***"For the first time on vinyl, Melingo's 2000 album Ufa! takes listeners on a captivating journey through the gritty streets of Buenos Aires. The album captures the essence of the urban landscape and the stories of an array of characters, including Jack The Ripper, Count Dracula, dealers, hustlers, trans love, and much more. Ufa! delves much deeper than its predecessor, Tangos Bajos, as it solidifies Melingo's collaboration with tango lyricists Luís Alposta and Enrique Cadícamo across ten tracks. Melingo's partnership with the iconic tango poet Enrique Cadícamo becomes profoundly significant when he sets to music Cadícamo's poem 'Siga Cochero,' written at the age of 19 in 1929. This particular composition gains newfound relevance and preservation thanks to Melingo's intimate collaboration with Don Enrique. The album also features renditions of beloved songs such as the Uruguayan Alfredo Zitarrosa's 'El Violin De Becho,' a chamamé, 'Las Flores Del Paraguay,' and the enchanting lullaby 'Sin Luna,' all exquisitely mastered by Myles Boisen."
LP $28.95
05/03/2024
***MELINGO's Tangos Bajos is a milestone in Argentina's young generation in tango music. When Melingo moved back to Buenos Aires in 1997 after a decade in Europe, he turned to tango. He recorded an album that became an instant classic, first in Buenos Aires and then in Spain, UK and France—where they call him "Le Tom Waits du Tango". Using minimal resources: bandoneon, double bass and nylon string guitar, Melingo creates the foundation for his stories—a landscape of losers, desperados, hustlers, drug addicts and killers. The style is raw—a direct influence of he "Guardia Vieja" (Old Guard), but it's updated with arrangements that flirt with elements of ambient dub. First-time vinyl pressing of 500 copies worldwide. "Tangos Bajos resignified the lunfardo (Argentinan slang) twice. Musically, from the rescue of brothel tango. In the lyrics, the presence of a bastard language that permeated both the new tango and the genres that stood out at the fierce end of the 20th century in Argentina, such as the cumbia villera: Pablo Lescano (Damas Gratis) is a self-confessed fan of this album."—José Bellas
LP $28.95
12/09/2022