(Decca / Surco)

www.deccalabelgroup.com

Everything about Bajofondo is a hybrid. The Argentine-Uruguayan octet plus string section melds bandoneon-based tango with electronics, turntables and rapping. Mar Dulce, their second album (not counting a set of remixes), features guest vocalists from both the pop and Latin worlds—Elvis Costello and Nelly Furtado; Julieta Venegas, Juan Subira and 82 year-old Lagrima Rios. It was recorded in Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo, Madrid (and elsewhere).

Helmed by Gustavo Santaolalla, who did the scores for Brokeback Mountain and Babel, Bajofondo (formerly, the Bajofondo Tango Club, on its first album) is equally interested in swooping ballads (“Fairly Right,” with Costello), slinky, creaky seductions (“Hoy,” with Subira) and percussive celebrations (“Grand Guignol”). All this cross-fertilization works well enough: in lesser hands, the transition from the Spanish rapping on “El anden” to the meditative instrumental “Borges y Paraguay” would jar, but “Infiltrado,” with its opening-credits melody and its burbling electronics, serves as an apt segue.

But there’s still a whiff of compromise here: the regular thump of the programming and beats often tames tango’s passionate flexibility (compare Astor Piazzolla, for instance), and instead of offering an invitation for an erotic tango or a call to a nightclub’s dancefloor, Mar Dulce presents a faintly exotic accompaniment for an iced mocha latte.

Standout Tracks: “Fairly Right,” “Pa’bailar” STEVE KLINGE