With their new album, Lunatico, the Gotan Project channels classic tango texture and form, masterfully blending original tango arrangements with thumping beats, a full string section, two MCs and a star-studded cast of Argentinean and Parisian musicians. "Many of the tracks are really classically tango-oriented," says co-producer Eduardo Philippe, "...very traditional patterns that people like Anibal Troilo would use." While many listeners may be skeptical of yet another traditional or throwback style remixed for the dance floor, Lunatico proves to excel - deftly blending the beautifully haunting melodies and swung, floating rhythms of classic tango with hard-hitting bass and drum tracks - where many other style-bending producers have failed. The album, recorded in Buenos Aires at the legendary Studio ION, achieves this often-overused blend of traditional and modern sounds with easy poise, showcasing the ensemble's wealth of talent as traditional tango musicians and composers, keeping what would be otherwise standard beats texturally rich, unpredictable and intriguing.
As the opening cut reveals, Lunatico's focus is undoubtedly the tasteful elegance of tango melody and groove. The musicians reveal their stunning aptitude through their restraint. Sparse drums and bass leave plenty of room for the bright, yet unobtrusive guitar and piano (played by virtuoso Gustavo Beytelmann), their very sparseness, coupled with the eerie wine of the Bandoneon (Accordion), lending a mysterious, unresolved tone to the album's beginning. This unsettled feeling persists throughout the album, cut by the dynamic grooves that producers Eduardo Makeroff, Philippe Cohen Solal and Christopher Muller lay underneath the instrumentation. Like the musicians on the album, Makeroff, Solal and Muller never eclipse any other member of the ensemble, adding just the right amount of bass-heavy punch to transform the once sophisticated, melancholy sound of archetypal Tango artists Anibal Troilo and Astor Piazzolla into darkly intricate, catchy beats that bump in the face of most contemporary hip-hop artists and producers.
In fact, the Gotan Project may be at its best when backing hip-hop artists like Argentinean Koxmoz who raps on Lunatico. On Koxmoz's track, "Mi Confesion," the album's producers stray farthest from their classical tango roots, using one of the most conventional "hip-hop" drum beats on the album, yet manage to capture tango's haunting power in the tense texture of the strings, the terse interplay between the piano and bandoneon. On most of the album's tracks, singer Christina Vilallonga lends her wistful, silky voice, recalling the smokey smooth tone of a 1940s Parisian club singer. On "Celos," a slower, heavily jazz-influenced waltz, Vilallonga's voice moves as delicately as the clinks of espresso cups and silverware in an Argentinean café that open and close the song. On more upbeat and heavily produced songs "Diferente" and "Arrabai," Vilallonga's passionate yet plaintive voice adds ample intrigue to the very danceable, but less dynamic tracks. Despite the clear display of musicianship in it's intertwined and layered strings "Criminal," the album's only instrumental track, lacks the thumping rhythm and keen sense of musical space that The Gotan Project nails on every other song.
Aside from this anomaly, Lunatico is a phenomenal success, its dedication to "the organic roots of Tango" and driving, yet understated beats sure to please avid Tango aficionados and nightclub goers from Paris to Buenos Aires alike.
