Daniel Melingo, once a rock musician in his native Argentina, took a sharp left turn at the end of the 1990s and plunged into the urban folklore of the national genre. Several albums on, Melingo draws on poetry and lunfardo (Buenos Aires street argot) to conjure a surreal underworld of shadowy figures and half-remembered dreams laced with loss, grief and regret. The song of the vagabond leads us on a merry dance before we are escorted on a downward spiral into the dark, where men move aimlessly through the void, and the dust of absence and forgetfulness piles up in the corners. The ravishing musical accompaniment to this tragic descent includes tango strings and accordion, Twin Peaks guitar, jazz flourishes,and haunting choruses. All lyrics are in Spanish. worldvillagemusic.com
Download: Volver a los 17, La Cancion del Linyera, La Maceta