A GLOBAL MESS Volume One.
This sounds like a major project.
What exactly is A GLOBAL MESS?
Global chaos is the approximate literal translation.
Is someone trying to tackle the big themes of the world?
Well, at least the Southeast Asian world.
Diana Ringelsiep and Felix Bundschuh both worked in the music industry, quit their jobs after a Knochenfabrik concert, and set off on a journey. A journey where they wanted to document the scene in Southeast Asia. The content was to portray the feelings of young people from the punk rock, graffiti, and political activist scenes.
The two returned with about 150 hours of footage. Many interviews were conducted, many concerts attended, and of course, many, many impressions were gathered.
These impressions were processed into a feature-length documentary, which is being shown at selected film festivals (exact dates can be found at the link https://www.aglobalmess.com/tour/). Additionally, a book of about 300 pages will be published in June of this year (info at the link: https://www.ventil-verlag.de/titel/1841/a-global-mess), and finally, there is a sampler with twelve songs that provide a musical impression of the documentary journey.
The sampler will be released exclusively on colored splatter vinyl and includes thirteen songs. Thirteen songs that are meant to reflect the impression of the scene in Southeast Asia. Of course, this is far too little for a deep insight and certainly only allows for a brief impression.
The compilation of the sampler is very diverse and includes punk rock heavily influenced by the English punk of '77. In addition, there are hardcore songs, skate punk tracks, pop punk, hip hop, and also stoner rock songs. This all makes for a great mix and offers something for every taste. Interestingly, many songs sound as if they were recorded by European or American bands. A “typically Southeast Asian” influence is hard to find. The lyrics of the songs are all in English. This is a bit of a downside, as one would want to hear something “exotic.” Something that is different from what one knows, even if it’s “just” hearing a song in the Thai language.
However, one can notice that the musical subcultural world is small or, more positively put, it is global and simultaneously a language that everyone understands (as long as one is proficient in English).
The sampler piques curiosity to watch the film or buy the book. The book also contains unabridged interviews with the involved people and bands, which certainly allows for a deeper dive and is bound to be very exciting to read.
