Salamanda ashbalkum [ARTPL-170] Japan Music CD

Product Description
Salamanda (Uman Therma / Yetsuby), a producer/DJ duo based in Seoul, South Korea, who explore minimalist and ambient music that traverses bedrooms and dance floors with their unique sensibility, have signed with the up-and-coming NY label Human Pitch and completed their third album, "ashbalkum," marking their long-awaited Japanese debut! Accented with unique percussive arrangements, their rhythmic versatility and playful, unique, and captivating sound, which surpasses what you'd expect from a duo, leads you into the surreal! "ashbalkum" offers a fascinating perspective on how we interact with the world around us, and how our own existence, language, and nature itself can change infinitely. Written in the summer of 2021 amidst a surreal landscape between sweet dreams and beautiful nightmares, "ashbalkum" provides access to a playful stillness that reflects our noisy present. Distant intimacy, stillness and movement, standing still while moving, allowing us to barely escape the pressure of the pre-apocalyptic world looming just above us. Driven by their shared energy of joy, friendship, and experimentation, Salamanda transports listeners to a new realm, its sound reaching entirely new heights, simply aiming to be joyful and live in the present moment. The harmony and intonation exchanged between ourselves and the natural world are woven into a cocoon of harmonious tones, overflowing with vibrant geometric patterns, shifting through kaleidoscopic, dynamic hues. Their shared love for the world of film music, the dazzling multiplicity of clubs, and the bold statements of minimalist composition are playfully reconstructed into a unique and captivating musical vision. Voices are abstracted like instruments, with soothing breathwork, layered choruses, and fragments of hypnotic pop alternating before fading into a gaseous swell. Each track features unique percussive arrangements, including aggressive reggaeton snares, Denbow rhythms, and the expansive temporal and spatial perception of dub. The duo's rhythmic versatility, beyond what one might expect, is playful, maintaining a balance between audacious compositions and meandering drum work without ever sacrificing danceability. The name "ashbalkum" comes from a symbolic and phonetic reinterpretation of the Korean word for "reality," which means "dream." Transforming this humorous existentialism into a new meaning is at the heart of ashbalkum. Do dreams always reflect our thoughts? Are the feelings we experience in dreams real? Ultimately, Salamanda doesn't try to answer these questions, but rather finds joy in all the playful limits. In 2020, Salamanda made an online appearance in "QUICK/MASSACRE," a collaborative project between Korea's Quick-Die and Japan's K/A/T/O MASSACRE. They also have close ties with Yaeji and have appeared as guests on NTS radio shows, gaining attention here in Japan as well. Human Pitch is a promising new label in New York run by Simisea (who also works for RVNG Intl.) and Tristan Arp (who has released a solo album on UK's Wisdom Teeth and is also a member of Asa Tone), both of whom are residents at The Lot Radio.