NorteñoBlog doesn’t always Pick to Click, but when I do… sometimes I get it wrong and type “Click to Pick.” This made searching for the previous year’s worth of Picks INTERESANTE.
The Pick to Click began as a shameless ripoff from Charles Pierce’s must-read liberal politics blog at Esquire, as did a couple other, possibly subtler NorteñoBlog tics. (Spot them all! Both! Whatever!) It’s a useful way to highlight the song I enjoy the most in a particular post, so that you the loyal reader don’t have to wade through a pool of Banda MS’s tears to reach the good stuff. Of course, if you enjoy the delectable bouquet wafting from Banda MS’s tears, you can always Click what I don’t Pick, though you’ll run the risk of turning Banda MS happy and then they might run out of Art. Besides current singles, the following list includes some older singles and current album tracks.
Most Picked at three apiece: NorteñoBlog’s probable artists of the year Alfredo Ríos “El Komander” and Marco Flores y #1 Banda Jerez. Banda Cuisillos, Noel Torres, and Chuy Lizárraga each scored two Picks. So did Los Gfez, Pancho Uresti, and Ariel Camacho, though one Pick from each of those three was in a “featured” role. Besides norteño and banda, the list includes cumbias and puro sax stomps, reggaeton and ABBA-schlager, Jenny and the Mexicats and Pitbull, and covers of Johnny Cash and — first up — Shania Twain. Happy Clicking!
1/9/15: Rogelio Martínez, “Y Sigues Siendo Tu”
“Among all the Latin charts, the longest climb to #1 — 43 weeks — took place in 2000-01 on Regional Mexican Songs, with a banda cover of Shania Twain.”
Límite, “Por Encima de Todo”
“a minor key Tejano cumbia with a good accordion solo and sharp singing from Alicia Villarreal”
1/12/15: Marco Flores, “El Pajarito”
“The man is a dancing machine.”
1/17/15: Victor Manuelle, “Que Suenen Los Tambores”
Natalia Jiménez, “Quédate Con Ella”
1/21/15: La Trakalosa de Monterrey ft. Pancho Uresti, “Adicto a la Tristeza”
“I myself am addicted to the urgency of their chorus melody”
1/23/15: El Komander, “Malditas Ganas”
2/3/15: Los Incomparables de Tijuana ft. Los Nuevos Rebeldes, “Caro Quintero Soy”
“Come for the big bushy beard; stay for the part in the middle where they put down their instruments and shout out their respective bands.”
2/10/15: Retoños del Rio, “Por Que La Engañe”
“Intocablish country bounce, busy fills, and a jagged riff played by both accordion and saxophone”
2/15/15: Diego Herrera ft. Los Gfez, “Es Todo Un Placer”
“one of those norteño quartet-meets-banda mashups the NorteñoBlog LOVES”
Grupo Cañaveral ft. Jenny and the Mexicats, “Tiene Espinas el Rosal”
“Confused by this sudden mixture of guilt, cumbia-suckertude, and wanting to sing “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” in the shower, I direct you to their live video and Jenny’s excellent trumpet intonation.”
2/20/15: Chuy Lizárraga, “Se Me Sigue Notando”
“Just slow down and accept that Chuy knows what he’s doing, and your mind will open to a new realm of romantic despair.”
2/24/15: Colmillo Norteño, “La Plebona”
“rapid-fire circus parade”
2/26/15: Mingo Saldivar, “Rueda de Fuego”
“a terrific act of post-colonial reclamation,” says Anthony
3/10/15: El Komander, “Fuga Pa’ Maza”
“his tuba and requinto players caper around the bar, spilling everyone’s drinks”
3/12/15: La Maquinaria Norteña, “Si Te Vuelvo a Ver”
“a stomping country polka with some puro Chihuahua sax, by way of New Mexico”
3/17/15: Mario ‘El Cachorro’ Delgado, “El Rancho”
“a sad but swinging protest corrido using chicken farming as a parable about Mexican kidnapping violence”
3/20/15: Wisin ft. Carlos Vives & Daddy Yankee, “Nota de Amor”
“It’s got the same chord changes as the Black Eyed Peas’ “Where Is the Love?,” though I didn’t detect any lines comparing the CIA to the KKK.”
3/26/15: Julión Álvarez, “El Aferrado”
“combines the two ensembles to jarring effect”
3/31/15: Rocio Quiroz, “La De La Paloma”
“a minor key stomp with its drums slightly off-kilter in that delicious cumbia manner”
4/3/15: Enigma Norteña, “Calla Y Me Besas”
“hot accordion work and tight band interplay”
4/7/15: Banda Cohuich, “Son Kora Kau Te Te Kai Nie Ni (Dialecto Huichol)”
“a relentless jerking propulsion machine with brass, gang vocals, and a slippery synth line (I think)”
4/10/15: Ariel Camacho, “Te Metiste”
“great melody played by an excellent band”
4/22/15: Los Gfez, “Hasta Tu Dedo Gordito”
“I implore you not to google images of dedos gorditos unless you get off on toe injuries. No judging.”
Laura Denisse, “Sigo Enamorada”
“Denisse spends much of the first verse singing over a bed of percussion and tuba, with minimal horn interjections.”
4/27/15: Javier Rosas, “Por Clave Llevo El 13”
“The rhythm section — which is basically everyone except Rosas and the accordion player — achieves some math-rocking triplet-against-duple thing I’m still at a loss to fully understand.”
4/29/15: Banda Cuisillos, “Cerveza”
“several of NorteñoBlog’s favorite elements: two different singers trying to outdo one another in the passion department, brass alternating with guitar, and deplorable sexism”
5/1/15: Marco A. Flores, “Dudo”
“a voice like a tornado siren playing a wax paper comb”
5/5/15: Noel Torres, “No Andan Cazando Venados”
“Well this is the stuff of myth and legend”
5/8/15: Leandro Rios ft. Pancho Uresti, “Debajo del Sombrero”
“takes as much pleasure in the act of rhyming as any random song by Sondheim”
5/14/15: Grupo El Reto ft. Alta Consigna, “La Parranda Va Empezar”
“features two tubists doing crazy things”
5/15/15: Jovanko Ibarra, “No Le Hagamos Al Cuento”
“a decent song, sung reedily, and if you watch the video you get to look at Jovanko Ibarra. On a motorcycle!”
5/22/15: Gerardo Ortiz, “El Cholo”
“drums set to churn and an accordion that can’t quit spitting out licks”
5/25/15: Banda Culicancito, “Lástima de Cuerpo”
“rapid fire barrages of syllables that never seem to end”
5/26/15: Banda Cuisillos, “De La Noche a la Mañana”
“could turn into early-’80s hi-NRG workout music with a few tweaks to its instrumentation”
6/1/15: German Montero, “Me Seguirás Buscando”
“Judging by his overwrought performance, the search might entail self-strangulation and vocal nodes, but if that´s what it takes…”
6/2/15: Grupo Fernandez ft. Ariel Camacho y Regulo Caro, “La Fuga del Dorian”
“both of whom burn up song and video with charisma”
6/5/15: Pitbull ft. Osmani Garcia y Sensato, “El Taxi”
“It features car horns beeping. I mean, come on.”
6/16/15: Larry Hernández, “Aferrado Corazón”
“features Hernández not quite reaching his high notes in a very appealing way”
6/19/15: Tito “El Bambino” ft. Zion & Lennox, “Como Antes”
“majestic reggaeton synth pop with pounding drums and low voices comically interjecting things like “MAMACITA” every so often”
6/29/15: Los Horóscopos de Durango, “Estoy Con Otro En la Cama”
“This study of hi infidelity uses “cuernos” imagery worthy of Shakespearean cuckoos.”
7/31/15: Duelo, “Veneno”
“I can’t be the only one who hears Def Leppard’s “Hysteria.””
8/4/15: Los Salvajes de Chihuahua, “Algo de Ti”
“additional beats and minor chords where you don’t expect them”
8/8/15: Fidel Rueda, “Ya No Soy El Mandadero”
“a furious rebuke to some of those frightening power-mad scaredy cats”
8/16/15: Grupo Máximo Grado, “Unas Heladas”
“really pretty good”
9/2/15: Martin Castillo, “Mi Filosofia”
“Castillo’s filosofia seems to boil down to “help me out or I’ll kill you””
9/4/15: Banda Cuisillos, “A Goyo Le Huele El Peyoyo”
“NorteñoBlog admits to being thoroughly confused.”
9/8/15: Marco Flores y La Jerez, “Amor de la Vida Alegre”
“spends half the song crowing over just drums and tuba”
9/21/15: Roberto Tapia, “No Valoraste”
“the high-climbing melody sounds great in his upper range”
9/28/15: La Inquietud Norteña, “Dimelo”
“whoever’s playing the polka bass gets his R&B licks in”
9/29/15: Noel Torres, “Me Interesas”
“forthright efficiency that cuts through the sentiment”
10/6/15: El Komander, “Hoy Toca”
“tight as a whipcrack yet fraying around the edges”
10/13/15: Los Zafiros Del Norte, “El Prieto Ortiz”
“breakneck accordion fills over a tough rhythm section”
10/16/15: Chuy Lizárraga, “¿Y Qué Ha Sido de Ti?”
“tuba bassline prodding the higher masses of brass”
10/20/15: Lenin Ramírez, “El Señor Zambada”
“pairs impressive requinto guitar flourishes with an oom-pah-pah rhythm section”
NorteñoBlog 
October 24, 2015 at 2:28 pm
I see you’re fond of Norteno con Sax, Los Tigres have an extensive list of songs in this style. I recommend you listen (if you haven’t already) to “Cuestion Olvidada” “Rosita de Olivo” “Puerta Negra” “La mesa del Rincon”
Grupo Innovación “Mañana que ya no este” is also really good.
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October 30, 2015 at 10:36 am
I do like the sax stuff, but I’ll tell you a secret: I’ve been seeking it out because a lot of people search for it on the internet. According to my stats, the two biggest search phrases that brought people to this website in October were “puro Chihuahua sax” and “puro Zacatecas sax.” (Take “biggest” with a grain of salt, it wasn’t that many, but still.) Who knew! Anyway, I’ll try to check out those Tigres and Innovación songs.
Tigres’ sax use is especially interesting because they come from Sinaloa rather than the sax hotbeds of Chihuahua and Zacatecas. I mean, obviously anyone who wants to use a sax in their music can do so, and Los Tigres come across as more pan-Mexican than Sinaloan anyway, but so few bands outside those two states actually have sax players. I’m curious to dig into Los Tigres’ history more and see when they started using the sax and whether it was a decision to appeal to that sax-loving audience — sort of like my decision to find sax songs for the blog — or whether they just knew a good sax player and decided to let them play. (I see from wiki that Eduardo plays now but before that it was Guadalupe Olivo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Tigres_del_Norte)
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