The “hipsters in Santiago” video is quite nice…
[Video][Website]
[6.57]
Pete Baran: This is a bloke called Adrian Igual right? I like the funk, I like the Cubano licks but like much foreign language pop I don’t have a angle on the lyrics which means it’s less sticky in my head. And is that really the oldest sample in the world in the background? I think it is.
[5]
Brad Shoup: The first few seconds feints toward that mid-tier funk, that Captain Sky shit, which ends up becoming just one element in Adrianigual’s al fresco disco, in which the action mostly takes place on breeze-swept streets and is witnessed only by the narrator. It’s truer to how I generally consume music, but I won’t rate for that. I will note the wonderful horn parts and bass line while pardoning the less-than-polished female vocals and that damn J.B.’s sample. A wonderful dance summoning.
[8]
Anthony Easton: This has enough changes in texture that it doesn’t bore, but enough similarities that it is an immersible experience. Love the sunny buoyancy that seems a little more human than much of the metallic sheen seen in current dance pop. Sweet and kind of lovely.
[9]
Ian Mathers: The music is actually pretty decent, but I’m having trouble focusing on it whenever that querulous little voice pipes up. He sounds like he should be singing sensitive singer-songwriter shit, and I wouldn’t like the sound of it then either. Apparently I care about voices, because with a better singer you could probably add 3 or 4 points to this, but I’m never going to listen to it again.
[3]
Katherine St Asaph: The instrumentation’s lush and layered enough to be twice its length with no singing, but alas, Adrianigual proves again the great global truth of dance music: the male vocalist always sucks.
[6]
Alfred Soto: Although its sinuous bass and piano chords distant reminders of Aretha’s 1982 pop comeback “Jump to It,” the vocalist’s flat tones aren’t up to the memories; he wants to be Philip Oakey while she goes for Suzanne Sulley, complete with the right overlay of emotion atop the bed of electronics.
[5]
Andrew Casillas: Oh look! Another Chilean house/disco-influenced band! But seriously, this is exhilarating. Everyone keeps talking about the Rapture’s new one like its some great party jam, but this has the sense to evoke chaotic fun without ripping off “The Thong Song.”
[10]