ROTW: Ipan In Xiktli Metzli, México Mágico Cósmico, En El Ombligo De La Luna!

It's Tuesday Wednesday (whoops) so here we are again with another exciting WDYLI? Record Of The Week pick: Ipan In Xiktli Metzli, México Mágico Cósmico, En El Ombligo De La Luna. Newly reissued by Mr. Bongo, this 1981 album from Mexican multi-instrumental folk musician and ambient explorer Luis Perez is a wonderful, unique artifact of musical imagination informed by Perez's dedicated ethnomusicological research into the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica and abetted by late 20th century technology. It evokes the “cosmic magic of Mexico” via an array of flutey bird twitter, ceremonial-sounding hand percussion, stately horns, spoken invocations and space-age electronics.

The shimmer and pulse of ‘70s-era synthesizers blend with sounds sourced from Perez's collection of traditional, ancient instruments. As the wooden clatter of percolating rhythms echoing jungle chatter mixes with the cosmic synth vibrations, this becomes all the more fantastical and fascinating. Imagine, maybe, Morton Subotnick making a Mayan or Aztec themed exotica album! Also it's a little bit László Hortobágyi, a bit Atrium Musicae de Madrid, and a bit Jon Hassell “Fourth World”-y too. Quite special, so good.