I can’t help but thinking about abang-abang tongkrongan in the early 2010s and somehow, The Upstairs, when I listened to this album. I was fairly young then, just got into a high school. I remember a room of an older kid, with a guitar which body stuffed with stickers from whether obscure or known band, stale air with tobacco aftertaste each time you inhale, ashy floor, and a deflated foam bed with cigarette burn marks. These impressions are no way intended to paint a bad picture. I meant and expressed it in a pleasant way.

I Don’t Know and I Dongker (2025) by Dongker and Jason Ranti is the sophomore studio album for Dongker and also a fourth one for Jason Ranti. This punk rock album is a whiny love letter to Bandung and it’s art movement. The album has 9 tracks with around 30 minutes running time. This collaboration was born from their intersection and interaction within the fine arts and music scene in Bandung.

The lack of sophistication that this album offers evokes something nostalgic; of a true punk rock and the image of rebellion in the first decade of 2000s. The last track, konservasi konflik dan hal-hal yang lain (reprise) precisely sums up the energy. The spoken poetry, the outcry, the lyrics encapsulate the narrative that Jason Ranti usually brings. On the other end, there is salah display, which tells a humorous story and critics on art, using the renowned painter Jim Supangkat as the main character.

My favorite piece from this project is aku bosan, which has the particular theme and concept reflected exactly in the music. Only a few songs can achieve this i.e. Boredom by Tyler, The Creator feat. Rex Orange County and Anna of the North. The other tracks sound a tad bit repetitive for my taste, but I can feel that it doesn’t matter to the artists. They are definitely having fun with the project.

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I Don’t Know and I Dongker (2025)

by Dongker and Jason Ranti

Label	: Greedy Dust Records
Language	: Indonesian
Genre	: Punk rock, Rock, Pop, Folk, Avant-garde