Latest CD releases reviewed

GOTAN PROJECT
Inspiración Espiración XL 
***

Taking the tango from the barrios of Buenes Aires to the coffee-tables of the world, The Gotan Project's 2001 début, La Revancha del Tango, spun the bewitching and melancholic sound of the bandonion into places it had never reached before. Inspiración Espiración is not a follow-up to that intoxicating album, but Gotan Project's Philippe Cohen Solal casting a glad eye over various GP remixes, collaborations and classics which have the tango at the heart of their groove. Linking Chet Baker's Round Midnight with the Antipop Consortium, connecting Astor Piazzolla's Cite Tango to Pepe Braddock's ultra-swish modernism, finding common ground between Calexico's mariachi blues and the Peace Orchestra's electronic strut; Solal's blend should taste unpalatable, but instead provides a heady brew that is graceful, elegant and adventurous. We await a proper follow-up now with even more relish. www.xlrecordings.com

Jim Carroll