Mexicans with Guns, “Restart feat. Sasha Perera (Icaros Edit)”

With video-game synthesizers crying out in arpeggiated chords and a mutated dancehall beat rattling and slicing over dubstep bass, the instrumental to “Restart” is hypnotically beautiful on its own. Of course, producer Mexicans with Guns (a.k.a. Ernest Gonzales, from San Antonio, TX) already knows that; he put a no-vocals version of the track (“Icaros”) on his Friends of Friends Vol. 3 album in 2010. The original title was a reference to the Peruvian tradition of shamanic power songs. On “Restart,” Gonzalez slows “Icaros” down slightly, the better for British-Sri Lankan singer Sasha Perera to absorb the sweet/sad electronic gurgles -- and respond with her zen-like, zoned-out vocal take that makes the music even more transporting. -- Andrew Matson

"Restart ft. Sasha Perera (MWG's Icaros Edit)" Mexicans with Guns