El Guincho Releases Sophomore Album

A Review of the Spanish Musician's New, Poppy LP Alegranza

Jan 1, 2009

Alegranza,is a marked improvement in El Guincho's work. It has a flowing, poppy feel similar to Animal Collective, but remains unique through lyrics and sampling.

Pablo Díaz-Reixa, better known by his recording alias El Guincho, packs his records with samples, keyboards, drum machines, and ethereal sounds to make an idiosyncratic sound. His 2008 release, Alegranza, is no exception.

The album takes off in the first few seconds of “Palmitos Park”, lauded by sampled cheering and applause, and gallops through the next 40 minutes, barely stopping to catch its breath until the concluding “Polca Mazurca”. Although it can get repetitive, Díaz-Reixa keeps his music flowing, thanks to inspiration from his contemporaries.

While some critics say that El Guincho's cues are taken from bands such as Animal Collective, Alegranza helps the artist develop and mature his sound. Díaz-Reixa's music now sounds very little like the airy, semi-slow flow of his main band, Coconot, but rather more upbeat and driven.

The LP utilizes synthesizers, drum machines, and samples more than actual instruments, so even the acoustic parts have an electronic feel. Combine this with noises of children and crowds in the background, and the album sounds more like Animal Collective member Panda Bear's solo work, although the comparison does not do El Guincho justice.

Alegranza can sound repetitive—Díaz-Reixa generally loops his music multiple times—but it never feels drawn out. Each track will easily play itself out without being skipped over, and El Guincho's strangely beautiful Spanish lyrics ebb and flow smoothly, like the tides of Díaz-Reixa's Barcelona home. The album even takes a brief respite in “Buenos Matrimonios Ahi Fuera”, and allows a listener to catch their breath before blazing through the snare drum/glockenspiel march “Costa Paraiso”.

El Guincho Moves Despite Language Barriers

One of the biggest pet peeves with El Guincho might come from their foreign vocals, but any stickler of this fails to realize the artist's purpose. Sure his music might not be in English, but after listening to the cheering, chanting, and general raucousness of Díaz-Reixa's tone, it's easy to tell that he just wants to have fun. It doesn't really matter what he says; the beats are far more important.

At the very worst, Alegranza is a fun, danceable record that will help pass the time until the next Animal Collective release. At best, it has all the ingredients for an synth pop/tropicalia/latin/afrobeat dance party of epic proportions. El Guincho's music is more poppy than meaningful, and more danceable than singable, but with the amount of sheer electronic fun packed into this record, nobody should be complaining.

El Guincho is signed to Discoteca Océano records. You can listen to his music on his Myspace.

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