Photos

Mexicans with Guns

Photos by Oliver Kish

'Ceremony' LP available now from Innovative Leisure

Tracklist

1. Opening Incantation

2. Jaguar

3. Restart ft. Sasha Perera

4. Fields

5. Deities

6. Highway to Hell ft. Freddie Gibbs

7. Mirage

8. Me Gusto ft. Chico Mann

9. Corazon ft. Zacky Force Funk

10. El Sol y La Luna

11. Got Me F cked Up ft. Nocando

12. Dame Lo

13. Death and Rebirth

14. El Moreno ft. Helado Negro

"Highway to Hell (Ridin Dirty 7" Mix)" ft. Freddie Gibbs and Bun B:

- Pitchfork

- The Fader

- Nah Right

Big Up Podcast

Mexicans With Guns is back in the club, and he's not here to sell you roses. The bass luchadore sometimes known as Ernest Gonzales conjures mystic bass-bin beats for his debut Ceremony LP due May 10th on Innovative Leisure. It's his second proper release on the Highland Park set following 2010's out-of-print Me Gusto EP for which notably The FADER & LA Times spilled ink. Those familiar with the masked man's previous efforts won't be surprised by his gritty, sleep-with-one-eye-open basslines and atmospheric swelter, but they may find themselves entranced as they diffuse over the space of 14 original tracks. Gonzales crafted the distinct sound of Mexicans With Guns as an outlet for exploring traditional Hispanic folk music as an electronic artist in the present; on Ceremony he effortlessly transposes the spiritual tradition of the past onto the rattling dance halls of today.
 
The San Antonio, TX native cut his teeth producing remixes for Freddie Gibbs, Rainbow Arabia, CYNE, Faunts & Yppah and honing his live show headlining Low End Theory as well as on bills with Peanut Butter Wolf, Daedelus, Eliot Lipp, Mux Mool & Jogger. In addition to Me Gusto, he's released a split EP with Robot Koch, last year's Friends of Friends Vol 3. Now for Ceremony, MwG shows the chops he's primed producing for others and also those he's sharpened playing for a room. He's invited a bevy of MCs & vocalists for his coming-out LP including Freddie Gibbs, Helado Negro, Chico Mann, Nocando, Zacky Force Funk & Sasha Perera of Jahcoozi.

The "Opening Incantation" of no hay espacio, no hay tiempo cedes to "Jaguar" an early standout, its shoulder-slinking, mid-tempo grind stalking along a fierce low end. Freddie Gibbs picks up the mic on "Highway To Hell" and the brash Gary, IN rapper proves he wouldn't lose an ounce of his hustle south of the border. Staying decidedly dark is "Dame Lo;" dark enough, at least, to inspire the violent, boozy & occultish video The FADER called "the sickest we've seen in a minute."  "Me Gusto" lightens the mood a stitch, with Antibalas' Chico Mann's swaying melody improbably fusing a track filled with 8-bit, lazer & nods to 80's funk & b. Finally, MwG dips into drones and loops, helping Savath y Savalas cohort Helado Negro, feel right at home on the disembodied "El Moreno."
 
There is a sense that while Ceremony has finished, something larger has commenced... keep attuned to Mexicans With Guns in 2011 as he preps a 7" featuring Texas rap legend Bun B (joining Freddie Gibbs on an alternate to "Highway to Hell"), collaborates with Mexican raverton originator Toy Selectah as Gun Selectah, and tours behind a mask & altar.