Enter Tony Gallardo II — the latest reincarnation of Tijuana’s wunderkind María Y José and luminary of ruidosón. This self-proclaimed “Nuevo Líder Juvenil” — as per partly the title of his promising EP Líder Juvenil (9/12) — continues crafting perfect electro gems that shape new hybrid grounds in Mexico’s northern frontier and beyond. Having toyed with Monterrey’s über-sensation tribal guarachero, Tony Gallardo II also marks territory in another ripening music realm that’s buzzing on the other side of the mainstream: he gets shoegazy.
Though the following tracks of the forthcoming EP range from a dynamic set of genres, “Tormento” is like a perfect chaotic storm, a sweet rendition to ’80s synthpop that paces at the right tempo every step of the way. His chillwave vocals narrate a situation where nothing goes the right way, and the results: poisonous. Well, poison never sounded so sweet.