Gotan Project give new meaning to the term French Dance Music with their debut La Revancha Del Tango. A collaboration between soundtrack composers Philippe Cohen Solal and Christophe Mueller and Argentinean guitarist Eduardo Makaroff, the Gotan project project are more about Tangos and accordions than chic disco-house and vocoders. And while the Parisian trio's debut is unlikely to set any superclub dance floors alight, it's unique, bewitching and incredibly French. Part ingenious dance hybrid, part spine-tingling soundtrack, the success of their peculiar mix of strident break-beats, eerie violins and those all-important accordions owes no small debut to Solal & Mueller's cinematic expertise. Exuding enchanting-chilling atmosphere, tracks play out like a sensual score to the nocturnal life of Paris' Latin Quarter. The longing melody of "Queremos Paz" and the jazzy "Last Tango in Paris" are pure romance, and the frantic Latin rhythms of the only real club contender, "Triptico", conjure the hectic caf? society, but most affecting are the backstreet sleazy of Epoca and swagger of "Chunga's Revenge"; both as hypnotic as they are sinister. Strange amalgams of dub bass and unhinged cabaret vocals add to Gotan Project's allure, but it's the passion and drama that mesmerise, and no dance music has more of both than a Tango. --Dan Gennoe
