Flamenco Funk is one of those joyously trashy records that comes along every once in a while -- an album so silly, so infectiously stupid that it breaks down any resistance.
Los Umbrellos -- or more likely, producer
Kenneth Bager -- is rooted in club culture, which means they'll borrow from anywhere: Europop, Miami bass, salsa, hip-hop, MOR pop. Each track follows one basic formula: a rapper with a fake Jamaican accent sings the verse, while the choruses are sung by two faceless females in fractured textbook Spanish. Nowhere is this better heard than on the nonsense novelty "No Tengo Dinero," which has a killer hook, percolating rhythms and mariachi horns. Several songs -- like the ridiculous title song, "Road to Carlos" or their remake of
the Cars' "Drive" -- come close to capturing the delirious bad taste of "No Tengo Dinero," and even the filler has style. And that's the reason why
Flamenco Funk is such an intoxicating guilty pleasure. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine