About

When your first album is a million-selling international hit, launches a new era in tango history and graces Sex and the City, creating a second is a daunting prospect. But that's what faced the Gotan Project - Argentinian guitarist Eduardo Makaroff, and electronica DJs Philippe Cohen Solal and Christoph H Müller - following 2001's La Revancha del Tango (The Revenge of the Tango).

Named after the champion racehorse of Carlos Gardel, Tango's greatest singer who died in 1935, Lunatico was concocted in Paris and Buenos Aires, and brilliantly evokes smoky Thirties bars and today's nightclubs. The opening song, 'Amor Porteno', and the closing 'Paris Texas' - which reworks Ry Cooder's classic theme - link the pampas with Sergio Leone-like landscapes in a strange tango dream.

The title track follows a more traditional line, emphasising tango's stop-start rhythms, while Gardel is evoked in 'Tango Canción', in which singer Cristina Villalonga's voice is immersed in strings and bandoneon. All the classic Gotan elements are present - the sighing bandoneon; Villalonga's voice as sensual as a bossanova chanteuse - although the popularity in Paris today of the funky, more African milongas is acknowledged in several songs, most notably 'Domingo', a wonderfully weird concoction.

Lunatico won't alienate fans by having evolved too fast, nor disappoint by excessively rehashing old themes. These pioneers have witnessed several electronic-tango bands emerge in their wake, but these new short songs, carefully constructed, succinct and complex, re-establish the rules. You'll carry them everywhere. — (via The Guardian)

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Label: ¡Ya Basta!
Format: 2x Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Gatefold
Country: Europe
Reissued: Mar 15, 2024 / Original Release: Apr 11, 2006
Genre: Electronic, Latin
Style: Trip Hop, Downtempo, Tango
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File under: Downtempo