Live Review: El Guincho

Tonight the NGV effortlessly creates a hugely enjoyable bubble of visual art, music and avant-garde fashion. The David Hockney and Viktor & Rolf exhibitions face off while wedged between them El Guincho deals joyous musical notes. After an exhausting working week, plenty of people with a glass of red in hand are more than ready to let their hair down.

It's Viktor & Rolf with whom we choose to spend time tonight. It's interesting that these fairly new kids on the fashion block are exhibiting at a gallery and not fashion week. This exhibition gives the impression that the duo live almost entirely in the fantasy fashion world of haute couture. Using everything available to them they craft garments that look like sculptures of Picasso paintings and dresses that make the model look as though they are wearing a bed or a framed oil painting by an old master. The amazing sequence of outfits that make up the Russian Doll takes the Matryoshka concept to a whole other place. Red carpet dresses for celebrities actually made of red carpet highlight the imaginative playful flights of fancy into which we can escape, even though it is unlikely that anyone would be hoofing it around town in this clobber. As cartoons of the duo's pet dachshund farewell us, it certainly seems that Viktor & Rolf lead a charmed life on the banks of a canal in Amsterdam.

El Guincho, ostensibly a vehicle for Pablo Di­az-Reixa's music, presents as a four-piece and extends the feel-good vein of the evening with their distinctly tropical take on indie dance. Kicking off with FM Tan Sexy, it feels like the lads are DJing at Club Tropicana somewhere on the Costa Del Sol. Infectious polyrhythms that draw inspiration from South American influences have everyone in the room at least wriggling to the beat, just a little. The live mix may feel a little rough but, compared to the recorded versions, it is injected with a load of energy. The repetition in the music references '90s dance tunes spiced up with some seriously exotic flavours. Antillas and Bombay see hands in the air as the crowd gets loose and carefree on the dancefloor. There is very little weight to these tunes, which feel light and undemanding. Their vibrant and buoyant grooves put smiles on faces and that's pretty much all that is important here. While El Guincho's music speaks for itself, surprisingly there is an earnestness about their presence that is at odds with the vibes they produce. Hiperasia has most bouncing as it brings down the evening on a high.