Three years in the making, 'Disassociation Association' is the 3rd full length studio release from Surrounded By Ninjas, and the inaugural release for ArtDamaged Records.
Deeply complex yet danceable, each track explores the various manifestations of collaboration vs. isolation in art, life, and relationships using sparse sampling and melodic phrasing combined with pounding bass and drums.
SBN capture the trademark sound that has thrilled audiences in their live improv sets while offering a more complex and finely tuned audial experience. Their sound touches on breaks, Drum-n-Bass, and IDM, never straying too far from their Downtempo roots.
This physical first edition will be limited to 300 hand numbered copies!
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Producer/Keyboardist Asher Fulero and Turntablist/Art Director Joel Barber have worked together under the name Surrounded By Ninjas since the spring of 2002, alternating between self-releasing two albums, short tours of the US West Coast, and time off to maintain the many other artistic projects they both balance. Always intriguing and futuristic, the duo focused on improvisation within an deep entanglement of gear, but over the years slowly phased out many of their unpredictable toys and introduced laptops running Ableton Live, making it possible to re-visit songs more accurately. The improvisation became composition, which is really no surprise considering the pair hold degrees in Studio Art (Barber, Occidental ‘93) and Music Composition (Fulero, Oregon ‘00).
Created by pairing Fulero's liquid beats&bass production and accomplished keyboard wizardry with Barber's brilliant bin-scrounging sample choices and deep Post-Post-Modernist slant (something he calls ArtDamaged), the pieces themselves were born out of sound ‘chunks’ made in the pair's living rooms in 2006, then patiently incubated through repeated performances, self-remixing, and a growing conceptual vision over a slow 2-year production process at Fulero's home studio and at many concerts and festivals like High Sierra Music Festival, Phoenix Festival, and more. The pieces touch on many of the recognizable electronica 'sounds' without reproducing them, always tending to keep things moving; looking forward to the next idea while referencing the last. Undeniably full of banging beats and danceable grooves with a lot of hooky synths, there is also an undeniably 'artsy' feel to the record with all kinds of glitchy studio trickery and movie voices appearing and disappearing, often manipulated to relate to the topic in arcane ways (take "Remade", a fast D-n-B-styled piece about remix culture and future internet rights that remixes itself twice during its 11 minutes and features a number of appropriated and manipulated samples from a movie about sample rights and sample-based music).
Not a 'Concept Album' in the traditional sense, Disassociation Association (2009) definitely sports concepts, both song-by-song and throughout the album. Sometimes, the connection to a main ‘concept’ is obtuse or obscured, but often that’s how it is with modern art; even if you can’t identify the sources you can still experience the impact of the stimulus. These careful pieces of time-based art are pervasively emotive and create a distinct mood and feeling that references both the past and the future in a very creative way; they improve upon repeated listening, new layers popping out from under the surface.
This is the premiere release for Joel Barber's new label, ArtDamaged Records, and the gatefold eco-pack is made from 100% Recycled Paper. Joel also designed the amazing artwork and laid out the packaging as well. The first printing consists of a short run of 300 hand-numbered packages.
Asher and Joel, Thanks for an amazing show at the Holocene on Thursday! It was a pleasure getting to play with you guys. I loved the set, and the new visuals were AWESOME! Hugs from Seattle, Toby
