Mexicans with Guns

50 Unheralded Albums from 2011

50 Unheralded Albums from 2011

In just one more trip around the sun, another swarm of immensely talented but under-recognized musicians has harnessed its collective talents and discharged its creations into the void. This list is but one fraction of those dedicated individuals who caught our ears with some serious jams.

CMJ 2011

Contest: Win a five-day pass to CMJ 2011

From October 18 – 22, New York City’s finest venues, nightclubs, and theaters will be taken over by musicians, music-industry professionals, college-radio nerds, filmmakers, and critics. Yes, it’s back: the CMJ Music Marathon and Film Festival.

Notable bands scheduled to perform include: Trash Talk, Parts & Labor, Davila 666, A Place to Bury Strangers, the Doomtree crew, Talkdemonic, Mexicans with Guns, and Kylesa. Seeing so many concerts, screenings, and panels normally comes at a pretty steep price, but we’ve teamed up with CMJ to give away two five-day passes. Total retail value of one pass alone is $495 and will give its bearer access to any event, provided that it’s not sold out or at capacity.

To enter to win, fill out the form below by the end of Thursday, October 13. By entering your information, you’ll also be signed up to receive ALARM’s weekly E-mail newsletter, The ALARMIST.

Mexicans with Guns’ five favorite luchadores

Ernest Gonzales is best known for his solo works of electro pop and hip-hop-infused indie rock.  When he began toying with a harder, bass-heavy dance sound, he established an alter ego known as Mexicans with Guns, whose look and short-lived anonymity were inspired by lucha libre.

Gonzales appears in Invisible: Overlooked Albums and Unseen Artists, the 38th issue of ALARM, to discuss his use of masks as well as their importance to Mexican culture.  Here, without further ado, are his five favorite luchadores.

1. El Santo

“Without a doubt, the top luchador of all time is El Santo. He wrestled for more than 50 years, starred in hundreds of movies, and is considered to be a folk hero to many Mexican people. Donning a silver luchador mask, El Santo vowed to fight crime and injustice. If you mixed Hulk Hogan and Batman, you would have El Santo. Here’s a four-part documentary about El Santo from Incredibly Strange Film via YouTube.”