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Shane Morris — Tenochtitlan to Etzanoa
(Spotted Peccary no#, 2026, DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2026-10-09

Tenochtitlan to Etzanoa Cover art

First off, this is a most unusual release for Spotted Peccary Music, a label that typically focuses on electronic ambient music with beautiful melodic themes and smooth edges. This one is very different and unexpected. Multi-instrumentalist and composer Shane Morris is an artist who has been with the label for many years now, usually in collaboration with the likes of Mystified (Thomas Park), Frore (Paul Casper); he’s also been on the Projekt label with Byron Metcalf and has solo releases on various labels going back nearly eighteen years. This is his first solo release on Spotted Peccary. Tenochtitlan is an island that today is the heart of Mexico City, and in pre-Columbian times was the heart of the Aztec Empire; Etzanoa is the historical center of the Wichita people from around 1450 to 1700, near Arkansas City, Kansas. They formed the ends of a cultural and trade corridor, and Tenochtitlan to Etzanoa is a modern tribute to the ceremonial listening and ancestral rhythms of pre-Columbian America. The seven tracks herein weave together rhythms and melodies from ancient times using authentic period percussion instruments, wood and clay flutes, chants and muted vocals, with synthesizers employed only for ambient surrounding effects, thus giving the work a deep and authentic connection to the sounds of early America. In some ways this work is comparable to that of the Jorge Reyes, Luis Perez, Antonio Zepeda, and others. It would have been easy for Morris to build the rhythmic foundation for all of these tracks using loops and sequencing, but he chose to build each piece up from scratch, one layer at a time, giving the rhythms a truly authentic feel and historical context. One might suspect that work on this album took years to complete, one layer at a time, without any shortcuts. The result is at once powerful and captivating, as dark as it is bright in terms of its historical context, with Morris taking every step needed to ensure its authenticity. If one isn’t tuned in to this kind of sound or any of the artists used for comparisons, it’s a challenge to describe in words; your best bet is to follow the link below to the Bandcamp page and give it a listen for yourself.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): Shane Morris

More info
http://ambientelectronic.bandcamp.com/album/tenochtitlan-to-etzanoa

 

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