Patino Quintana
Daniel Patino Quintana is a
singer/songwriter guitarist from San
Jose. He is also an arranger with a good perception of
what he is after and how to produce it. I have been listening to an E.P., “La
Dulce Vida” and an album, “Camino de Aire”
by his band Patino Quintana. The two discs are comprised of sixteen songs
tracking more than an hour of music. It is not possible to label the music with
any particular style. The full-length album has a suite sensation to it, with
the titles of some of the passages referencing the album title and sounding
symphonic, giving it an almost orquestral sound. Indeed, the band includes not
only guitars, bass, piano and percussion, but violins and a female vocal chorus
as well. And for this album, Daniel has recruited Ivan Rodriguez from Malpais
to play additional violin on two of the songs, Camilio Poltronieri to add petal
steel guitar on one passage, Checka D’avila to contribute sax for two songs and
flute on another, and a variety of guests on a variety of electronic keyboards
and percussionists. The result is a real collage or melting pot of sounds,
varying between the orquestral, and acoustic and vocal songs. I have to mention
the guitar playing by band member Esteban Urena.
It’s always clean and slick and he uses a lot of filters and phasers to enhance
the sound. It’s obvious he is plugged into Daniel’s vision and knows how to
help get them there.
The album opens, appropriately, with the
sound of a radio dial surfing through channels, broadcasting a variety of
snippets of different sounds until it “lands” on the opening notes of
“Tentacion de 12 Horas”. The voices are strong, harmonic and the music has some
great hooks, as the album takes off, coursing through the ten songs, including
three “Camino de aire” segues. I think it is a very accomplished production
overall. If I have a complaint, it would be about the cover artwork, blank with
oversized, very faint grey block letters. It is easy to not notice the jacket
and I don’t think it does the music justice. That might seem crass, but believe
me, packaging is a huge part of marketing a CD, which is how you get people to
buy your product.
The EP, “La
Dulce Vita”, on the other hand, has a very
bright, Poppy, enhancing cover. The album opens with a nice vocal and acoustic
guitar entry, into a straight-forward rock song. Daniel certainly has a talent
for creating musical hooks. The total musical ensemble is composed into a very
listenable product. Papaya Music thinks so, too. The largest music label in Costa Rica has
agreed to distribute the two CDs for Patino Quintana, and that can only help
them reach the audience they have obviously worked so hard for and that they
deserve. Their CDs are available at the Jaime Peligro Book Store in Playa
Tamarindo, where they will gladly sample the music for their customers. 
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