Take One
Like so many artists these days, Gonzales is all about making art that gleefully celebrates his unique cultural location. And his is pretty damn unique: we're talking about a Canadian-born Jew who now ekes out an existence as a nomadic MC playing all around Europe and calls an abandoned bombed-out TV station in East Berlin home.
Chilly Gonzales (only one of his many names) also claims to have discovered music through comic books; as a small child he realized that there were many Super Heroes in music (just watch a hip hop video), but no Super Villains, so he began his quest to become the first musical Super Villain by playing his first instrument, the piano.

That quest has culminated in the comic-bookish "Jew-funk" (as it has been called) of Gonzales's first full-length album, Gonzales Uber Alles, the follow-up to his equally ironically titled debut EP O.P. Original Prankster.

Gonzales's experimental hip hop style at times recalls DJ Shadow's dense and intense layering of sounds, styles, and ideas. He injects liberal doses of warm cabaret-style vocal jazz, goofy up-in-the-clouds New Age ambience, and electronic funkiness into his material, all over a steady onslaught of warm breaks and beats. This stuff is Super Villainous only in its almost criminal uniqueness. And perhaps in its nonstop humor; there seems to be a tacit assumption at the center of Gonzales's aesthetic that music should be entertaining and fun to both creator and listener. It's kind of refreshing

Take Two

Canadian Gonzales (also known as "Chilly Gonzales") is a mixed bag of MC meets keyboarding-producer meets singer. At a young age Gonzales was introduced to the piano by his parents and over-achieving brother. Using the instrument as an avenue of self-expression, he quickly advanced into the production realm.

Through his Hollywood-based older brother, Gonzales wrote music for soundtracks under various aliases. Known for his often comical live shows, complete with MCing, Gonzales branched off to singing with labelmate Peaches in 2000 for the single "Red Leather."

His debut full-length, 2000's Gonzales Uber Alles, was followed later that year by The Entertainist. Touring and collaborating with Peaches brought both artists more noteriety, with the press nicknaming the duo the "Bonnie and Clyde of prankster rap."

Gonzales stepped back into the studio in early 2002 to record Presidential Suite, but moved from Berlin to Paris during 2003 and inaugurated a co-production relationship with Renaud Letang (Manu Chao). The duo recorded with French pop royalty including Jane Birkin (her 2004 duets album Rendez-Vous) and Charles Aznavour (which were canceled by Aznavour.

When Gonzales returned to his own career in 2005, he issued easily the most distinctive record of his career -- Solo Piano, which found him performing 16 themes (for left-hand accompaniment and right-hand melody) and asserting the influence of French impressionists Erik Satie and Maurice Ravel.