After the highly praised album "Alkisah" released by more than 40 labels over the world, WV Sorcerer proudly present the vinyl version of this rare rehearsal recording from SENYAWA, back in 2019.
Yes, this is a rehearsal recording, but it's more than that, it's an important mark for the first decade of the band, the tracks in this rehearsal present the essence of SENYAWA's music from 2009 to 2019. After that, they embarked on the period of "Alkisah" decentralization. "Rehearsal Session 2019" is an album that carries on from where they left off and marks a significant turning point in the band's history.
The production is also uncompromising, with a multi-track live recording from their studio in the ancient city of Yogyakarta, Java Islands, Indonesia, the music is carefully mixed & mastered. Previously released on tape and CD, and now remastered for vinyl by Thomas Stadnicki in Brussels (Neptunian Maximalism, ZAÄAR). The immense energy of the duo is implanted in each track and all the frequencies, you won't be disappointed!
The record comes in a heavy gatefold cover with unreleased photos of their studio, and the 80 copies come with a replicate of the original setlist.
Senyawa is always surprising. They can produce such an extensive array of sounds from a rehearsal. Give this one a spin if you’re into unique texture of sounds!
- The Store Front
It’s difficult to characterise Senyawa without leaning on inaccurate tropes or multihyphenates. From Indonesian gamelan to apocalyptic folk, post-punk, no wave, stoner metal and dark-doom-psychedelic-ritualcore, the Javanese duo’s output encapsulates such wide swathes of influences so as to be nearly impossible to summarise.
Their unprecedented style derives in large part from their unconventional instrumentation. Over the course of ten years and about as many releases Rully Shabara and Wukir Suryadi have honed a semi-improvisational sound forged from the percussive clattering and ceremonial mood of their homemade bambuwukir. The device, the size and shape of a tube zither, is sheathed in rows of metal and bamboo strings that emit a remarkable range of otherworldly tonalities and textures. On their newest album Alkisah it’s joined by another of Suryadi’s homemade creations built from a spatula and an electric guitar. Their combined effect is more industrially angular than the band’s past work, eliciting a symphony of pulverising riffs and guttural roars that sounds as if they’ve hatched straight from the fires and slimes of Middle Earth.
- Chloé Lula, The Wire
“Indonesian duo Senyawa is one of the most intense live bands in the world.”
- Red Bull Music Academy
“Senyawa can be counted among the most thrilling, edgy and original live performance units anywhere in the world.”
- The Wire
“Senyawa forged a sound that brings with it another dimension of weight, one that can’t be measured.”
- The Quietus
“Senyawa`s music rises from the belly of the beast and crawls out of its gaping maw.”
- Pitchfork
“Generally speaking, Senyawa operate on a force-of-nature level.”
- Resident Advisor
