Arrington de Dionyso's Malaikai Dan Singa at the Turf Club, St Paul (05/07/11)

Tour Dates 05/08/11 Dubuque, Iowa - TBA 05/09/11 Chicago, Illinois - Empty Bottle 05/11/11 Ann Arbor, MI - Arbor Vitae 05/12/11Youngstown, OH - Cedar's Lounge 05/14/11 Albany, New York - TBA 05/15/11 Boston, MA - BATV 05/16/11 Biddeford, ME - Oak & the Ax 05/18/11 Brooklyn, NY - Issue Project Room 05/19/11 Baltimore, MD - Windup Space 05/20/11 Washington, DC - Comet Pizza 05/21/11 Charlottesville, VA - Twisted Branch 05/22/11 Philadelphia, PA - TBA 05/25/11 New York, New York - Cake Shop 05/26/11 Providence, RI - Pawtucket 05/27/11 Lowell, MA - 119 Space 05/28/11 East Hampton, MA - Flywheel 05/29/11 Buffalo, NY - with Steve Baczowski 05/30/11 Buffalo, NY - Voice workshop 06/01/11 Bloomington, IN - House show 06/02/11 Indianapolis Museum, IN Read More Arrington de Dionyso When I wrote the review for Arrington de Dionyso, I called it the most interesting record on my playlist, and it's true, I didn't know any "white" guy (he looks white, at least) singing songs in Indonesian. While most people might dismiss this as a joke/novelty, I feel this isn't the case with Arrington de Dionyso.

One of the most bizarre shows I've attended in a while, Arrington de Dionyso's Malaikai Dan Singa stopped by the Turf Club in St Paul last night, May 7^th to play some Indonesian pop music from his albums, Suara Naga and Malaikat Dan Singa.

MALLS

When the first of three bands, Malls, opened up at nearly 11pm, I knew it was going to be a late night. Malls only played four songs, all instrumental, all experimental ambient music, in some instances seems even tribal. It was hard to tell when a song began or ended, and the most interesting thing about Malls was the two acoustic guitar bodies, which were used as percussion instruments. Also should be noted is that they used some analog recordings of answering machine loops throughout their songs. And they only played four songs.

DIMANCHE

Next up was a duo, Dimanche, a band that was not formally on the bill. They played really atmospheric, creepy songs, using a wide variety of instruments: violin, upright bass, electric cello (?), brass gongs-thingies, etc. Sometime the girl in the band screams, but otherwise, they are more or less an all-instrumental band. I don't know much about the band, but I thought I read that the girl is from Mother of Fire.

When Arrington de Dionyso's Malaikai Dan Singa came on stage, it was after midnight. There was a lot of gurgling, guttural, throaty and vocal ranges, combined with bass and drums and it was all so ... weird. Sometime the music sounded like Norwegian death metal (especially when Arrington uses the strapless guitar and the chants!), but then when you hear the alto saxophone (which Arrington drops the mic inside the horn) it suddenly sound like it's interpretive jazz. It's all over the place, but with all highly energetic and intense performance, it was still fun to watch and thrash to.

Honestly, I couldn't tell you what songs were played, I wish I understood Indonesian. What I can tell you is that I had a good time, despite struggling to stay awake. I ended up buying one of Arrington's handmade silkscreen books. From what I remember, only one hundred of these were made. I liked that. I think musicians should sell other things rather than the regular CD and T-Shirts. I've often picked up pins, hand bags, tambourines, hats, because I probably already own the album.

If you aren't familiar with Arrington's music, then get it from K Records. His latest release is called "Suara Naga".

ARRINGTON DE DIONYSO

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