Matías Aguayo’s RIONEGRO Project Merges Club-Ready Psychedelia with Amazonian Mysticism

Located to the east of Antioquia, the northwestern part of Colombia that separates the Caribbean sea and the central Andes mountain range, is the Rio Negro river. Also known as La Cuna de la Libertad (the crib of freedom), this is where the largest "black water" river in the world comes to life, as well as the place that acted as inspiration to Matías Aguayo's RIONEGRO project.

First started three years ago, the group that comprises RIONEGRO includes Gregorio "Gladkazuka" Gómez, Sebastián "Sano" Hoyos and Aguayo, the Chilean Cómeme label founder revered for his otherworldly live sets that mix up house, techno, vocals, live drumming, and steady latin mysticism.

Today, this Latin collaborative group is unveiling an official video to RIONEGRO's first album single, "Amazonas." Directed by Naty Lara and Ber Arce, the video narrates the legend of the "Yacuruna," a mythical tale pertaining to the birth of the planet's largest river, the Amazon.

Historically conscious in many ways, the track creatively covers a Peruvian anthem "La Danza De Los Mirlos" by the group Los Mirlos, legends of a voluptuous, shamanistic, and wild jungle sound that caught them fame in the late 1970s. Using classic machinery, RIONEGRO deconstructs the original tune's elements, providing a futuristic interpretation where they transform old-school, cosmic rumba'n'bass into an modern house classic.

With an incessant, progressive line of maracas, flamboyant percussion, and infectious guitar riffs, "Amazonas" sounds like a sort of South-American science-fiction for the early morning club set. In a classically psychedelic form, the group has provided some more explanation to the video, which of course invokes themes of astrology, mythical latin tales, and a whole bunch of other trippy shit that's nearly giving us an acid flashback.

"The stars have aligned into the dog constellation, and the day's cataclysm has begun. It's a full moon, and in the jungle, something mystical and mysterious is about to happen. Yacuruna, who is both man, jaguar, and serpent, invokes the forces of nature. Water is running, the wind is angry, the earth rises, and animals escape as the world falls into pieces. The storm is violent and the raging river grows, winding as an anaconda through the mountain—flooding everything it passes. What seems like the end has been the beginning of the great Amazonas, that with the peace of the morning has dissolved into a immense ocean.

"Amazonas" is part of the "Rionegro" LP, out on October 30 by Cómeme.