- Acid-cumbia-dembow-techno fusions from a Miami jack-of-all-trades inaugurates Nick León and Jonny From Space's new IMPACTO label.
- The title of the first release on Nick León and Jonny From Space's new label basically translates to "bring out the baggie." There's a certain kind of reckless, zany energy to the music of El Gusano, the kind of mad professor artist who can make almost any genre he puts his mind to. On Saka La Bolsita he touches on many of the prominent sounds of Miami's thriving underground, but always with his own twisted spin, like if Ceephax Acid Crew grew up in South Florida. The EP kicks off with some unsettling noises before "Donquicon" crashes through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man, with an addictively twitchy drum pattern and an descending bassline worming their way into your memory banks.
Elsewhere on the EP, Gusano touches on spiky electro-cumbia with the hand drum-packed "Arrebatao," featuring a vocal that sounds more than a little like Donald Duck—zany but overwhelming, the kind of music your mind might come up with on a mushroom trip. That voices comes from fellow Miami local El Descarao, who mutters disinterestedly over "Activao," a dembow-leaning track built around on a detuned string sample. Imagine a drunkard playing beautiful classical guitar. It's one of the druggiest tracks on the EP, not to be outdone by the acid cumbia of "Alberca," where strange, pitch-wheeled synths dive bomb around a jazzy chord progression. That leaves the title track, which is more in line with the kind of techno León makes: funky, trippy and just a little swampy, with a swing that makes it feel consummately Miami. But even this one has wacky little vocal spots, one of the signatures of Gusano's sound. He isn't afraid to make music that sounds both silly and seriously heavy.
Tracklist01. Donquicon
02. Arrebatao feat. El Descarao
03. Activao feat. El Descarao
04. Saka La Bolsita
05. Alberca