Opening with The Ruby Suns on their home turf was an obvious choice in theory for Friday’s El Guincho show at SFBH, but in practice, it was probably a bit detrimental for the Spanish artist. Fresh off the best show I’ve seen them play, The Ruby Suns were straight back into it, embracing their seemingly newfound penchant for tropical dance grooves in their live set. Their songs still retain everything that defines them, but the combination of live drumming and prerecorded samples (that they’ve been using for awhile) has recently boosted these songs into some kind of disco orbit. Their cover of Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush was extremely well-realised, and when Pablo (El Guincho) joined them for the finale of Kenya Dig It & Don’t Trust The Dusty Fruit, it was a fitting collaboration, one that was reciprocated later on.
At face value, El Guincho & The Ruby Suns share many similarities as live artists – a reliance on samples and backing tracks, sunny dance grooves, and a tendency to make their live shows dreamy dance parties. However, it was their differences that wee highlighted in Fridays show. Despite being amazing fun, El Guincho stuck to one beat for most of his tracks, and didn’t make as much of his vocal hooks as he could have. Case in point was the first rendition of single Palmitos Park, where the sublime choral hook wasn’t so much lost as it was missing – it was sung almost as if just another verse. And whilst the subtle drop of a hook can be hugely effective (oh hey wassup MBV), El Guincho’s music is more of the fiesta variety, all bright red streamers and unnnecessarily attractive people dancing on some unknown, sun-drenched beach. Subtelty is not required.
Its not that it was bad – quite the opposite, his loopy pop went down amazingly, notably the Ryan Mcphun-augmented encore of Palmitos Park (again!). Rather, the layering and changes that occur throughout The Ruby Suns’ tracks highlighted the lack of such variation in El Guincho’s set. With a few changes in pace, or perhaps the backing of a full band for proper party feel, El Guincho could easily soundtrack next weeks Cuba Carnival, and not be shown up by The Ruby Suns. I think this is where some self-important critic writes something about El Guincho needing more ‘musical maturity’, but its not really the case. He has a good sound, and even a niche in the ‘tropicalia’ tag. Its just a case of making more of what he’s got – one beat doesn’t make a song unless you’re Crazy Frog.
James Beavis
