- DJ Scotch Rolex and J. "Mo'ong" Santoso Pribadi make ritualistic black metal together on Nyege Nyege Tapes.
- Shigeru Ishihara, AKA Scotch Rolex, is a master of chaos. Watch how he conducts an orchestra of Game Boys to the tune of Bach, or creates cartoonish worlds with Kiki Hitomi or adds a touch of playfulness to Shackleton's deep polyphony. Music is an endless web of ideas to Ishihara, and he gleefully entangles himself in it. Takkak Takkak is his latest project, a pairing up with Indonesian artist J. "Mo'ong" Santoso Pribadi, who is also one half of black metal duo Raja Kirik. "Garang" is the lead single from Takkak Takkak's upcoming self-titled LP for Nyege Nyege Tapes, embedded in the same 11th century Javanese rituals and metal that inspires Raja Kirik—but with a twist of unhinged Ishihara flair.
Listen to "Garang" casually, or in the background, and its trundling tribal march is inoffensive, entrancing even. Then zoom in: the metallic percussion falters like the snappy short-long-short beats at the heart of reggaeton’s drum pattern, and the staccato strings scratch like the tally of days on a prison wall. Then there are the vocal growls that sound as though they were thrown in at the last minute—the final loop in this chaotic, yet intricate, knot.