El Cachivache Quinteto: Tango Punk Vol. 1

The El Cachivache Quinteto, founded in 2008, steamroll us with 9 (historic) tango tracks full of overflowing vitality and temperament. Yet, you should avoid to look at their promotional photos or to take the album title 'tango punk' too literally. They play definitely danceable songs with a vital root in the tango tradition, and don´t vandalize the ‘heart of tango’ as one might otherwise expect. They love these old songs – and also have their own milonga where they often play as musicians or where they DJ.

Founders, musical directors and arrangers Vito Venturino (guitar and bass) and Pablo Montanelli (piano) invited Negro de La Fuente (bandoneon), Pacha Mendes (upright bass) and Nico Franco (violin) to join the team, and now their album “Tango Punk Vol. 1” is out - and it is definitely worth it. You seldom hear compositions from Rafael Iriarte, Carlos di Sarli, Edgardo Donato, Mario Canaro etc. with such a vivid enthusiasm. Maybe this is the ‘punk approach’ – don´t care about the expectations, have fun, enjoy the present moment, and wow the audience. The applause is on your side.     

San Telmo Lounge: Doble Imperfecto

San Telmo Lounge is one of the few contemporary tango ensembles that have found their unique trade mark sound. They clearly have established themselves among the ‘hot spots‘ of the creative modern tango scene. Composer and mastermind Martin Delgado brought in his music preferences ranging from Rock, Jazz-Rock, Tango and modern Classic composers. Thus it is quite clear that San Telmo Lounge has more to offer than several other, rather ‘tango conservative’ ensembles.

Starting once as a one-man project, they became a quartet, and they are today a septet with Martin Delgado (guitars), Ariel Aguilar (bandoneon), Lucas Polichiso (piano and keyboards), Maximiliano Natalutti  (violin), Tutu Rufus (bass guitar), Sebastian Mamet (drums) and Laura Cardini as their singer. Now their tonal scope is much richer than before, but not principally different. When you like the music of their 2010 album Al filo with its mild progressive jazz-rock influences, you will like the new one too.
The 2016 album Doble Imperfecto is meant as a double album with two different sites: 10 vocal tracks on the A site and 10 instrumental tracks on the B site. However, these two different facets of the ensemble are placed on one CD (disadvantage of modernity). With the engagement of Laura Cardini as their regular singer, San Telmo Lounge is able to follow their intention to combine a “piazzolaesc esthetic with influences of British pop and rock music”, as Martin Delgado explains. 
The arrangements are simple and straightforward, but nevertheless filigree and graceful. Cardini´s gentle and ‘airy‘ voice fits perfect to the likeable songs with their beautiful melodies (listen to Vida Partida). Since several years I salute Delgado´s abilities to write songs with intelligent melodies which find their way to the listener´s heart. However, I am unsure which site of the ensemble I like best – the A or B site? The good news is, you can have them both for one!

Tango Tinto: Camino Esquivo

The quartet Tango Tinto describes themselves as a “traditional quartet specialized in Argentinian Tango”. Their musicians are Gerardo Agnese (bandoneón), Bárbara Varassi Pega (piano), Virgilio Monti (double-bass), Vincenzo Albini (violin), and as singer Rubén Peloni. 

While their repertoire usually includes traditional composers (Pugliese, Troilo, Arolas, Plaza, D’Arienzo, Canaro, De Caro, Piazzolla etc.) to please the dancers at milongas and festivals, they increasingly add their own songs. For their 3^rd album Camino Esquivo seven tracks were written by themselves, i.e., four by bandoneonista Agnese, two by pianist Varassi Pega and one by their singer Peloni. The others are the 1949´s tango “El último organito” by Acho Manzi, the 1932´s tango “La casita de mis viejos” by Juan Carlos Cobián, Ricardo Brignolo´s “Chiqué”, Luis Brighenti´s “Ensueños”, and “Inspiración” by P. Paulos. They even arranged the old tangos a bit ‘nuevo’ to make them fit to their musical preferences.

While music like this can easily be somewhat boring, particularly when musicians intend to impress their audience with their skills, Tango Tinto do not make this mistake. They have the necessary verve and passion, they change tempi and atmosphere even within a song to attract their followers - and they have their singer Rubén Peloni with his warm timbre. He balances the vibes the ensemble creates with pure emotions.

Gerardo Agnese´s song “Voy a volver” is one of the wonderful moments of this album: The piano opens with discrete melodic and harmonic progressions, Peloni sings the beautiful melody with relaxed passion, violin and bandoneon respond with elegant melodic phrases, and the double-bass gives clear structure. For me, one of the album´s highlights. Further, Rubén Peloni´s “El rioba de la ex” comes along as a lively milonga-candombe and has the necessary elements to convince the dancers. Other songs need their time to unfold, i.e., the bittersweet “Sin tu manos” by Tango Tinto´s bandoneonista (Piazzolla surely would have been pleased about this reference).     

Plaza Francia: A New Tango Song Book

Plaza Francia can be seen as the legitimate successors of Gotan Project, with Argentine Eduardo Makaroff (guitars) and Swiss-born Christoph H. Müller (e-piano, synthesizer and programming) as composers and producers, and French actress-singer Catherine Ringer of the 80^th avantgard-rock-pop project Les Rita Mitsouko as interpret of their songs. 

Gotan Project (featuring Katalan singer Cristina Vilallonga) left a deep impact with their influential 2001 electro tango release ”La Revancha del Tango”. When they split it seemed difficult to fill this gap. Then in 2014, Müller & Makaroff published their new songs as a beautiful mélange of tango, French pop songs and diverse other ingredients. Surprisingly, the Gotan Project ‘relicts’ Müller & Makaroff had no big problem to underline that they are still highly relevant for the contemporary tango music scene. Their songs are fascinating and grooving, have good progressions and catchy melodies.

The trio was supported by additional musicians, i.e., Gilberto Pereyra and Facundo Torres (bandoneon), Romain Lécuyer (double bass), Gustavo Beytelmann (piano), Earl Harvin (drums), a string quartet and a brass section (arranged by tango composer-pianist Gustavo Beytelmann), and others. Müller & Makaroff clearly left their former electro tango approach and present their new tracks as contemporary tango-chansons with elegant acoustic arrangements. 

Catherine Ringer sings with her characteristic ‘low register’ voice which fits perfectly to these modern tangos. For me, the main melodic line of the “Cada vez” chorus is not really suited for her vocal range and this is the only minus among so many plusses which makes this album attractive and a warrantor of pleasure, i.e., the grooving La mano encima (the only track with sequencer bass) or the wonderful elegiac “Cenizas” with its melodic progression alternatingly headed by brass section and strings and bandoneon in the chorus (my personal highlight of the album).

With a winking eye the lyrics of this “New Tango Song Book” were reproduced with guitar chords in the CD booklet; obviously to facilitate that the younger generation of musicians can learn them more easily. Several are indeed essential and will surely find their way to the international dance floors.  

Otros Aires: Perfect tango

Waiting for a new Otros Aires album is always a difficult task. I think of all those all the well-known tracks, some associated with specific memories. I remember Miguel di Genova´s contagious cheerfulness during a life performance. – Then, I became aware that ten new songs are going to be released, and that I would have the chance to hear them very early. Wow. It is clear that I began with a positive bias. 
At the first, we hear the typical groove oriented Otros Aires songs with Miguel´s distinctive voice, Diego Ramos´s elegant piano, Martin Paladin´s drums, and two alternating bandoneon player, namely Matias Rubino and Ernesto Chino Molina. Musical director Miguel di Genova adds guitar flavor, and - of course - electronica effects.  
“Solo esta noche” charms the listener with the voice of Afghan-Irish singer-songwriter Meghan Kabir. This duet track was written by Megha Kabir, Fin Dow-Smith and Miguel di Genova. It definitely has something special. Also the Grace Jones cover “I´ve seen that face before”, the pop version of Piazzolla´s “Libertango”, is convincing in its own way. While the amazon´s version is subtley aggressive and more direct, the new version is very relaxed. All the others songs are written by Otros Aires´s mastermind, Miguel. They follow a proven and tested formulation - great grooves enriched with discreet electronica effects, a solid piano fundament, characteristic bandoneon lines, and basic melodies which lure the electro tango fans on the dance floor. “Amor o nada” is one of these tracks with a compelling hiphop beat. “Bailando sin paraiso” and “Perro Viejo” are tempting dancefloor seducer with addictive potential. 
The American poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou is cited on the backcover: “Everything in the universe has rhythm, everything dances”. She knew “why the caged bird sings”, Otros Aires have opened the cage doors.