Khôra & Mas Aya – Primordial Mind: Rhythm Leads, Melody Follows
The collaboration between Matthew Ramolo (Khôra) and Brandon Miguel Valdivia (Mas Aya) has been building for fifteen years. They met in 2011, toured Europe together in 2013, Valdivia playing drums in Khôra’s opening sets, moved through the Bespoken ensemble, and put out their first record together in 2017. Now they return to Swedish label Marionette with Primordial Mind, released May 8, 2026.
The title comes from the Kalachakra Tantra, an esoteric text that treats time as both cosmological cycle and interior geography. Eight instrumentals conceived as mandalas, where rhythm holds everything else in place: interlocking polyrhythms woven with flutes, synthesis and processed acoustic percussion; scales that cross several traditions at once. The record moves through free jazz, dub, raga, ambient and ritual music with complete ease.
Valdivia has spent two decades as one of the most active figures in the Canadian experimental scene, a percussionist and producer who has worked with US Girls, Tanya Tagaq, Sook-Yin Lee and Lido Pimienta. Ramolo operates from the hermetic margins of Toronto under the Khôra name, a project he describes as an occult entity that uses him as its vehicle. Together they don’t add up their solos: they make something more contained, denser.
Primordial Mind is out on LP via Marionette. Khôra and Mas Aya celebrate with two short tours and a Toronto date on June 4 as part of Tone Fest. Rhythm leads. Melody follows.
