What is "Ngelmu Tirakat" actually about?
Sanjonas, the Yogyakarta producer born Yonaz Kristy, named his sophomore album after tirakat: a Javanese spiritual practice built on ascetic self-discipline and ritual endurance. It's not a mood-board word. The record itself moves between deconstructed club, techno, heavy bass and experimental production, landing October 15 on RAMPAK G, the Indonesian experimental label Sanjonas co-founded. That's the tell here: the title isn't a flourish borrowed to sell "exotic" techno to a festival booker abroad, it's the frame he built the record inside. The lead single is streaming now.
Why does RAMPAK G matter beyond this one record?
RAMPAK G blends Indonesian rhythms and instruments with global percussion and tribal influences, and Sanjonas has used the label as a base for a wider network rather than a solo vanity imprint. He contributed the track "Boss Fight" to the label's Symbiotic II various-artists compilation back in April 2026, and he's a co-founder of multiple collectives, alongside RAMPAK G, that he and his collaborators describe as "reimagining post-platform futures" across ASEAN. That's a real, working DIY infrastructure, not a label waiting for a Western A&R to validate the sound.
"Ngelmu Tirakat" lands through a Southeast Asian network that built its own rooms, not through someone else's idea of what Indonesian club music should sound like.
What does Sanjonas do outside the studio?
Production is only one half of his practice. He's also a graphic designer and multi-disciplinary artist, which tracks with how RAMPAK G presents itself: visual identity and sound treated as one output, not music with art bolted on after the fact.
