In a very tangible way, Covid lockdowns were devastating to Singapore’s nightlife industry. But if one were to find a silver lining, the unfortunate hiatus did reshape the scene in some very positive ways. Gone was the era where the homogenous sounds of mega clubs ruled the landscape, and up sprang an adventurous crop of mavericks, whose more leftfield ideas injected refreshing precipitation into a stagnant atmosphere.
There are plenty of bleeding edge collectives who broke the mould once parties got going again (Bussy Temple, Endless Return, 0rbit, etc.), but arguably, the crew of game changers at the tip of vanguard was Strange Weather. Made up of newer DJs like A’alely, Yetpet and Indonesia’s Kindergarchy, established veterans like Hong Kong resident Yadin Moha, alongside Sharyfairy and Shereen Jolly (Dizigotik) - these trailblazers began throwing some coolest events we've ever seen.
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“Strange Weather is a music and art collective from Singapore who are connecting the dots between contemporary electronic music, deconstructed traditional motifs, subversive symbolism and sweaty dance floor hysteria.”
Their selectors favour unorthodox blends (everything from industrial and EBM to post-punk and electro) that are threaded with both traditional Eastern and global futurist textures. They collaborate with avant-garde visual artists, performers, dancers and creatives to produce immersive, otherworldly enclaves for their raves at venues like Gillman Barracks and T:>Works. They open shows with experimental live musicians (like Uwalmassa, Antarmuka and VT-00), and close with boundary pushing headliners (such as Elena Colombi, Phuong-Dan and Mr. Ho).
It’s an uncanny combination of elements that could’ve been too weird to work, but instead, their idiosyncratic ethos has paid dividends. From international tours, to spotlights on Boiler Room, to shows packed to the brim with elder millennial heads and fresh Gen Z ravers - Strange Weather has swiftly risen to become one of the foremost collectives in Singapore. Ahead of their upcoming collaboration with Parisian label, Teenage Menopause Records, we talked to the crew to learn more.
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What’s the genesis of Strange Weather?
As with a lot of party crews it just started off as a way for us to have fun and play music that we enjoy. As we started gaining momentum after the first few parties, we realised it could be an opportunity to do so much more. We started putting a lot of thought and energy into the spatial design and incorporating more visual arts elements and live acts. People seem to have responded really well to that so that gives us a lot of motivation to keep going.
What does each member of the crew bring to the table?
Besides our individual creative pursuits as DJs, selectors, producers and dancers, there’s a bunch of back end stuff that needs to be managed for us to function well as a group. We do have assigned roles but all of us try to to help out with everything. Gen (Yetpet), handles our graphic design and spatial production. Sharon (Sharyfairy) takes care of our operations and also builds installations. Amanda (Kindergarchy) is in charge of our social media, while Shereen manages our bookings and communications. Fiz (A’alely) is the head of operations, and takes the lead on programming and production. Yadin (Moha) helps out with copywriting and documentation.
The first thing a newbie would notice is that Strange Weather has a distinct sound from any other collective in Singapore. How would you describe it?
Our DJs have pretty distinct musical tastes but generally what we have in common is that we try to avoid playing music that is too easily categorised. We enjoy music that encompass elements from multiple genres and artistic movements and that keeps things interesting both for us and the dance floor.
As you mentioned, most of your events have included multidisciplinary collaborations. What role does performance art, visuals and live music play in Strange Weather’s presentation?
A big part of what we’re trying to do is melding our love for a good old dance party with our love for experimental and conceptual arts. It kind of sets the tone for our audience that it’s not gonna be just another “boom boom boom” rave. We want people to come and maybe discover that they have a taste for something that has never occurred to them before. If someone comes along expecting a straight up techno party but ends up watching a 45 minute butoh/drone/oud performance and walks away thinking, “well that was actually pretty sick” - that’s a good thing.
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What’s been the favourite event you guys have organised, and why?
We’ve had so many, but the ones most dear to us are Mysteries in Meatspace with Mama Magnet and Upacara Kampret! with Uwalmassa, RAGAURA & Alina Ling – both were held at Gillman Barracks.
Mysteries in Meatspace was our first ever party and exhibition outside of a club setting, and we collaborated with Mama Magnet to showcase artists from Indonesia and the Philippines. It was the first time we felt like we were doing something important and necessary (as opposed to simply messing around and having a good time), creating an avenue to showcase the amazing artistic talent we have in Southeast Asia.
With Upacara Kampret! - we’d been long time fans (and now good friends) of Uwalmassa and their brand of deconstructed gamelan so it was really special to have that kind of soundscape and performance in a rave setting, complemented by an interactive light installation by Alina. We worked closely with Harsya (from Uwalmassa) and RAGAURA (a local butoh dance ensemble) to conceptualise their performance. That’s when we had this realisation that we could definitely blur the lines between a rave and an art showcase effectively, and people here were really into it.
Soft Rebellion with Elena Colombi and Antarmuka was a really special one too – Elena played such a crazy diverse set, a few friends said they sounded like all the resident DJs combined into one person, which was awfully nice of them to say, and kind of perfect for our first big international booking. It really took a village to pull off the whole production, and it really wouldn’t have been possible without the Strange Weather extended family. The spatial design for that party was also one of our favourites, we had a fully functioning massage parlour at the rave complete with a trippy aquarium installation. We’re really proud of how it worked out.
The past couple of years has seen Strange Weather grow exponentially, especially with regards to international attention. What are your thoughts on the collective’s success since its inception?
We’ve been pretty blessed to have been invited to play in Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia in recent years. We’re playing in Japan next month, and we’re also starting to throw Strange Weather parties in Hong Kong, where Shereen and Yadin are based. It’s been great making these connections with like minded people around Asia. We do have pipe dreams of organising a festival with an all-Asian line up one day, and these collaborations are definitely a small step in the right direction.
Tell us about your next event, Strange Menopause. What can we expect?
We first linked up with Francois (who runs Teenage Menopause) when he tagged along with Elena Colombi when we booked them last August. We got along great and inevitably started discussing ways we could work together on a show. Officium and Tzii are incredible artists on the Teenage Menopause roster whom we’ve had on our radar for a while, so when the opportunity arose to host them in Singapore as part of their Asian tour, it was a no brainer.
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Their textural, otherworldly sound is something we’ve always wanted to explore with Strange Weather. It aligns perfectly with our third headlining act, Bani Haykal. He’s been such a prolific, unique voice in our local experimental music scene so we’re so excited to finally have him on our lineup.
To round it out we’re opening with an improvisational set featuring Strange Weather fam and regular collaborators - A’alely, Aftervolter and Rosemainy Buang. Sharyfairy will be doing her third butoh performance ever (the rest of us are so psyched for her!) after recent shows with Endless Return in Singapore and Terminal Dogma in Manila. Yetpet and Yadin will be rinsing out some swirly stompers to cap off the night.
The most encouraging element of Strange Weather is the devoted following of fans turned friends that you’ve fostered. How important is that sense of community to you guys?
It’s been really cool and everything we do is really pointless without super open-minded people coming out and supporting our shows. We’ll do all we can to keep that going.
Strange Menopause takes place at ikigai on Saturday, 22 June. Tickets are available here.
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