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MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)

It's Buenos Aires' Gaby Kerpel without irony, maybe even Barcelona's Manu Chao without hooks -- ecstatic yes, escapist no.

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Lost At Sea

It's fun and light, and even though for all I know he could be singing about the destruction of mankind, it is bursting with joy and happiness.

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musicOMH.com

Whatever El Guincho's debt to Panda Bear, the decision to keep Alegranza! in the mama tongue lends it a genuine other-wordliness unlikely to be found in the well-traversed topography of American music.

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Pitchfork

Most of all, it's Díaz-Reixa's intuitive feel for rhythm that marks out Alegranza! as such an unusual and enticing listening experience.

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Almost Cool

It's the sort of release that will drive some listeners completely nuts simply because of the construction techniques, but it also powers forward with such a giddy energy that it's hard not to get wrapped up in it.

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Blender

El Guincho has only himself to get along with, but you'd never know it just listening to his album. [Dec 08/Jan 09, p.78]

The New York Times

The repetition of the loops turns from mechanical to hypnotic to hallucinatory to ecstatic as the songs barrel along.

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Under The Radar

Alegranza! is full of those bewildering moments, and they never seem jarring, thanks to Diaz-Rieixa's deft sense of timing and rhythm. [Fall 2008, p.80]

Spin

The joyous problem: All the repitition, all the sunshine, all the sound can get tiring. But the same goes for anything that releases endorphins this ecstatically. [Oct 2008, p.122]

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Observer Music Monthly

The 24-year-old's debut is a tropical soundclash of spiralling steel drums, looped, gnarled local songs and untrammelled joy.

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All Music Guide

El Guincho's debut album Alegranza is as bright as the feathers of the parrot, as sparkly as the fireworks, and as warm as the palm trees that adorn the cover.

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Drowned In Sound

Pieced together from bits of wreckage, this is music created in glorious isolation, drawing on its own influences to create something just as fresh and just as joyous; drifting out into the ocean on its own shonky raft.

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cokemachineglow

As an amalgam of mind-warping melodies and high-minded concepts, Alegranza! is more than deserving of our praise. Then again, El Guincho could have avoided the album’s key missteps by cutting down on the obvious Afrobeat tropes and experimenting more with traditional song-oriented vocals.

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Dusted Magazine

It’s hard to know what to make of such attention to individual moments in an album so devoted to the overall spectacle; it’s harder because those privileged moments are spread so sparsely throughout.

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PopMatters

It’s more than just clever sampling. If not for El Guincho’s command of unconventional rhythm, the record could be accused of copping the style of the aformentioned freak-folkers.

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Sputnikmusic

With Alegranza!, El Guincho takes what could have been a disaster and forms one of the most peculiar, inimitable records of the year.

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Tiny Mix Tapes

It’s no mistake that the title of this superbly fun album ends with an exclamation point; El Guincho has created an album that’s relentless in its ferocious rhythms and beats until the very last track.

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Q Magazine

Akin to Manu Chao backed by The Go Team!, fortunately it's no one-off. [Nov 2008, p.117]

The Guardian

It may lack choruses and convention but the repetition and other-worldliness are mesmerising, and may leave you a little pie-eyed.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 9.6 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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Alegranza

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