Animist

|| Outernational Music & Vinyl Culture
|| Recordlabel || DJ-VJ crew || Fieldrecorders || Archivists

Vinyl distribution: Painted Dog Records
Digital distribution: Music Deli
Bookings: [email protected]

24/09/2025

808 Heartbreak, a melancholic lovesong on a raw drummachine offbeat rhythm, is an original track composed by Apichat Pakwan

Performed live here at Unfest '25 in Bangkok.
With art direction and live visuals by Natavan.

Link to the full concert in the comments below

21/09/2025

The colorful music- and soundmakers of the Phi Ta Khon festival in Dan Sai in Isan
👹
📢

19/09/2025

A love letter, an ode, a question, a conversation, an intuitive improvised sonic exploration.
All words that could describe this piece by Han Litz & the Lucid Voyages from their debut album 'Off Grid', released in 2024 on Animist Records.
But we like to leave space for the listener's own imagination and interpretation.

Based on fieldrecordings made at the Shwedagon Zedi Daw (Golden Dragon Pagoda) in Yangon.

The Shwedagon Pagoda (ရွှေတိဂုံဘုရား) is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in Burma (Myanmar).
Legend holds that the Shwedagon Pagoda was constructed more than 2,500 years ago, while Buddha was still alive, which would make it the oldest Buddhist stupa in the world.

'Shwedagon Swamp' is available on vinyl LP and digital download through Bandcamp and our website animist.nl

17/09/2025

📀 Thai-Isan lukthung on 7" vinyl in very good condition! 🎺
Funky horn arrangements, a great trumpet solo and groovy conga's: there is a lot to enjoy on this 45.

Song info:

Side A:
Pornchai Phrombancha - Won Riam (พรชัย พรหมบัญชา - วอนเรียม)

Side B:
Suchan Sinsongserm - E Nai Kai Na (สุชน สินส่งเสริม - อีนายไก่นา)

Original Thai pressing has a few clicks here and there but overall a very clean copy.

30/08/2025

The intricate designs of the Phi Ta Khon festival in Isan 👹

The Phi Ta Khon festival is a vibrant, three-day event in Dan Sai, Loei province, Northeast Thailand, held annually in June. It features colourful parades with participants in elaborate, handmade ghost masks and costumes, blending Buddhist merit-making with animistic traditions. The festival, a part of the larger Bun Luang celebration, includes music, dancing, and a unique procession of "ghosts" and villagers, celebrating and honoring ancestors, invoking rain and seeking good fortune.

Photos from our visit in 2018.

28/08/2025

📀 Turntablism - what is it? 📀

🎞️ Apichat Pakwan routine with the infinite loops on their second 10" 'E-Ong Muan Sun'

19/08/2025

📸1-8: Ajaan Chanawat Johnjoho - multi-instrumentalist, musician of and head of the Isan Folkmusic Department at Surin University in Northeast Thailand - performs kantrum with this group of local Khmer musicians at the funeral of some of the people who died at the rocket attacks in Surin province (on Thai territory) by the Cambodian army during the recent borderconflict.
Kantrum is the animistic healing music of the Khmer people, played at this funeral because the victims were ethnically Khmer. Effectively the Cambodian army killed their own people here.

📸9-11: Ajaan Chanawat Johnjoho, himself of Isan-Thai (ethnically Lao) descent, helping the local Khmer refugees with basic needs in their temporary shelters.

📸12-13: Photos of one of the bombed Khmer houses in Surin province, where an adult and a child were killed

We shared our view on this conflict in a recent post already. In addition to that we like to add the simple statement: there are no winners of war

The music you hear, by Kantrum Dongman and which we released in 2022, is from this same area. All these musicians had to take refuge and have not been able to return home, because the conflict still hasn't been solved yet.

15/08/2025

📸 Girls from the ethnic H'Mong tribe in Loei province, Northeast Thailand presenting their traditional attire in the parade of the Phi Ta Khon festival, June 2018.

Songs and legends of the Hmong tell of the motherland with icy terrain and harsh winters. Originally from Mongolia, Siberia and Tibet, the Hmong migrated to the Yellow River and settled in lower Yangtze in southern China.
In the 1700s they moved to South East Asia. Their music is an extension of speech, a sacred medium of song, poetry and prayer made all the more melodious by their tonal language.
Musical instruments like mouth harps, flutes, strings and reeds provide a musical extension of their language. Musical instruments take on magical and sacred importance. Music is life.

The Hmong are among the many minorities who struggle with the effects of modernization. Their villages are frequently becoming connected to transport routes; new consumer patterns are arising. They are increasingly becoming waged labourers and turning their back on an existence as subsistence farmers. Furthermore they are often treated as 2nd class citizens and violated by governmental armies. And yet, in spite of poverty and oppression, the hill tribes have again and again found strategies to preserve their identity. In this, they stand
with many other minorities around the globe who are standing up for their indigenous rights.

On our website animist.nl we have several beautiful handmade artefacts made by the Hmong in Thailand for sale, like the textile piece on the last photo.

13/08/2025

In Thailand, Ganesha is not only seen as a Hindu deity but also as a Bodhisattva in the Buddhist tradition. His attributes as a remover of obstacles and a patron of the arts align well with Buddhist teachings on wisdom, compassion, and the pursuit of enlightenment.

📸 Ganesha at the Old Chiang Mai Culture Centre, Thailand

🎧 'Arawelo' from Hiss Sound's debut album 'Taraf' released on Animist Records in 2022. Available on vinyl, CD & download through Bandcamp.

06/08/2025

'Another Fish' by Apichat Pakwan, performed live at Rong Sa Dang in Chiang Mai earlier this year.
With special guests the very talented dancers Kelvin Shine Ko & Prapassorn Khonmuang

06/08/2025

🎞️ 'Another Fish' performed live at Rong Sa Dang in Chiang Mai earlier this year.

A rare occasion to see the full quintet of in the north of Thailand. This concert was extra special because the band collaborated with two very talented dancers based in Chiang Mai: from Burma, and from Isan.

Another Fish is the lead single from the band's debut album 'Esantronics', and was composed by Thai singer & Dutch musician .

The second clip is from the promotional musicvideo we shot in Nan province.
Nan was recently struck by the heaviest flooding in 40 years due to typhoon Wipha, which affected over 100.000 households. Many people are displaced, and there is still almost no clean water and electricity.

Our thoughts are with the wonderful people of Nan, who are reportedly helping each other in an exemplatory way.
We look forward to return to visit this stunningly beautiful and culturally rich province, of which you can see a glimpse in the videoclip of Another Fish.

Full video's of these short clips are on our YouTube channel (link in comments)

25/07/2025

This is not a war between Thai and Khmer people, or even between Thailand and Cambodia.
Khmer, Isan & Thai people live in peace along this border for a long time and share more than the land they are indigenous to.

This is poor people being used by two rich criminal politicians with a big ego, who have no love for the people they should be serving, and who have even less sense of responsibility.

In stead they let the people around the border die for their powerplay, and the cynical reality is that they are cheered up by many citizens to continue fighting 'the enemy'.

To our dear Khmer, Isan & Thai friends: the real enemies are your own leaders, and the system that keeps them in power.

📸 The inspiring meeting we (Isan-Thai/Dutch) had with the Khmer kantrum musicians in Ban Dongman, Surin, in the border area of Thailand & Cambodia - one of the areas in the centre of the violent clashes between the Thai & Cambodian army, causing over 150.000 people to be displaced

Adres

Amsterdam

Website

https://animist.nl/

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