México Via Stoke-On-Trent

One from last Friday's stuffed shopping bag is the México 24 EP, a 4-track split single by La Guardia De La Luz and Picotropico, each contributing a track and then remixing each other.

First up is the brilliantly-titled I First Learned About Shelley's Through A Magazine, nine and a half minutes of stomping beats, channeling an Altern 8 ravey synth break for reasons which become clear when you know a little of Shelley's back story.

Picotropico's equally brilliantly-titled Stoke-on-Trent Is Not In Mexico Remix ups the ante, adding extra circular synth riffs and bouncing bass lines.

 

Strangers by Picotropico is the shortest track on the EP at a mere five and a minutes, though it packs a lot in. Chimes, 70s cop show funk, chugging rhythms, the threat of it all falling apart yet holding it together.

La Guardia De La Luz stretches out and slow things down on his Pico Is Not A Stranger Anymore Remix, settling into a ten minute groove that is much more sedate but no less compelling. 

The latter title suggests that although Santiago Rionda (La Guardia De La Luz) and Francisco Azpiri (Picotropico) are veteran DJs and residents of México City, they didn't really know each other until UK label Paper Recordings suggested this collaboration. On the strength of this EP, I hope they are inspired to collaborate again in future.

 

I only had one other track by each of the artists in my collection prior to this, again courtesy of Paper Recordings and their excellent EP series, The Wild Army.

 

Trance Alemán De Los 90's by La Guardia De La Luz appeared on Volume 6 in 2022, another ten minutes albeit upping the tempo considerably.

 

Front Tears by Picotropico appeared the previous year on 2021's Volume 5, a throbbing, borderline menacing beast of a track, the title hinting at the Peter Gabriel sample that it's built upon. 

 

 

If you played the video at the top before reading on, you'll have heard that Picotropico revisited a solo outing by the other Genesis front person at the end of last year.

For the curious like me, further music by both artists is scattered across various releases and labels on Bandcamp. Likely about as close to México City as I'll get in this lifetime, but worth further exploration.