{"id":10764,"date":"2017-09-01T19:46:03","date_gmt":"2017-09-01T19:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/?p=10764"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:20:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:20:35","slug":"album-review-roberto-lopez-criollo-electrik","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2017\/09\/01\/album-review-roberto-lopez-criollo-electrik\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review :: Roberto Lopez :: Criollo Electrik"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIs this an ad for a summer beverage,\u201d I ask myself before the 25-second mark of the first track, \u201cMaria La Baja\u201d. It\u2019s hard not to crack open a cold one once you get a sense of Roberto L\u00f3pez\u2019s seductive blend of South American and Caribbean stylings on this 2017 release.<\/span>It feels corny at first, but the vocal introduction at 1:20 hints at enough sonic diversity to keep attention.<\/span><\/p>\n

Roberto L\u00f3pez is a Colombian Montrealer who borrows as much from his Latin roots as jazz pop with Caribbean touches on <\/span>Criollo Electrik<\/span><\/i>. As the album title suggests, L\u00f3pez curates a cultural Cr\u00e9ole; Colombian sounds present with Caribbean themes that are fun although not often structurally adventurous.<\/span><\/p>\n

Guitar, bass, keys, tambora and llamador were recorded by L\u00f3pez, with Momo Soro on drums and Vov\u00f4 Saramanda with additional percussions. Although multiple vocalists are credited, the album is largely instrumental, despite the effective and resonant vocals on several tracks, including \u201cLas Aguas\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez is at his best when we want to dance, and no song on the album invites to the dance floor more than \u201cLas Aguas\u201d, the fifth and strongest track of the album.<\/span><\/p>\n

Uses for <\/span>Criollo Electrik<\/span><\/i> include but are not limited to: waterside bar playlist; soundtrack to a Spanish film you half-watch while scrolling your feed; pretend-it\u2019s-not-winter delusion fodder for the cold months. <\/span>Sam Swanson<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIs this an ad for a summer beverage,\u201d I ask myself before the 25-second mark of the first track, \u201cMaria La Baja\u201d. It\u2019s hard not to crack open a cold one once you get a sense of Roberto L\u00f3pez\u2019s seductive blend of South American and Caribbean stylings on this 2017 release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10767,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10764\/revisions\/10767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}