El Guincho

So, I’m not a big fan of spanish or latino stuff. This is mainly because my dad is from Argentina and he maybe doesn’t have the best musical taste, so all the bad latino music I heard growing up kind of turned me off of latino music entirely. I’m not actually of latino descent though, as his parents were both from Poland, they just stopped over in Argentina for a couple years before moving to Canada. I checked out this week’s band of the week because I heard that they/he were/was touring with Atlas Sound, the exceptional solo-project of Deerhunter singer Bradfor Cox. I figured that such an interesting and outspoken individual wouldn’t tour with just anyone so I checked out one of the guy’s albums and was really impressed. This weeks band of the week is…

El Guincho!!!

El Guincho is the laptop-based project of Pablo Díaz-Reixa of the Canary Islands. His debut album Alegranza came out this year and instantly attracted alot of attention due to it’s excellent fusion of tropicallia and newer indie sensibilities. If Panda Bear’s Person Pitch was an immersive headphone album to listen to alone in the dark then Alegranza is the album you fiesta to beforehand.

Even so, the greatest similarity between the two albums is the form and construction method used, rather than the actual sound of the album. Where Person Pitch is cold with a strange touch of humanity, Alegranza is like watching a brazilian dance party on youtube in which everyone is dressed up like they just came from the set of The Holy Mountain. It’s a little weird, a bit of cautious fun and pretty lively, but it’s a sort of computerized lively-hood which makes it strange again…

For me personally, it’s that weird computerized touch that makes it interesting as I’ve always thought of Tropicalia as a very down-in-the-street type music that I’ve always found too tan and empty-headed to get into. This album takes that and shoves a computerized brain into it. The results= GGGGGOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLL!

http://www.myspace.com/elguincho