Gun Selectah: Gun Selectah EP

This EP is misleading for a number of reasons. First, it's a heavy EP, weighing in at nine tracks and a hair shy of 40 minutes. Secondly, the original material consists of only three songs jointly produced by local beat smith Ernest Gonzales (here under his Mexicans with Guns moniker) and Monterrey-based, cumbia-EDM maestro Toy Selectah (formerly of the hip-hop en español trio Control Machete). Thirdly, even if Toy Selectah contributed half or more to this volume, the overall sound massively yields to Mexicans with Guns pounding tribal bass sound. Things are further complicated by the fact that though Gun Selectah's three originals are solid, the remixes by LOL Boys, Lorenzo Vektor, and DJ Orion are atrocious. Even worse, the delectable Latin spy theme "Villa Ghetto" is remixed no less than four times here. The song's respectable moombahton remix by Sonora, which closes the album, feels exhausted because it follows a double run of the tune. The track listing seems more intended for a cherry-picking DJ than someone who wants to listen from start to finish. What could've been a dynamite album is, instead, a lesson in presentation gone awry.

★★ (2 out of 5)