El Guincho – Pop Negro

Barcelona based Pablo Díaz-Reixa has taken the envelope-pushing potential of his last LP, Alegranza, and instigated an evolution away from its loop-heavy assignations for Pop Negro, his third release under the El Guincho moniker. This is not to say that Díaz-Rexia has diverged from the sun-blistered eclecticism of his previous output – he still wholly embraces a global spectrum of influence – rather it’s a case of Pop Negro presenting a matured El Guincho, as far as that can be said about his unselfconscious free-running approach.

Album opener and debut single Bombay sambas amongst steel drums and beach-party beats while the ridiculously named album highlight FM Tan Sexy breaks out with unabashed Bollywood-inspired melodrama, before Danza Invito’s slow-motion Costa del Sol-Disco perfectly parodies the musical indulgences of the 80s. Beyond this, Pop Negro brazenly baulks convention, cementing El Guincho’s reputation as a true innovator: one you can only love or hate. [Paul Neeson]