Young Turks
In the past Pablo Diaz-Reixa took his musical cues from Animal Collective and Panda Bear to create a riotous spontaneous carnival of sound. But while Pop Negro finds Diaz-Reixa pushing musical boundaries in his own right it takes a more structured approach that unfortunately relying too much on excessively short mechanical loops. El Guincho has created a whirling disco merry-go-round; only fragments of melody can be heard over the driving beats and relentless tempos of the songs. Accordingly Pop Negro simply overpowers.
Starting with the catchy lead-off single “Bombay” the album doesn’t slow down bombarding listeners with the same static rhythms until the last few tracks. But by that time the listener has already been battered into submission. Diaz-Reixa would be better served interspersing Pop Negro with some of the more approachable work featured on last summer’s Piratas de Sudamerica EP a release better showcasing his growing production skills.