Audiopile Review: Epic treasure trove of ambient and new age music from Mexico culled from a collection of cassettes and CDs issued through the ‘80s and ‘90s, lovingly co-curated by the blessed saints over at Séance Center and Smiling C. This isn’t either label’s first dalliance surveying the music of Mexico—Séance Center reissued Eblen Macari’s Música Para Planetarios, while Smiling C compiled some works of Germán Bringas, both of whom make an appearance here. Outside of those two and the collaborative efforts of Jorge Reyes & Antonio Zepeda, whose 1986 album, A La Izquierda Del Colibrí, was reissued back in 2017 via Emotional Rescue, most of the material across the 17 track 2xLP set is completely new to our ears, likely making this a revelatory compilation for most of you out there as well. Similar in scope to like-minded comps such as LITA’s Kankyō Ongaku or Music From Memory’s Outro Tempo, Triángulos De Luz Y Espacios De Sombra is a showcase of a region adopting new technologies and merging them with their own folk music. While each artist here clearly benefit from the more affordable (and portable!) synthesizers and drum machines that came on to the market in the early ‘80s, they’re more of a complimentary and subtle webbing to hold the acoustic instrumentation that is the foundation of most of the music within. The ancient winds of flutes, ocarinas and whistles blow through like a calming breeze, while the gentle plink of kalimbas, bells or hand percussion provide a primeval groove that summon the ghosts of the past to dance along. An important work and an essential document of the Mexican new age and ambient output that has largely been overlooked by the West, until now.

Triángulos De Luz Y Espacios De Sombra (Triangles of Light and Spaces of Shadow) is a collection of visionary Mexican electronic music sourced from obscure cassettes, CDs, private pressings, and personal archives, presented by Séance Centre and Smiling C. These works trace an expansive scene of prescient musicians who created a unique speculative cosmology, forging Mesoamerican mythologies with innovative sonic technologies.

From the mid-80s through the 90s, a network of Mexican musicians embarked on a journey to craft a musical expression distinct from the mainstream musical culture that dominated the airwaves and record industry. Based around practices of collaboration, ethnomusicology, electronic experimentation and home-recording, these artists traversed territories at the very edges of genre and musical form. Myth-scientists Antonio Zepeda, José Luis Fernández Ledesma, Jorge Reyes, Isaac Alva, and La Fábula venture into the periphery of the new age, incorporating Pre-Columbian rhythms and melodies into their dream-like compositions. Vistas Fijas, Armando Velasco, Eblen Macari, and Arbol Perenne (Gabo) move through radical new wave territories, utilizing guitars and drum machines to map their musical chronicles. Germán Bringas and Eugenio Toussaint traverse the jazz landscape, blending horns with electronics, improvising long uncharted expeditions. Pinning down a unified sound for these artists is challenging, yet they collectively cohabitate the capacious space of “ambient,” employing diverse expressions through various imaginative modalities. What distinguishes these artists is a distinctly transhistorical approach which vividly imagines sonic possible worlds.

In an attempt to situate themselves within a culturally and historically complex landscape, many of the artists on the compilation reactivate ancient Mesoamerican music traditions, those of the Aztecs, Maya, and Olmecs. Their electronic compositions are intricate tapestries woven with the haunting melodies of pre-Hispanic flutes and ocarinas, resonating alongside the echoes of ancient percussive marvels like the teponaztli and huéhuetl. Ritualistic chants, undulating synths, and atavistic rhythms intertwine, conjuring a hypnotic mosaic of chimeric sound. Natural and acoustic sounds are juxtaposed within a synthetic habitat, as if towering skyscrapers cast shadows across ancient pyramids. Rather than longing for an impossible past, these works evoke fantastical visions suspended in dreams, glimpses into the mythical realm of the hummingbirds.

The title “Triángulos De Luz Y Espacios De Sombra” (Triangles of Light and Spaces of Shadow) is inspired by a public access TV show of the same name that showcased several artists featured in this compilation. Imagining triangular prisms of light superimposed on otherworldly shadows feels apt for these illusory and phantasmagoric sounds. The space between these two opposing but interdependent images is the resonant juncture where these artists create their auditory oracles. This compilation highlights the prophetic luminaries of this underground community of musicians, with many of these songs previously unreleased or only available on fugitive formats until now.

This double LP release features 17 tracks remastered from reel-to-reel, DAT, and cassette masters. It includes inserts with an essay by Mexico City based music journalist David Cortés in both Spanish and English, accompanied by archival photos of the artists and artifacts featured on the compilation. The first edition comes adorned with a luminescent sticker illustrating a solar eclipse.