DILEMASTRONAUTA y La Tripulación Cósmica - SLEEPWALK (12" EP)
DILEMASTRONAUTA y La Tripulación Cósmica - SLEEPWALK (12" EP)
[FG016]
A 5-track 12” vinyl EP
Originals and traditionals feat.
Carlos Rienzo on Millo, gaita, Tambor Alegre + vocals, Juan Ospina on bass, Ricardo Gallo on synthesizers and DILEMASTRONAUTA on Drums + vocals
Limited Edition of 250 vinyl copies worldwide
Artwork by Mateo Rivano
Available on September 26
“DILEMASTRONAUTA is from the universe and I am between Bogota and New York City,” describes Andres Jiménez, the Queens-based drummer in bands such as Combo Chimbita, M.A.K.U. Soundsystem, and Los ALiENs.
“This project was born out of a musical residency down in Bushwick at this place called Sleepwalk. I wanted to understand and play with the millo flute. I was interested in the way it’s played and how it would sound in a non-traditional context. So we had the luck to have Carlos Rienzo, and we were trying to find common grounds as to how to interact musically. We started exploring these traditional songs and that led to the creation of two original songs. But these songs and the way we played it really was born from playing it live in front of people. There were not a whole lot of rehearsals - most of the music that came out was the interaction between us - amongst musicians - and the audience. That was very exciting because it wasn’t this technical intellectual thing - it was actually in a dancing kind of context.”
📸 Elena Bernal
📸 Elena Bernal
On September 26, 2025, Figure & Ground releases SLEEPWALK - the debut DILEMASTRONAUTA y La Tripulación Cósmica offering with this current line up. Produced and released by label-founder Lily Wen, the five-track EP was recorded live downstairs at Figure 8 Recording in Brooklyn. This is where DILEMASTRONAUTA tracked with Combo Chimbita for their debut album Abya Yala (2016) - released on Figure & Ground a decade earlier, featuring guest vocals by bassist Juan Ospina.
“We played for almost a decade Juan and I - basically we travelled the world playing bass and drums locked in and we learned so much about rhythm together and playing from people,” says Jiménez about bassist Juan Ospina, a fellow member of M.A.K.U. SoundSystem, a NY mainstay group. Jiménez also plays in synth-player Ricardo Gallo’s band Los ALiENs and notes that “Ricardo also comes from that scene of Bogata experimental cumbia. He’s a jazz head but he’s also Colombian with all this experience playing cumbia, and that’s why we connect so much.”
La Tripulación Cósmica adds Barranquilla-born Carlos Rienzo to their line up for this release, marking the group’s second volume following En Orbita (2017). “This is like a sequence to that work, but in the first one we used clarinet. In this one we’re using the millos flute and the gaita flute which makes more sense to what I’m experiencing as a musician in New York.” Rienzo is part of NY groups La Cumbiamba NeYe, Aires de Folklor, Son de Chande, Maraca Bruja, and Grupo Rebolu. “To me there’s no one like him in the city,” says Jiménez. “It really wouldn’t be what it is without Carlos,” who sings, plays percussion, gaita and the millo, a high-pitched wind instrument, “a flute that is meant to play Colombian music and we’re putting it in a different context. To me it’s one of the most unique lineups that I work with.”
“Most times we have to look back to different sources to understand how to move forward. And in this case, I hope that this we’re doing is some kind of reference as to what I was about musically and how I feel about the world,” says DILEMASTRONAUTA, who sees the EP as “a diary for my daughter.”
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📸 Elena Bernal
On a cold winter night in Brooklyn, NYC, at Sleepwalk, a group of friends meet to play jazz… Colombian recipe!!!!
Músicos
Juan Ospina : Bajo
Carlos Rienzo : Millo, gaita y Tambor Alegre and Vocals
Ricardo Gallo: Synthesizers
Dilemastronauta : Drums and vocals
Produced, engineered & mixed by Lily Wen
Recorded downstairs at Figure 8
Assistant engineering by Adam Manson
Mastered by Henry Ott
Artwork by Mateo Rivano
© Figure & Ground 2025
“Cumbia Valentina” by Andres Jimenez Dilemastronauta
“Mañanitas de Diciembre” by Aurelio Fernandez
“Mi Sentimiento” by Pedro Ramayá
“Donde Canta La Paloma” by Gaiteros de San Jacinto
“Asino” by Dilemastronauta y la Tripulación Cósmica
Thanks to Carlos, Juan, Juan Manuel, and Ricardo for cooking with me, and to Elena for your love and support. This album is dedicated to my daughter Zarai and to the maestros of Millo flute in the North of the Colombian coast. May we continue keeping this tradition alive for many light years to come.