KISSES FROM VENEZUELA

Everyone thought that the Internet would bring a wealth of variety to the culture. Yeah, well, there's a million music blogs out there now and they all write about the same things. People are still sheep - that hasn't changed. For instance, who else is writing about the Venezuelan electronica scene? WHO, I ax ya? Just Music For Maniacs. Damn straight.

HUGE Hefner is the hombre who hepped us to the kooky cumbia cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" a while back (for which there is now a video). Now he unleashes _HELIOS.EXE on us gringos with an on-line EP courtesy of the 'net-label FanZinatra. Supposedly, all the songs are remixes of the same song "Kissing Time" ("Besande el Tiempo") but since each track has such a radically different sound you'd never know it. The first "tune" obliterates the sweet female, almost Chipmunky, vocals with such a blizzard of insane electronics and video-game bleepiness I felt like I was riding in a washing machine. I love the contrast between the cute lyrics about kissing and the unpredictable weirdness of the music:

_HELIOS.EXE: Abriendo El Tiempo (Lets_Go_Kissing_Pepper-C64-EOW_Mix)

This one focuses more on the vox and less on the crazy:

_HELIOS.EXE: Pachekando El Tiempo (Pacheko_Mix).mp3

and Boleteando El Tiempo (Dont_Break_My_Core My_Love_Is All_You_Wanted_Mix) has
jagged bits of Manu Chao, Xtina Aguilera, and REM sticking out of it. Yummy like flan.