Originally from a run-down neighborhood in North Jakarta, and now a resident in Southern Bali, Kasimyn, who also produces under the name of Hulubalang, is one-half of Gabber Modus Operandi, and an inventive electronic producer, sound artist, label owner, and DJ, whose highly skilled deck-trickery has been cited by Fact Magazine as »a mayhem of anti-aesthetic fun«.

Photo: Alexandra Ilkivova

With an expansive knowledge of global club music, a keen interest in local sound traditions, and a penchant for all things fast and outlandish, his DJ-sets span an incredible range of sounds and rhythms woven into an unlikely flow of epic fun and surprises. Both in his DJ-sets and in his role as producer under the name of Hulubalang or with Gabber Modus Operandi, Kasimyn’s productions are driven by the belief that the most contemporary sounds and age-old traditional music forms are clearly connected, and that we can celebrate past and future equally without the need for boring and outdated categorisations.

On tour in Europe, Africa, and Asia, he has shared decks with Nkisi, Tzusing, Mixtress, ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U, and Apparat, and played at festivals such as CTM, Nyege Nyege, Unsound, Dark Mofo, or Primavera Sound. He has been featured in Boiler Room’s »Pure Rave« article and contributed a mix for their »Global Hard Dance Mix no 9«, as well as recorded mixes for Berlin’s Hör, Eomac’s Eotrax series, FACT Magazine, and Refuge Worldwide.

Kasimyn produced several tracks for Björk’s celebrated 2022 release Fossora, and performs within Tianzhuo Chen’s durational performance piece TRANCE. In 2022 Kasimyn launched his own label Gorong Gorong Records, aimed at showcasing a new wave of electronic and experimental productions from Bali. The label’s ambition has been convincingly demonstrated by the infectious electronic gamelan music of local duo Kadapat, who delivered its inaugural release. Kasimyn released a solo debut under the name of Hulubalang in June 2023 on Jordanian label Drowned by Locals.

The research underlying Kasimyn’s productions and projects dives deep into the diversity of Indonesia’s musical knowledge systems and oral traditions, exploring tuning systems, as well as tracing the Indonesian harmonic scales pelog and slendro within Southeast Asian music and incorporating them within contemporary electronic music. For his research practice, he was given the What Stays – Archiving Care research residency of transmediale, Berlin, in 2021. That same year, Kasimyn was also selected to take part in the Common Tonalities research project led by Khyam Allami, on the subject of tuning and how it relates to modern-day sonic technologies and music-making.