me, because maybe I can help you to find your sound with a method you’ve never used before. (laughs)
In many cases the workshops open the way, open the gate, to go to the next step.
D: And when you do workshops, are many new people getting excited about what you share with them?
L: Sometimes ya—no not sometimes—they’re always excited about making synthesizers. Because, it’s very common that people who join my workshops have already played synthesizers from common brands, but they never understood how the sound was produced. So when they join the workshop, and they learn how to start from soldering until there is a working instrument, they are very excited and say “oh, now I know to make this!” In many cases, after the workshop, they do more exploring with their instruments, because they start to see more details about how to make sound.
D: They have a closer connection? It’s not just like ‘OK…Microkorg.’
L: Ya, in many cases, after doing the workshop, people want to make modifications to their hardware. Many people do that.
D: Like circuit bending?
L: Ya, sometimes. In many cases the workshops open the way, open the gate, to go to the next step. And for me, if we talk about the DIY scene, it’s not about instruments. The DIY scene is like an ethos, or like a platform, because for me you can use the DIY system for making synths, or modification, or hacking. I think it’s all part of DIY.
D: It’s almost like a social philosophy?
L: For me it’s a philosophy, yes, you’re right. (lights a cigarette)
D: From all of the synths that you’ve made, do you have a favorite?
L: (consults his wife, Johanna) I have one favorite synth, its name is Acak Baur. The reason I really love that synth is because it was my first synth that I built with my own system. I tried to combine many different systems, but I finally created a synth that I wanted with Acak Baur. Basically, I started it with my studies about chaos theory, about how small things can affect big things, and I used that to explain the instability of electricity in Indonesia. I think you know, because you’ve lived in Indonesia, how the electricity here is very unstable.
D: Yep, I’ve lost a laptop or two.
L: Ya, so basically from my understanding of chaos theory and electricity in Indonesia, I tried to make one synth that traces that logic. But basically, the synth is very simple. There are only three modules inside: a random LFO, a VCO, and a divider. From the random VCO I divide the output from the LFO using the divider, and sometimes, the multi-out from the divider can be used to change the VCO. But, we can also change the output from every divider. I have many testimonies from friends who bought or used the Acak Baur. They say, “it’s a crazy synth because we cannot predict the results.” For example, they can never get a fixed set up for that synth, because if you play it now and you play it at a different time, you always get different results. So, it’s my favorite synth because I always wanted to make a synth with unpredictable results. It’s like the topic of our life. As Indonesian people, this is our life: unpredictable. (cracks a laugh)
Acak is random and Baur is unity. So, it’s like how to make unity from something random.
D: Do you still make them?
L: Ya, I still make them. Right now, I’m starting to make other versions of the Acak Baur.
D: What’s does Acak Baur mean?
L: (consults Johanna again) Acak is random and Baur is unity. So, it’s like how to make unity from something random. (cracks a mischievous laugh)
D: Do you have a favorite album of music that includes synthesizers?
L: I mostly love 80’s synth-pop. It’s very common here, like Depeche Mode, or Pet Shop Boys, or Duran Duran. Ya, I like that sound, because compared with the sound today, the synths from 80’s are very raw. Sometimes if you listen very close, they produce a unique noise. I really like the raw sound. If you compare the drum sounds from the 80’s with the ones nowadays, it’s very different. If you listen to electronic music today, sometimes it has no specific style or identity.
D: Did you ever listen to older music like Kraftwerk?
L: Ya suka sekali (I like it a lot)!
D: Or Yellow Magic Orchestra?
L: Ya…oh yayaya.
D: I agree that a lot of new electronic music often sounds too clean, or unoriginal, but what about other artists like Aphex Twin or Autechre, who make a lot of their own gear or really put work into making their own sounds? Do you also have any influence from them, or any other newer electronic musicians?
L: Ya I have some influence from them. I’m influenced by a lot of people. For example, do you know Casper Electronics? Peter Edwards. He’s American, but right now he lives in Brno in Czech Republic. I really like the exploration that Peter Edwards does with building his own synths. I think it’s because he studied at STEIM in Amsterdam. STEIM is a very famous place for electronics, because everyone studies there. In many of the last projects with Peter Edwards, he made synths with an open system. I really like that because it lets you really explore. If you buy your synth from a common brand, sometimes you just get a fixed device. You can only do some exploration with the device—only knobs, only switches. But if you are using an open system, I think it opens the possibilities for more sound. Maybe it’s the same with modular synths.
...I tried to catch the ambience of the place and mix it with my own sound, because I think they are the same.
D: Last April you went to Bali and recorded a piece at a gamelan workshop. Can you tell us about that?
L: Ya, so actually that was Jonathan’s idea. Jonathan, Balot, and Cordey. So, I went to Bali and I wanted to collaborate with them, but because the time was really tight, and really short, we tried to find another method for doing a recording there. From the beginning, I never wanted to do a collaboration with gamelan, because I think it’s very common. Everyone does that. I wanted to do a collaboration using another method. So when we went to the gamelan factory, I listened and thought “wah, it’s a crazy place!” You can hear the sounds from people hitting metal, people using drills, using sandpaper, tuning the gamelan and carving wood. For me it was like an orchestra. Maybe for other people, they would think it’s like noise, like “this is not an important sound,” but for me it had an important, and interesting sound. In the recording, I tried to catch the ambience of the place and mix it with my own sound, because I think they are the same.
D: It’s very natural.
L: Ya, very natural, yes. And for me, it was like a dream come true, because for so long I have dreamed of doing a recording with that method. I do have a thing with my friend, where we do some recordings outside, like in the market, or the main street, or at the beach or in the mountains, with my instruments, but so far this is my favorite recording, because it was really like a dream come true.
D: So, I want to add a question here. I’ve loved electronic music for a really long time, and I’ve always heard people say that it’s not organic, it’s not natural, or that only acoustic instruments can make ‘natural’ sounds. What do you think about that? What do you think about the idea of organic or natural sound?
L: I think you should come to the Rumah Tembi October 5th and 6th. They have a very interesting theme about contra-acoustics. Maybe there you can find some answers about that. And the second thing is, I am still finding definitions for organic sound and inorganic sound. People have their definitions for those things, but I still don’t have my own opinion about it. For example, if we are working with electronic devices, and with unstable electricity in Indonesia, maybe we can hear a humming sound, or a noise from the instrument. What do you think? Is that organic or not? I think it’s organic. For me I think organic is something produced from a natural thing. Natural is not from nature, but the things around your life are part of nature. I think it’s possible to get an organic sound from electronic music. Because, that’s part of our lives in Indonesia. We live with unstable electricity. If you’re working with your instrument in the midday or at night, sometimes it’s very different. I’ve tested my hardware before in the midday and at night, and it was very different. When I use it at night, we get a very smooth humming, because here at night the voltage drops, because everyone is using electricity.
D: I heard that you recently went to Amsterdam. When you travel to different cities or countries, what do you bring with you?
L: I have a modular set up. It’s my own modular. Before, I had a problem bringing it because it had a very big case, a very big box. Before I went to Amsterdam I modified it so that it’s easier to bring.
D: You just bring one modular system? No mixers or sequencers?
L: No, in my modular I include a mixer and a sequencer, in one box. Here I’ll show it to you.
D: Beautiful. Is it mostly new components?
L: No, I started making them in 2015. This one’s easy to bring around. The only problem is that it’s a little bit heavy.
D: Have you have ever had any problems bringing it through airports? Are police ever confused?
L: Yeah, I have. Once I had a smaller modular synth with me, an order for someone in Taiwan. He asked for a smaller one. When I brought it from Indonesia to Australia, and explained to the Australian custom “this is for DJing,” he said “ok, it’s no problem.” But once when I brought a modular synth back from Australia to Indonesia, I was in transit in Bali and the people said, “you go here.” They checked many times and were thinking “you brought this from Australia.” I said, “no it’s mine.” “No, I don’t believe you, you brought it from Australia.” And I said “no, this is mine” and finally I just showed him the Javanese name on it and asked him “would it be possible for there to be a Javanese name on a system I bought in Australia?” and he said “waaaaa yayaya.” Finally, it was OK.” Many people in Indonesia don’t believe that I make my own synthesizers. They think I just bought a kit from one website and built it, but no, I make them from scratch.
D: So part of your work can involve proving those people wrong.
L: Ya, this is possible!
D: Do you have any new projects you want people to know about?
L: Ya, so I’m involved in the one I talked about before, with the geologist. And I’m doing a collaboration with a musician from a famous band in Indonesia. We’re making modular synths for kids. MIJI, it’s a pop band from Jakarta. We’re making small modular synths, but for kids.
D: Where will you sell them?
L: My friend made a small demo in his kid’s school, and the kids there were really interested. So far, he just wants to sell them there. But maybe after that we will try to open things up to sell them to everyone. Right now, we are still trying to finish the look and the sound design. I think around next month we’ll finish.
D: Awesome, and when are your workshops. Do they happen regularly?
L: Oh no. I have a plan to make them regularly, in my home. But because my wife and I are trying to finish making our new home, we stopped for several months. After we finish, maybe we can have them regularly.
Kenali is introduce. Rangkai is assembly. Pakai is use. So, it’s a very basic philosophy when you are making something.
D: Lastly, do you have a website that people could check out to find you and your work?
L: I don’t have a website, just a blog: Kenalirangkaipakai. And I have another project called Synthesia (wordpress/blogspot). Synthesia basically is a blog to document or database the synth culture in Indonesia. In that website, I try to compile information about workshops or synths made in Indonesia. So far, I’ve found more than 50 or 60 synths made in Indonesia.
D: Cool, we hope people will check those out, if they haven’t already. By the way, what does Kenalirangpakai mean?
L: Kenali is introduce. Rangkai is assembly. Pakai is use. It’s a very basic philosophy for when you are making something. First, you must know what you make, and after you know that you can start to make it, and the last step is using what you made.
D: Asik. Thanks so much for sharing with us Lintang.
L: Yep, makasih mas.
Danny Martin
Learn more about Lintang Radittya’s work:
Check out Derau on YouTube, Bandcamp, and SoundCloud:
About the author(s)
Mas Edan (Danny Martin)
People and organizations mentioned in this article
