Listen:
Primordial Mind
8 WAV Files
LP
Track listing:
1.Sacred Void
2.Cosmic Fire
3.Vital Chains
4.Sutra
5.The Bornless
6.Formless Path
7.Yantra
8.Emptiness Makes The Vessel
Reviews:
"Toronto mystic Khôra teams up with his old friend Mas Aya on 'Primordial Mind' following 2024's ace 'Gestures of Perception' with an alchemical fantasy of hypnotic polyrhythms and xenharmonic electroacoustic chimes that'll appeal to anyone into Popol Vuh, Jon Hassell or Wojciech Rusin. Matthew Ramolo, better known as Khôra, originally collided with Nicaraguan-Canadian composer Brandon Miguel Valdivia, aka Mas Aya, in 2011 so when they found themselves touring together in 2013, Valdivia played drums for Ramolo's opening Khôra sets. They played together in the Bespoken ensemble for a spell and in 2017 put together their first album as a duo, 'Talisman', following it quickly with 'Disjecta', a set of "residual fragments". And almost a decade later, the duo land on Marionette with 'Primordial Mind', their most focused and more ornately developed collaboration so far. If you heard 'Gestures of Perception', the folkore-rooted ritualism won't come as a huge surprise, but 'Primordial Mind' is more subtle than you might expect. Valdivia exerts a calm, artful influence that seems to rein in Ramolo. Tracks that sound as if they're about to careen into tight, techno-inspired mayhem are pulled back, usually disappearing in a flutter of rickety acoustic percussion. Because it's the percussion that holds this set together, the vanishing shakers and tuned, woody hits and pots 'n pans clanks and ratcheting industrial sounds. There are melodic elements of course, but it's the whorl of hits and tuned knocks that gives 'Primordial Mind' its unique fingerprint."
Reviewed by Boomkat
Crediting:
Mastered and Cut by Noel Summerville
Artwork by Kerstin Brätsch
Brandon Miguel Valdivia: Percussion, Flutes, Log Drum, Korg Lambda, Angklung, Tambor Alegre, Udu
Matthew Ramolo: Modular Synth, Archival Samples, Angklung, Guitar, Duduk, Bass, Percussion, Arrangements and Mix