Sexteto Visceral: Milonga de mis amores

The Sexteto Visceral, founded in 2011, is out with their third album, "Milonga de mis amores". In addition to the tango-typical instruments (piano, bandoneon, violin, double bass) they also included a cello and a guitar in their sound. Moreover, with Hernán Fernández, who can be heard in four songs, they have an impressive singer on their side.The ensemble aims to play the well-known tango classics in the style of the old orchestras (Rotundo, Pugliese, de Angelis, Troilo, D'Arienzo, di Sarli, Gobbi, Laurenz, Tanturi, Salgan) and thus to give today´s dancers a piece of ‘authenticity’. Francisco Rotundo's "Para florearse" succeeds with great momentum and dynamic passion - and is tonally pretty close to the original. Anibal Troilo's "Barrio de Tango" is performed by Hernán Fernández in interpretive proximity to Roberto Goyeneche (however, it is not a shame that in terms of dynamic elegance, Troilo's orchestra is still slightly ahead). Piazzolla's "Zum" in the Pugliese style is more elegant and pleasing in their interpretation, and also Fresedo's "Vida mia" in the style of Horacio Sálgan is more playful and soft than the original version. – It is a nice idea that the musicians put themselves self in the tradition of the old masters and pass them on to today's audience.
Pianist Francisco Ferrero and guitarist Mauro Paternoster are responsible for the clear arrangements transcribed after the original recordings and adapted to the ensemble's instruments. This leaves the musicians lot of room to unfold their talent. In my view the sound of the new album is much better balanced than their 2014 album "Champagne Tango", which was also recorded under live conditions in the studio.

The ensemble has an easy game with me and manages to lift my mood already while listening to their CD. Now, let's now imagine an atmospheric dance hall with cozy lighting, nice people looking forward to a beautiful evening - and Sexteto Visceral lures the dancers with their music onto the dance floor. I am quite sure that a wonderful evening is guaranteed.

Artist´s website: www.sextetovisceral.com.ar

El Cachivache Quinteto: Lujo y Fantasía

Here they are again, the bogeys of tango: El Cachivache Quinteto. No worries, the 5 musicians (Vito Venturino, guitar; Pablo Montanelli, piano; Adriano De Vita, bandoneon; Pacha Mendes, double-bass; Bruno Giutini, violin) only look wild and dangerous – they actually just want to play. As can be heard in their previous records, they mix their rock attitude with wonderful tango vibes and can convince with carefree wit and passion. The new 11 tracks of their 2018 album Lujo y Fantasía (mostly written by the two directors Montanelli and Venturino) fully draw me on the ensemble´s side: That´s the tango music I would like to hear. Of course, they don't invent the genre completely new, several pattern and melody lines sound familiar – but they do it in a refreshing way: The genre is partly brushed against the grain, and you can be confident that this vitamin injection will do good to contemporary tango.
“Muerte dulce” is one of those delicate songs which features a wonderful melancholic melody played by bandoneon and violin, and is rhythmically accentuated by piano, bass and (slightly distorted) chord patterns of the electric guitar. For me, one of their best songs on this album. Nevertheless, also the other songs have their strength, depending on the listener´s taste. Several compositions are much more cheerful; they too have beautiful melody arcs to which you like to attach yourself as a listener or dancer (e.g., Maipo 1). “Blues de Wanda” is a tango, definitely not a blues, flavored with rock parts. “Cielo Rojo”) is a slow accentuated tango with rhythmical breaks and a catchy melody which easily has the listeners at its ‘fishing hook’.

In May 2019, El Cachivache Quinteto starts a European tour which gives the local dancers a good opportunity to convince themselves that the musicians are one of the very exciting ensembles of the new tango generation – and that tango is still very much alive.

Artist´s website: www.elcachivache.info