Record Exchange Boise

Reviews:

Just like any genre of music concerned with its continued relevance in the world, electronic music relies on its mutations to keep an easily bored dancefloor moving. One way of doing this is to dive into another culture's rhythm-based folk music and see how it sounds once funneled through a sequencer and some outboard keyboards. This, of course, has led to actual musicians attempting to do something serious, artful and fun, as well, which is certainly the intent of this Parisian production trio. One of them, guitarist Eduardo Makaroff, provides the link to Argentinean tango with his history as a native practitioner of his nation's official groove. The other two, keyboardist/bassist Phillipe Cohen Solal and programmer/beatkeeper Christoph Mueller, follow along to dutifully craft tracks that land the Gotan Project smack dab in the middle of MOR hipster acceptability. That's not to say it ain't classy, but just a wee bit superficial.

The overall mood of this album is quite subdued. One of the album's singles, "Triptico," does hit the dancefloor nicely with housey keyboards and a spirited violin solo, but Solal and Mueller generally prevent the mixes from generating much heat-which proves rather frustrating overall. The cover of Frank Zappa's "Chunga's Revenge" strikes a surprising and refreshingly sinister vibe, but tracks like "Queremos Paz" seem almost constructed with the words "Chill-out Crossover" almost encoded into their musical DNA. Ultimately, all of this was dance music first before it became cultural accessory, so one only wishes the Gotan Project could have gone closer to their source. Just like any genre of music concerned with its continued relevance in the world, electronic music relies on its mutations to keep an easily bored dancefloor moving. One way of doing this is to dive into another culture's rhythm-based folk music and see how it sounds once funneled through a sequencer and some outboard keyboards. This, of course, has led to actual musicians attempting to do something serious, artful and fun, as well, which is certainly the intent of this Parisian production trio. One of them, guitarist Eduardo Makaroff, provides the link to Argentinean tango with his history as a native practitioner of his nation's official groove. The other two, keyboardist/bassist Phillipe Cohen Solal and programmer/beatkeeper Christoph Mueller, follow along to dutifully craft tracks that land the Gotan Project smack dab in the middle of MOR hipster acceptability. That's not to say it ain't classy, but just a wee bit superficial.

The overall mood of this album is quite subdued. One of the album's singles, "Triptico," does hit the dancefloor nicely with housey keyboards and a spirited violin solo, but Solal and Mueller generally prevent the mixes from generating much heat-which proves rather frustrating overall. The cover of Frank Zappa's "Chunga's Revenge" strikes a surprising and refreshingly sinister vibe, but tracks like "Queremos Paz" seem almost constructed with the words "Chill-out Crossover" almost encoded into their musical DNA. Ultimately, all of this was dance music first before it became cultural accessory, so one only wishes the Gotan Project could have gone closer to their source.