Woove Editor in Chief Rosalie Wind reviews El Guincho's newest release Pop Negro (2010).

Spanish pop singer Pablo Díaz-Reixa, recording alias “El Guincho,” refers to his music as “space-age exotica.” His sound fuses international samples, Afrobeat, dub, rock, and Tropicália, a Brazilian music movement from the 1960s that combines Brazilian and African rhythms and rock and roll.

Young Turk, the record company who has produced other brilliant musicians like Holy Fuck, The XX, and Wavves, dropped Pop Negro on September 14^th.  The album sounds like a Latin-influenced Animal Collective, as well as a more energetic Os Mutantes. Psychedelic and percussive-heavy repetitions fill each song, along with Spanish chants, tribal rhythms, and an irresistible urge to dance. The pleasing Pop Negro uses underwater pop, bedroom pop, calypso and tropical beats, and world music, and only takes up thirty-five minutes of your time.

Pop Negro opens with the steel-drum heavy and wonderfully joyful “Bombay.” Hopefully you have already seen the surreal and risqué video for “Bombay,” directed by Nicolás Mendez. Chockfull of naked girls licking and making out with inanimate objects, the video will make your day, but be sure not to watch it at work.

El Guincho sings entirely in Spanish and each song blends together after a while, but Pop Negro’s overall refreshing, happy-go-lucky sound makes up for the drawbacks. “Novias” and “Soca Del Eclipse,” both worthy of a listen, drip with lively, foot-tapping rhythms and skilled mixes of international music and American pop.

The middle, slowest track of Pop Negro, “Lyrca Mistral,” mellows the album’s pace. Díaz-Reixa murmurs intimately amongst series of handclaps and woozy synthesizer. The exultant “FM Tan Sexy” follows, less catchy than others on Pop Negro, but with more enjoyable lighthearted pop than the previously used Brazilian beats and rhythms. The ambient “Muerte Midi” comes next, and sounds like it includes a slightly sedated but truly superb Latin big-band.

El Guincho’s voice soars in “Ghetto Facil,” a triumphant and powerful tune, and “(Chica-Oh) Drims” belongs in a psychedelic Carnival cruise commercial.  “Danza Invinto” closes Pop Negro contentedly. It does not stand out from anything else, but its loveliness and washed-out sound will suffice.

The breezy and sugary Pop Negro shows El Guincho’s sincerity and love of music and the world. His “space-age exotica” appears in his music’s sensuality, cosmic but laid back vibe, and eclectic use of instruments, rhythms, and other music genres. Incorporating many varieties and styles of music, Pop Negro works well and offers its listener an instance of bliss and charm.