Mar Dulce is the new album by Bajofondo (formerly Bajofondo Tango Club) a collaboration between Gustavo Santaolalla, Juan Campodonico, and Luciano Supervielle. The original concept of the group was to combine tango with techno and turntablism, much the way Nortec Collective uses Norteño and techno. With Mar Dulce the group decided to take an organic, real time approach without the loops and samples and expand their reach to other Río Plata(Argentina and Uruguay) genres using live instruments.
The disc opens with the big beat house number Grand Guinol, along with the single Pa’ Bailar (the cd ends with a second version with vocals by Julieta Venegas) are the most danceable tunes on the album. The other instrumentals tend to be downtempo atmospherics. Pulmon and Borges Y Paraguay have an especially strong tango feel.
One major difference between Mar Dulce and the previous Bajofondo cd are songs featuring prominent singers. Elvis Costello(Fairly Right) and Nelly Furtado(Buldozas Majados) of course are well known to anglophonic music fans but their contributions (esp. Costello) are very predictable. More interesting are the songs featuring Argentine rock stars Juan Subira (of Bersuit Vergarabat) and Gustavo Cerati. Subira’s grit growls over the tango of Hoy and El Mareowith Cerati incorporates his dreamy new wavish pop into the Bajofondo sound. Spanish rapper La Mala Rodriguez adds humor and sass on El Andean.
The standout vocalist though is Lágrima Ríos, the Uruguayan queen of candombe, on Chiquilines her last recording. Powerful, beautiful, just listen to it.
Video for Pa’ Bailar:
Interviews(en español) with principal players on the creation of Mar Dulce:
Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEqtki6hFbs
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJDC12bsnmw
Bajofondo on MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/bajofondomardulce
The Official Bajofondo Site:
