There is so much hip hop and afro music going on nowadays around Bali. Have you noticed? Just about every club has an urban, hip hop or afro night and many new clubs opening only feature this style of music. It would appear the younger generation are the ones pushing this drive to the urban, but while I’m not a great fan, kind of indifferent to it in many ways, I think it is time to check it out and next week we will be finding out more and presenting it on these pages. But meanwhile, this week we are featuring one of the biggest Hip Hop DJs in town, B455 in our regular Friday Q&A with a R ..read more

This week with … B455 (BASS) or Nyoman Bhaskara Yuda The basics. Where are you from? Asli Bali. I’m originally from Bali. How old are you and how long you been in Bali? I’m 26. I was born here. Single or hooked up? I’m in a relationship! How did you first get into electronic music? Like, was there a certain moment it all made sense? I’ve loved music from a young age. There was no defining moment, music has always been my career. What do you think makes electronic music so good? I love electronic music because it has many different types of sounds and sub genres. Do you produce music? I don’t ..read more

We didn’t see much Lebaran activity this year. Lebaran is the Muslim annual holidays after Idul Fitria and normally, it’s one of the busiest times of year, packed with people and cars on the island from all over the archipelago, but, from what I saw, not this year. It is said that the ongoing war in Gaza has a lot to do with this, as people don’t want to be seen having a good time. After the increasing escalation of tensions over there recently we hope that the situation does diffuse fast for all our sake’s. So, it has been relatively quiet this Lebaran holiday season, both on the streets and ..read more

Work hard, Play hard, is not a bad mantra. It basically keeps me alive. Wednesday night we were out and about in the clubs, seeing what was going on with the start of Idul Fitri. Some places were quiet, as expected, but others were firing on all cylinders. We tried the new Malverde near La Favela, which opened a couple of months ago, but for a few reasons it was the first time I was there. Must say it was a fun spot, a little like the old Jakarta Red Square and a mini Sky Dome. The owners obviously have plenty of experience in both spots. It’s a bit of girly fest, but for those into that it su ..read more

Drunken Kong will be back at Red Ruby Saturday, 20 April. If you like your beats harder than granite, melodies haunting and your times spent euphoric, you gotta be there. Some History. The couple met at a party in Tokyo where Dee Singh (of Indian Japanese heritage) was DJing and Kyoko (from Tokyo) famously came up to the booth and asked, what’s the name of that track? He didn’t know at that point Kyoko was also a DJ producer, but quickly became aware of a connection. The next day they were making their first track together. Just for fun. This was in 2010 and Dee had just come back to Japan aft ..read more

I can’t believe how expensive everything is nowadays. Not just the nightlife but also going down to the grocery shop and buying essentials. Some of the supermarkets seems to put up their prices every time I visit and I must say it is getting ridiculous. Even last week I had someone pointing out that they could fly four people to Vegas, pay hotel stays and buy tickets for the show to see their fave act for less than what a sofa would cost at one of Bali’s premier day club venues to see the same perfromers. And he probably wasn’t too far from the truth. You could probably fly first class for tha ..read more

It is a bit slow around the island at the moment as we get ourselves out of the wet season (the wet season that never really happened) and back into the dry season. Sure, there are some touros around the traps, but there could be so many more. This weekend the season starts at El Kabron in Uluwatu with their first Techno Flower Party of the year on Saturday. It is always a big event and they bill it as the start of their season so we’re going to go with it and call it the beginning of the dry season. Why not, the sun is definitely shining today. Later that night, Red Ruby will be firing with v ..read more

This week with Gibs Where are you from? I was born in Jakarta, Indonesia! How old are you? 25 How long you been in Bali? I got back 2 years ago, but some of my family have been here since I was a little kid, so always been in and out. How did you first get into electronic music? Like, was there a certain moment it all made sense? I started going to raves in the end of middle school, sneaking out of my house in the middle of the night in Bali, or Jakarta and joining my friends in these big open field festivals and the nightclubs. At the time I was more into rock and alternative, but eventually ..read more

Nyepi has come and gone and we welcome the new Balinese year. I hope you all had a great time chasing ogoh-ogoh (as you see above, a bit wet in Kerobokan), relaxing, meditating or partying, whatever rocked your boat. Nyepi normally signals the start of the dry season, but since we had such a lame wet season this year it seemed appropriate we should get the wettest and wildest days just before and after Nyepi this year. The cyclone is still down in the south but moving away slowly so the weather should be better very soon. I’ve noticed the promotion of venues nowadays is getting more and more i ..read more

Nyepi is on the way very soon. Are you ready?? Everyone seems to panic, buying up everything in the local Frestive supermarket the day before in preparation, but actually, Nyepi is a great time to be on the island for many reasons. Besides the festivities on the lead up to the big day, which can be a load of fun, checking the street parades of the Ogoh Ogoh the night before, or the local Hindus in full regalia celebrating a multitude of ceremonies the days before, the day of silence itself, which this year is Tuesday 11 March, is probably the only real day of complete relaxation you will get t ..read more