Laut Loud with Tau' Riolo A'dendang (t o d)

Laut Loud’s fourth and fifth seasons were filmed during last year’s voyage across Sulawesi and Maluku. Then Arka Kinari sailed directly to Australia instead of taking the usual monsoon break, delaying the editing and release. Welcome to the first episode, and Laut Loud is going weirder than ever. I think of Laut Loud as the opposite of TikTok. It is a strike against short attention spans, in fact many of this year’s videos don’t demand your visual attention at all. Put them on and let your mind drift, stare out the window, go about doing things at home or driving or taking public transit. Let it change your brainwaves, even if you don't first understand the music, and might never understand the poetry.

Tau' Riolo A'dendang (formerly known as Theory of Discoustic or T o D) first emerged on Indonesia’s nascent indie folk scene with a familiar recipe: subtle guitar picking interspersed with close-harmony vocals. As time passed the band gradually expanded their musical palette. On their recently released EP Silaga (2024), electronic influences come to the fore, with rhythmic pulses and vocals that recall memories of the brave sailors of the Spice Route. Their lyrics dive deep into the complex Buginese mythology, Makassar's dark history, and their current reality as a coastal city that are slowly removed from their soul's calling as seafarers. For Makassar's edition of Laut Loud, they picked several areas that fall in the front lines of Makassar's modern coastal conflicts. We start in the Harbor of Bangkoa, which serves Makassar's outlying islands, all at risk of eviction from the current main harbor's expansion. We end in front of Lae-Lae, a refuge for sailors, fishermen, and environmental activists leading the charge against this eviction.