One of Indonesia’s global dub acts and producers, Yella Sky Sound System, has just dropped a single set titled “Heavyweight Riddim.” This marks their first release since “Binaria Selekta 2.0” — put out last year.

Packaged as a maxi-single, Heavyweight Riddim carries three tracks — or in dub parlance, three versions. And true to the Yella Sky Sound System signature, all three land with the same reliable poison: music built to move bodies.

The opening track, Heavyweight Riddim (Melodica Version), is a collaboration with Sofita

 — a selectress out of Argentina who lends the release its most haunting element: the spellbinding tones of her melodica. The middle track features guest musician Istantos, repping the Parung Panjang district. His hip-hop cadence folds naturally into the steppa groove, making it one of the release’s most compelling moments — and a credit worth noting to Yella Sky Sound System’s eye for curation, cementing their place among the domestic producers injecting real force into Indonesia’s dub catalog. 

A solid steppa vibration, the melodica’s mystical breath from Sofita, Istantos’ compact and self-assured rhymes — then a clean instrumental close. That arc alone earns this our pick of the month. One more reason: Heavyweight Riddim received meticulous audio treatment from sound engineer Tegi Merkuri at TomTam Studio, Jakarta. Tegi — steadily building his portfolio within the Indonesian dub scene — chose a precise digital approach to handle the dominant attack-transient character running through all three compositions. The result keeps every drop of punch intact. Heavyweight Riddim hits exactly as its name promises.

(Banu, Achmad)