[Cadenza]

Most of us didn’t know who Jorge Gonzales was when his jaunty voice bounded from the pogoing depths of Ricardo Villalobos’ Fabric album, but we were glad for his spirited and slightly lewd narrative. But Gonzales, a long-standing figure in Chile’s music scene, was no one off vocalist. His 1980s rock group, Los Prisioneros, was famous for chafing at General Pinochet with subversive themes. Discogs suggests he first embraced techno&house in the 90’s while living in Santiago and working with Martin Schopf (aka Dandy Jack), Atom Heart and Tobias Freund as part of Gonzales Martinez. There he also met Luciano, whose Cadenza label would provide the perfect home for his and Loreto Otero’s Los Updates project a decade later. “First If You Please The Remix Part 1,” the duo’s debut, serves as an appetizer for their forthcoming full length and is backed by remixes from Dandy Jack and Villalobos.

Most of us also didn’t know “4 Wheel Drive,” one of the poppiest moments on Fabric 36, was a Los Updates synth-pop original. Precariously perched atop spindly synth lines and understated blips like a ship’s lookout, Gonzales (flanked by harmonizing overdubs) sprays his demented romantic lyrics with a charming, almost conversational flow. The Villalobos remix is largely familiar, although its vocal phrasings seem longer and the beats squish more noticeably. Either way, DJs will be glad for an unmixed copy of this doubly Chilean treat. Dandy Jack patches together konks, glides, muddy pitches and a three note piano line into a ramshackle cyborg body from which Gonzales intones, “Inviting you here….” It’s an interesting listening experience, if one likely restricted to the home or headphones. “First If You Please” finds Jorge Gonzales alive, well and still surrounded by good company, and also raises my anticipation for Los Updates’ full length. This much I know.