Gotan Project

Five years ago Gotan Project released their tango-infused electronic debut La Revancha del Tango and ushered in a wave of like-minded followers including Bajofondo Tango Club and many Buenos Aires influenced compilations, often with poor results that sacrificed the musical passion of the tango, focusing instead on generic beats. Although Gotan Project did take some slack as well from Argentina’s notoriously fickle tango purveyors, Lunático proves not only that this band can still marvellously fuse tango with elements of electronics, but they are some of best players of tango the world has to offer. Named after tango maestro’s champion race horse of the ’30s, Lunático was recorded in Buenos Aires’ famed Studio ION, where Astor Piazzolla once laid down the foundation for tango nuevo on vast reel-to-reel tape machines. Unlike their debut, the album focuses on the roots of tango and Argentine folkloric music, with many of the songs containing traditional tango patterns to almost classic levels. "Celos” sounds as if they almost replicate the house band at Buenos Aires famed Café Tortoni, and for added effect you can hear the glasses clinking and the Porteño banter in the background of the songs. Lazy horns and light interspersed piano show up throughout the album, but it is always the sensual sound of the tango accordion that adds the true magic. And to throw a finger in the face of those purists, Argentine hip-hop collective Koxmoz rhyme some of the best Latin hip-hop of the year on "Mi Confesión.”