Diano Garcia (http://www.dianogarcia.com) is a little bit acid jazz. A little bit world music. A little bit hip-hop. OK, what the hell is he then? The unpredictability and fairly wide pop range of "Turn It On" is a large part of its appeal. Garcia is an artist that, given the right push, could morph into the next Prince, or at least a 21st century iPod version of him.
It may seem like hyperbole, but it's not. Garcia is certainly eclectic enough to fit into the same room as the Purple One. However, it isn't just about the variety of styles; Garcia has the talent to stitch together the overlapping genres with funky pop hooks. On the first two cuts, "Music Music" and "Vows," Garcia adopts world-music rhythms and tosses them into a hip-hop context. The result is both exciting and exotic, with Garcia's raspy vocals really creating a rock-solid impression on "Vows." Chris Littlefield's trumpet on "Music Music" adds some enticing jazz spice while Geoff Stanfield's pulsating keyboards drive "Vows" to the dance floor. This is the Top-40 music of the future, when different cultural backgrounds melt into a multi-layered single unit.
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Garcia is very good at hip-hop as well. "Culture" (the most Prince-ish track here) and "Soap Box" have an infectious, feel-great vibe that slices through the cookie-cutter rap crap on the radio these days. Garcia is pushing the genre forward while not forgetting that the real purpose of music is to make us shake our asses off.
On "Turn It On" and "Something Stay," Garcia takes a dip into acid jazz, and they're spectacular. If you're searching for pop music that looks to the future yet is down to Earth, look no further than this. Smashing!
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