Ernest Gonzalez's Been Meaning To Tell You dropped this week. I can't say enough about this Texas based electronic beat-smith (who is also known to remix under the moniker Mexicans with Guns). His product is versatile, roaming from sentimental and airy to darker and driven with surprisingly little effort.
Check out his website for the album, which comes in several forms, including white 180 gram vinyl and an art book.
Here's a seasonally appropriate track for your enjoyment.
"Dancing in the Snow" by Ernest Gonzalez, a San Antonio-based electronic musician who also goes by Mexicans with Guns. I've been thoroughly enjoying his musical output lately.
His debut album on Friends of Friends "Been Meaning to Tell You" is out February 9.
This EP, Self Awakening, by Texas-based Ernest Gonzalez was a really pleasant surprise, and pretty much put Friends of Friends on lock as my favorite new label of the year, or however long they've been around now.
This 7 song EP is the fanfare sounding in the distance as a full-length release quickly approaches. Up until this point, FOF's releases have been split discs (Daedelus/Jogger) and Larytta/Bauchamp), but EG's flips the script and instead has a gifted cadre of folks taking cracks at remixing his stuff.
The end result is in tone, vaguely reminiscent of a more electronic Broken Social Scene circa You Forget it in People. The fun thing about the remixes is that they really bring an emotional and stylistic range to the album that are largely unattainable for solo productions. The various interpretations vary enough to move the album along, but in sharing origins, also create broader musical themes that span several tracks.
Here's the title track, "Self Awakening", unremixed.
At it's core, the EP's function as an appetizer served prior to this LP entree, Self-Awakening is a success. My appetite is whetted, and I am hungry for some more music from Ernest Gonzalez.
