The Shamanic Harmonic

While the majority of new age music has unabashedly embraced the light, a smaller sub-strata of musicians have gone in a decidedly different direction downward into the shamanic depths of soil and psyche. One of the most primal practitioners of the dark musical arts is Mexican sound shaman Jorge Reyes. Reyes was a founding member of the Mayan space rock band Chac Mool. When Chac Mool went their separate ways, Reyes spent a lot of time hanging out and recording with Huichol musicians La Tribu in Mexico City and Mexican sound sorcerer Antonio Zapeda. The influence of the Huichol not only expanded Reyes' musical repertoire, but also his mind states as he became familiar with the Huichol snake dances, psychedelic yarn paintings (nierikas) and sacred peyote ceremonies.

The manifestation of Reyes' visionary influences was the otherworldly classic Comala, on which he used a battery of indigenous instruments like clay pots, whistles, bones, rattles, drums and flutes, along with guitars and synths. The aforementioned La Tribu add musical accompaniment as well. Comala is unlike anything you've ever heard. I first listened to it in the early '90s and am still floored by the power, bravado and sheer sonic intensity of it, especially the title track, which has the power to evoke potent and evocative imagery in even the most stagnant of imaginations. Darken a room, light a few candles, cue it up, crank it and be transported to a brutal age of fallen gods feeding off of a steady sacrificial diet.

What does any of this have to do with new age music? Reyes' opus is just the beginning of a transcendental journey. While "Comala" is similar to the ego death associated with deep psychedelic states, "Hekura" and "El Animal Sola" delve into the contours of the psyche. Comala closes with a peyote song voiced by Maria Sabena, one of the most important figures of the psychedelic revolution. It was Sabena who turned Huxley onto mushrooms, which led him to write the seminal Doors Of Perception. Reyes' other albums, like Bajo El Sol Jaguar, Rituales Pre-Hispanico, Nierika and Ek-Tunkul, have the same shamanic element at their core, which makes listening to Reyes an experience, not a pastime.

For a time in the early '90s, Reyes had found a shamanic soul brother in the Tucson-based space music pioneer Steve Roach. Roach was a promising moto-cross rider until an accident that led to a near-death experience. Roach tuned into the unheard music while taking leave of his body, and when he regained consciousness, he wanted to replicate the sense and sounds he had experienced. If anyone understood the otherworldly emanations of Reyes' music, it was Roach.

The results were two outstanding albums on Hearts of Space with Reyes and guitarist Suso Saiz as Suspended Memories. And being a true Aquarian, Roach has always been an eager collaborator: on Wachuma's Wave, Roach joined forces with percussionist Byron Metcalf and flautist Mark Seelig. Metcalf and Seelig are more than just musicians, they're also professional healers. Along with Roach, they've created a soaring sound quest, a hero's journey and a deep descent into darkness on "Gone Beyond" and "The Last Remnants of Reality," transcending the new age label and taking on a primordial power all their own. Beware, though: "The Last Remnants of Reality" features a thundering, sub-sonic blast of bass that could send your speakers into the next world as well.

Reyes, Roach, Metcalf and Seelig aren't alone in their quest to embrace the void. Vidna Obmana (aka Dirk Serries) has been cutting dark ambient, ritualistic jewels for well over a decade — Spore is the third in a series of recordings inspired by Dante's Inferno and borders on experimental noise, and Tremor is more pulsing and rhythmic, not unlike Obmana's duets with Roach. The common thread in all of these works is an unflinching dive into the depths of darkness, subterranean mystery, the afterlife and the shamanic pursuit of psychic death, transformation and regeneration. They sound a collective note in the shamanic harmonic.
The manifestation of Reyes' visionary influences was the otherworldly classic Comala, on which he used a battery of indigenous instruments like clay pots, whistles, bones, rattles, drums and flutes, along with guitars and synths. The aforementioned La Tribu add musical accompaniment as well. Comala is unlike anything you've ever heard. I first listened to it in the early '90s and am still floored by the power, bravado and sheer sonic intensity of it, especially the title track, which has the power to evoke potent and evocative imagery in even the most stagnant of imaginations. Darken a room, light a few candles, cue it up, crank it and be transported to a brutal age of fallen gods feeding off of a steady sacrificial diet.

What does any of this have to do with new age music? Reyes' opus is just the beginning of a transcendental journey. While "Comala" is similar to the ego death associated with deep psychedelic states, "Hekura" and "El Animal Sola" delve into the contours of the psyche. Comala closes with a peyote song voiced by Maria Sabena, one of the most important figures of the psychedelic revolution. It was Sabena who turned Huxley onto mushrooms, which led him to write the seminal Doors Of Perception. Reyes' other albums, like Bajo El Sol Jaguar, Rituales Pre-Hispanico, Nierika and Ek-Tunkul, have the same shamanic element at their core, which makes listening to Reyes an experience, not a pastime.

For a time in the early '90s, Reyes had found a shamanic soul brother in the Tucson-based space music pioneer Steve Roach. Roach was a promising moto-cross rider until an accident that led to a near-death experience. Roach tuned into the unheard music while taking leave of his body, and when he regained consciousness, he wanted to replicate the sense and sounds he had experienced. If anyone understood the otherworldly emanations of Reyes' music, it was Roach.

The results were two outstanding albums on Hearts of Space with Reyes and guitarist Suso Saiz as Suspended Memories. And being a true Aquarian, Roach has always been an eager collaborator: on Wachuma's Wave, Roach joined forces with percussionist Byron Metcalf and flautist Mark Seelig. Metcalf and Seelig are more than just musicians, they're also professional healers. Along with Roach, they've created a soaring sound quest, a hero's journey and a deep descent into darkness on "Gone Beyond" and "The Last Remnants of Reality," transcending the new age label and taking on a primordial power all their own. Beware, though: "The Last Remnants of Reality" features a thundering, sub-sonic blast of bass that could send your speakers into the next world as well.

Reyes, Roach, Metcalf and Seelig aren't alone in their quest to embrace the void. Vidna Obmana (aka Dirk Serries) has been cutting dark ambient, ritualistic jewels for well over a decade — Spore is the third in a series of recordings inspired by Dante's Inferno and borders on experimental noise, and Tremor is more pulsing and rhythmic, not unlike Obmana's duets with Roach. The common thread in all of these works is an unflinching dive into the depths of darkness, subterranean mystery, the afterlife and the shamanic pursuit of psychic death, transformation and regeneration. They sound a collective note in the shamanic harmonic.