- Ernest Gonzales bills his Mexicans With Guns project as "future Latin," though I'm not entirely convinced that said project is all that "Latin" outside of a few slight musical nods and an Aztec visual theme. Gonzales makes good on the promise, though, with the official debut of new project Gun Selectah (a collaboration with Mexican beatmaker Toy Selectah) on RA's former Label of the Month Friends of Friends.
Stylistically, the tracks operate in the same nebulous hip-hop/"bass music" realm as Gonzales' album Ceremony, but they're gruffer, tougher, and rougher (sorry). Where most of Ceremony was loaded up with beautiful synth sounds to temper the percussion, "Villa Ghetto" is all gaudy synth horns and whirring organs on top of chunky metallic swing. These tracks have a sense of space that make those drums hit even harder: the humourous "Como un Perro"—replete with gunshots to go with the handclaps—feels like it's bucking in slo-mo, and the wiry synths and slams of "Popping Wheelies" wade in mid-air like "When The Levee Breaks."
The EP is supplemented with a bevy of remixes, some more remarkable than others; highlights are Tectonic signee Hxdb's whisper quiet remix of "Poppin' Wheelies" and LOL Boys' adventurous rework of "Villa Ghetto" that jumps into a pseudo-moombahton breakdown that never, never gets any less startling. It's always nice to hear artists come at the whole "bass music" thing from a genuinely fresh angle, and it's no surprise to see that it also comes on one America's most imaginative labels.
Tracklist 1 Como Un Perro
2 Villa Ghetto
3 Popping Wheelies
4 Villa Ghetto (LOL Boys Remix)
5 Como un Perro (Lorenzo Vektor Remix)
6 Popping Wheelies (HxdB Remix)
7 Villa Ghetto (Shadetek Remix)
8 Villa Ghetto (DJ Orion Remix)
9 Villa Ghetto (Sonora Remix)