Barcelona is a cool city. We have sunny weather, an exciting nightlife, beautiful architecture and delicious food. Apparently, we shouldn’t have to envy Berlin, Paris or London. In the last years we’ve become the mecca for skaters living world wide and we are getting important in some cultural fields. But this atmosphere of trendy bars and cool people is usually nothing but a copy of what has been invented somewhere else. You can go to a bar and pretend it’s Manchester in the mid-80’s. Or you can dance along rare funk songs like you were experiencing Motown sound for first time. The most legendary bands, the most promising artists and the best dj’s. They all come here. But what’s Barcelona style like? That I can’t tell.

I don’t expect our local artists to create a brand new and revolutionary cultural movement. I’m just glad when they revise something that another city or country has created before and it ends up sounding quite innovative. Frenchies are great doing that. Their hip hop and electronic music scene… You can’t say they invented it but hell yeah it sounds good. And most importantly, hell yeah it sounds French.

This story begins on Friday night in a creepy nightlife area situated in the border of my neighborhood. It’s still my neighborhood (Poblenou) but everybody calls it Marina (because of the metro station). I was with my friends; drinking a crazy version of a traditional cocktail called Aigua de València (this degenerated version usually contains orange and lemon Fanta, champagne, Liqueur 43 and Contreau). Then we moved to another bar. It was time for some whisky. I ended in a cab going to a club called Apolo. The taxi driver had to stop because I got sick and needed fresh air.

All my problems vanished when we got in the club. The Canarian native El Gunicho was the cause. His album, published a few months ago over here, has been lately reviewed by Pitchfork and it’s getting a lot of hype in Barcelona. He sounds like a Latin and tropical Animal Collective. “Person Pitch” and “Strawberry Jam” are not my favorite albums from last year but this music really works in a concert/club. I listened to “Alegranza” before the gig, but it didn’t catch my attention. I thought it was just a decent and entertaining album. On the other hand, that night was amazing. I wasn’t that drunk, I can remember what happened there and it was wonderful. It’s amazing the atmosphere he created with just a drumstick and some electronic gadgets. I think the whole audience was really surprised (because most of them didn't go to that club because of El Guincho’s performance) and we all enjoyed the show.

As I said, we haven’t invented anything but at least we succeeded reinterpretating something created abroad, obtaining a product with an original flavor. I’ll keep looking for Barcelona style. - Grey