I first encountered Helado Negro when Roberto Lange's ensemble included more people than could comfortably fit on a stage. ( I was invited to the show by my friend the brilliant musician Jason Ajemian who was playing in the Helado Negro ensemble). Since that time, the project has become a solo enterprise but the music has never lost anything of the playful and lively vibrancy of the large band that drew me in from the beginning, if anything its gotten more virtuosic -- and with Double Youth (Asthmatic Kitty) his fourth LP, Lange's skills are fully on display as both songwriter and engineer of sounds. This music demands indulgence and you may want to run a bath when you play the tracks.
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