Sunju Hargun's eyes light up recounting a heated affair at De School, earlier this year: 'It brought something different out of me. At one point, I had this kind of crazy out-of-body experience.' His connection with the room's animalistic energy sparked a collective spiritual experience; a common thread in his work. Minimal Collective caught up with the Siamese Twins Records co-founder in Saigon, Vietnam.
Seasoned revellers will be able to relate to Sunju's De School moment. These experiences are often why people fall in love with dancefloors in the first place. But as society's obsession with technology has grown, many believe such magical happenings are disappearing. Jump into today's online discourse, and artists like Chloé Robinson, formerly Barely Legal, say phones are killing the dancefloor, with even bolder statements about the scene from veterans like MatrixxMan. That's why it's refreshing to hear Sunju's anecdote, confirming that collective experiences still exist, free from hundreds of glaring phone screens, tucked away in dark, sweat-filled corners of the clubbing world.
Our conversation unfolds in downtown Saigon, where the monsoon rain lashes against the hotel's exterior walls. Inside, the beige decor frames another analogous hotel room for Sunju, who's on the road these days more than in his hometown of Bangkok. But even with impending jetlag from a recent European tour, he's engaging and thoughtful, flowing with an energy that seems at odds with someone who's had very little sleep.
Bangkok origins
Sunju grew up 541 miles northwest of Saigon in Krung Thep, commonly known as Bangkok. Modernity and tradition converge in the metropolis, where sun-lit skyscrapers cast shadows over the city's hundreds of Buddhist temples. Bustling street food stalls and chatter-filled cosmopolitan bars line the streets. Monks chanting sutras speak of the region's history, which predates the capital's 18th-century emergence, harking back to the Bronze Age. Infused in the air are the aromas of Thai spices, incense offerings, and hints of marijuana after the drug's recent legalisation. Down red-light flickering streets, people slither, drawn to the courtesans in heels, while deep in the city's bustling boroughs, a thriving electronic music scene keeps like-minded heads dancing.
With clubs like 12x12, Never Normal, and Decommune, as well as a growing number of local artists and record stores like More Rice Records and Zudrangma Records, there exists a dynamic, youthful community propelling Bangkok into innovative directions. 'Nowadays, you find people are often open to working together, creating, collaborating, and supporting each other’s visions’, explains Sunju, who points out that such diversity and togetherness used to rarely exist in the city.
Hargun explains how the scene was less interconnected, with Eurocentric sounds dominating Bangkok's clubs during the 90s. From the UK's snare-loaded jungle rhythms to Jam & Spoon's Deutsch-style trance, European promoters and artists brought their version of club music to the country's capital and its oneiric islands. While nights seeing the likes of Paul Oakenfold and John ‘OO’ Fleming, to name a few, lit a certain spark in a young Sunju, it wasn't until he left for Shanghai in 2002 that his attention turned from the dancefloor to the turntables. 'I found this one club called DkD, which stands for "Decadence Kills Depression". This club meant everything to me in terms of discovering not only where my taste was heading, but also the storytelling part of experiencing longer hours in a club environment.' This unmarked watering hole opened his eyes to DJing's art form, piecing together records to build a certain narrative, flow, and energy. 'That was the start of my curiosity’, he says as if transported back.
'We wanted to share music that felt homegrown and rooted deep in culture'
When Sunju returned to Bangkok in late 2010, he honed his craft by securing residencies at intimate venues like Glow while producing tracks that catered to a different style of club music. ‘At the time, I was a young mind, enjoying making music with a minimalistic approach, but more often than not, getting rejected by many labels as my ambition was too strong for just starting out.' The labels that did pick up his output, like Turbo Recordings, although valuable to his early career, were leading Sunju down a different path. Before he walked any further down that road, his intuition led him to press the reset button, sparking a period of disillusionment. 'I suddenly felt extremely bored with everything and didn't know what my identity was or where I fitted in any more.'
However, he soon broke free of these anxieties. While visiting a friend, he caught a mix by Debbie Cha of Midnight Shift on Singapore's Lush 99.5FM. 'I remember it was around 2016, and something in that mix just made me feel’, he pauses, miming as if a lightbulb went off in his head, before finishing, 'that I had to go deeper with my music choices and my tastes’. That recording was a catalyst for Sunju's artistic evolution, as soon after, he co-founded the not-for-profit collective, Karma Klique, aimed at creating social change through the power of music and arts alongside friends Taychin Dunnvatanachit and Johan Vandebeek.
With Karma Klique, the collective hopes to 'use music as a power to share discovery’, uniting independent artists, off-kilter locations, and charitable initiatives. The event series has evolved into a creative ecosystem where artists from Thailand and across the continent collaborate, build connections, and enhance the pan-Asian scene's diversity. Through Karma, Sunju linked up with Jerome Doudet, a multi-instrumentalist and the founder of Sphearic Records. The Thai-based artists instantly bonded over a love of ambient music, Indian food, cult Bollywood films, and Goa's enchanting beaches. Together with the collective, they felt something was missing in the macrocosm of dominant dance music culture: a label dedicated to Asia's authentic, tribally-rooted sounds.
Sacred mantras and ritual spirituality
When the world came to a standstill during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Karma collective had time to pursue that initial idea of starting a label. 'We wanted to share music that felt homegrown and rooted deep in culture’, Sunju explains of establishing Siamese Twins Records. This philosophy is evident on the label's debut release, Cobra कोबरा EP (ST๐๐๑), the first collaboration from Hargun and Doudet known as Mogambo. The EP features spacey, persuasive instruments, goa-style drums, resonating gongs, and psychedelic, spiritual textures that pay homage to Asia's musical history while transporting listeners to otherworldly realms.
,For the minds behind the label, Sunju, Tay, and Johan, alongside Yoshi Nori, co-founder of the Taiwanese imprint JIN, a singular vision drives them: to create music that evokes a 'different feeling' while showcasing the depth of Thai and Asian culture. Eastern religions and philosophies, with their ideas on spirituality, ritualism, and interconnectedness, have become permanent sources of inspiration. These ancient teachings have come to shape all facets of life across the continent, whether art, music, or literature, and elements are respectfully interwoven into the label's identity.
On the imprint's most recent compilation, entitled ‘Kāthā,' the name references the Thai and Khmer words for sacred mantras. The term originates from ‘Gāthā,’ poetry recited in rhythm with the breath as part of mindfulness practice or meditation, as the label explains. Track names are sometimes written in Chinese, Hindi and Thai, highlighting the beauty of ancient Eastern scripts. The label's name draws inspiration from Eng and Chang Bunker, Thailand's first documented conjoined twins. And for those who own an LP, the inside is adorned with Sanskrit संस्कृत, an ancient Indo-Aryan language, inviting listeners to discover the region's anthropology.
Sacred mantras and ritual spirituality
When the world came to a standstill during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Karma collective had time to pursue that initial idea of starting a label. 'We wanted to share music that felt homegrown and rooted deep in culture’, Sunju explains of establishing Siamese Twins Records. This philosophy is evident on the label's debut release, Cobra कोबरा EP (ST๐๐๑), the first collaboration from Hargun and Doudet known as Mogambo. The EP features spacey, persuasive instruments, goa-style drums, resonating gongs, and psychedelic, spiritual textures that pay homage to Asia's musical history while transporting listeners to otherworldly realms.
,For the minds behind the label, Sunju, Tay, and Johan, alongside Yoshi Nori, co-founder of the Taiwanese imprint JIN, a singular vision drives them: to create music that evokes a 'different feeling' while showcasing the depth of Thai and Asian culture. Eastern religions and philosophies, with their ideas on spirituality, ritualism, and interconnectedness, have become permanent sources of inspiration. These ancient teachings have come to shape all facets of life across the continent, whether art, music, or literature, and elements are respectfully interwoven into the label's identity.
On the imprint's most recent compilation, entitled ‘Kāthā,' the name references the Thai and Khmer words for sacred mantras. The term originates from ‘Gāthā,’ poetry recited in rhythm with the breath as part of mindfulness practice or meditation, as the label explains. Track names are sometimes written in Chinese, Hindi and Thai, highlighting the beauty of ancient Eastern scripts. The label's name draws inspiration from Eng and Chang Bunker, Thailand's first documented conjoined twins. And for those who own an LP, the inside is adorned with Sanskrit संस्कृत, an ancient Indo-Aryan language, inviting listeners to discover the region's anthropology.
However, not just the label's aesthetic acts as a pedagogical tool. Artists blend ethnographic sounds with electronica to produce distinct sonic, often transcendental sound baths, where themes of pan-Asian spirituality are regularly explored. Whether it's Temple Rat's 'The Composition of Air' and her use of the ancient Chinese Erhu or Khun Fluff featuring local Thai artist Chucheewa reciting Angkarn Kalayanapong's poetry, tradition is interwoven into evolving melodies, often transforming into transient, hypnotic techno or enigmatic, ethereal ambient.
Reflecting on the label's releases and ethos, Sunju elucidates: 'We always considered Siamese [Twins Records] to be something that was a bit more wild and weird.' And when questioned about how this idea connects to the artwork, he adds: 'We couldn't think of anything better than animals from this region.'
'Each selected animal holds a unique significance for the album'
Double-headed snakes and two-tailed scorpios
Siamese Twins Record's artworks play a crucial role in the label’s identity. Thai illustrator and visual artist, Taychin, who designs the LP covers, believes animals evoke 'a sense of connection to the tangible, analogue elements that exist in the physical world'. He elaborates on this point further over email: 'We aim to pay homage to the diverse array of organisms inhabiting our planet, with a particular focus on Thailand's unique fauna, although we eventually expanded our creative scope. Each selected animal holds a unique significance for the album, and their inclusion is determined either by the artist who created the music or through group discussions, with each member contributing suggestions.'
Each artwork is initially hand-drawn in graphite before being digitised, with the label's name inspiring Taychin to incorporate a sense of duality into his artwork. 'Each featured animal in my creations possesses either two heads, two tails, or some form of dichotomy. The concept of having multiple heads and, therefore, multiple minds while remaining united in approach and essence has been a rich source of creative inspiration for me.' The artworks create an ouroboros loop on the front and back covers, symbolising the infinite cycle of life, death, and rebirth. This idea profoundly resonates with the label's spiritually-inclined aesthetic, with the artwork serving as a harmonising element, aiming to 'create something unified in the macrocosm’, Tay explains.
Stepping into the future
As the label moves forward, it hopes to cultivate a family of artists, prioritising quality over quantity through thoughtful, considered releases. Sunju envisions an environment akin to Warp Records, where artists continue releasing music on the imprint for years, even decades, developing, as he puts it, 'a collaborative synergy between the artists and the label’. Embodying a philosophy of creative freedom, the label and its artists evolve together as if two seeds planted side by side, an idea that strikes a chord with Sunju. 'Having a label as a home is so important to us. That's what is missing these days. When we find an artist connected to us in sound, we hope to all grow together.'
This communal spirit that the label seeks to cultivate is reminiscent of the feeling Sunju found on De School's dancefloor. At that moment, inhibitions dissolved, with a shared consciousness taking hold, much like the tribally-rooted, spiritual collectiveness the imprint captures in its releases. As we look towards our ADE Minimal Collective presenting Post-Hypnotism at De School on October 19th, where Sunju Hargun will be playing alongside GiGi FM, we hope to once again immerse ourselves in the mysticism of collective experience, where music will serve as our universal language, connecting us all.
