Brothers Santiago and Facundo Moreno hail from Buenos Aires, but left Argentina in the early 2000s, reportedly driven to consider foreign shores by their country's economic crisis. Given subsequent economic developments, one might wonder if Italy was a wise choice for immigration, but that's where the brothers landed, and at the very least they were able to achieve some measure of musical if not economic fulfillment. Both brothers, as it turns out, are skilled classical guitarists, and Facundo is adept at the charango, regarded by some aficionados as "the South American super ukulele." The brothers are also practitioners of South American folk forms, including the tango, milonga, and cumbia, and after arriving in Italy they began collaborating with like-minded players on the Genoa music scene, forming the band Aparecidos and releasing the album Lo Que Hay en el Charco on the Dodicilune label in 2009. After a change in lineup, Aparecidos signed to the Milan-based avant-prog label AltrOck, which released the band’s sophomore album, Palito Bombón Helado, in late 2012. In addition to the Moreno brothers, Palito Bombón Helado also featured bassist Tommaso Rolando and guitarist Marco Ravera from Calomito (another AltrOck band), violinist Mattia Tommasini, drummer Santo Florelli, percussionist Manuel Merialdo, and two musical guests, diatonic accordionist Filippo Gambetta and singer Tatiana Zakharova, appearing on one track each. The resulting music encompassed sparkling, infectiously rhythmic Argentine folk-rock and forays into Eastern European and Mediterranean traditional forms, with subtly avant-gardist touches adding welcome but not overwhelming unpredictability to the band's appealing blend of musical styles. ~ Dave Lynch