NorteñoBlog

“Probablemente,” “Corrido de Juanito,” and a whole lot of banda romance continue to color the Mexican airwaves; but hang around long enough and you might hear something más interesante.

At #9 we find the corrido quartet Enigma Norteño all hopped up on some profesor chiflado shit. “Batallándole (El Gordo Flubbers)” is a corrido celebrating the Good Life, occasioned by the illicit negocios of its narrator and shoved along by one of the Blog’s favorite hitmaking machines, La Séptima Banda. In Ernesto Barajas’s lyric, the narco narrator looks back on his hardscrabble origins serving hamburgers and selling Tercel plans, and waxes philosophical — “Sometimes you win and also lose yourself; today I won for being El Mono Verde.” For reference, recall Gerardo Ortiz’s kickass corrido “El Mono Verde”. Some Hasty Cartel Googling confuses the Blog, but also indicates “El Mono Verde” isn’t the same guy as “El Mono,” who was assassinated in 2015 and is therefore no longer winning.

At its core, this ode to drug trafficking competition is really a celebration of companionship, best expressed when Enigma and La Séptima stop trading lines to sing together, “En las helaaaaadas con camaraaaaaadas.” Well, OK, a celebration of companionship made possible through a morally suspect business. It’s basically the first half of Boogie Nights before 1980 comes along and everything goes to hell, or Flubber y El Profesor Chiflado before Robin Williams starts snorting the Flubber and becomes a monster to his wife and children. But until then, the combined bands bounce with the force of 20 bowling balls. PICK TO CLICK

If there’s one confusing hierarchical enterprise, dependent upon filthy lucre and violent acts of revenge, that I don’t really care to understand, it’s the cartel world. If there’s a second, it’s The Voice. My basic understanding is that The Voice, like its Mexican counterpart La Voz… México, is a four-step process:

1. Famous judges sit in high-backed swivel chairs and listen to non-famous contestants sing, without knowing what the contestants look like;
2. As a way of settling behind-the-scenes scores, the judges sort the contestants into teams and then make the teams fight one another;
3. ???
4. PROFIT!

Back in 2014 a young Guadalajaran named Hansen Flores showed up on La Voz… México, his high register tackling Banda MS’s “Mi Meyor Anhelo” so remorselessly that judge (and former Banda MS singer, and owner of the continent’s best voice) Julión Álvarez agreed to take his case. It must not have worked out, because Álvarez’s other pupil Guido Rochin won the season, consigning Flores to the ash heap of anonymity.

But fortunes change like the phoenix! No clue what Rochin is doing now, but earlier this year Flores released his debut album Brindemos Por Tu Adios (independent), a likable collection of tuba-bassed sierreño, and now he’s larynx-wrestled his former judge into dueting on the single “Fino Pero Sordo,” a cover of the corrido quartet Grupo M4. The song has snuck into the top 20 at #18, thanks to Álvarez’s star power and the welcome novelty of hearing him cut loose on a Good Life corrido for the first time in… a while? Flores also has a strong band behind him, including a tubist who gets off one extremely emphatic mouthpiece fart early on. VALE LA PENA

Also notable:

At #11, Chiquis Rivera mugs her way through the stately banda romance “Vas a Volver,” her second radio hit this year after “Horas Extras.”

At #15, former Grupo Límite frontwoman Alicia Villarreal continues to hang around the airwaves with the ranchera melodrama “Haz Lo Que Quieras.” The Blog doesn’t like it too much, but wholeheartedly supports anything that drives listeners to Villarreal’s very good album of genre mashups, La Villarreal, even if she insists on releasing all its slow songs as singles.

Speaking of Tejano revivals, at #16 we find La Mafia swooning all over the place with Shalia Durcal on “Qué Haré Yo,” including a guitar solo you just know someone in the studio described as “blistering” when it is anything but.

At #17, Septeto Acarey finds its two-year-old tropical jam “Tu Eres Mi Sueño” on the radio and shakes its head in happy disbelief.

These are the Top 20 “Popular” songs in Mexico, as measured by monitorLATINO. Don’t confuse “Popular” with the “General” list, which contains many of the same songs but also the Radio Disney hits “Look What You Made Me Do” and “Feel It Still,” the version of “Mi Gente” featuring Beyonce, and a nice Kylie-ish bit of hi-NRG whoosh by the girl group JNS, “Aun Sin Ti.”

1. “El Color de Tus Ojos” – Banda MS
2. “Corrido de Juanito” – Calibre 50
3. “Loco Enamorado” – Remmy Valenzuela
4. “Corazon Roto” – La Arrolladora Banda
*5. “El Problema” – Alfredo Olivas
6. “La Princesa” – La Adictiva
*7. “Como No Adorarla” – Banda Carnaval
*8. “En Vida” – Banda Los Sebastianes
*9. “Batallándole (El Gordo Flubbers)” – Enigma Norteño ft. La Séptima Banda
10. “Probablamente” – Christian Nodal ft. David Bisbal

*11. “Vas a Volver” – Chiquis Rivera
*12. “Historia de Un Amor” – Pancho Barraza
13. “Ayer y Hoy” – Banda el Recodo
*14. “Desayuno” – Banda la Misma Tierra
15. “Haz Lo Que Quieras” – Alicia Villarreal
*16. “Que Hare Yo” – La Mafia ft. Shalia Durcal
*17. “Tu Eres Mi Sueño” – Septeto Acarey
*18. “Fino Pero Sordo” – Hansen Flores ft. Julión Álvarez
*19. “Niegame” – Hijos de Barron
20. “No Le Hago Falta” – Banda Los Recoditos

¡Adios!
“Porque Me Enamore” – Ulices Chaidez y Sus Plebes
“En Definitiva” – Alfredo Olivas
“Que Siga Lloviendo” – Duelo
“Tal Como Eres” – Luis Coronel
“La Rompe Corazones” – Daddy Yankee ft. Ozuna
“Te Perdono” – Intocable
“Las Cosas No Se Hacen Así” – Banda MS
“Soy Su Amante y Que” – Maximo Grado
“Intentaré Olvidarte” – Banda La Mundial de Claudio Alcaraz
“Oro (En Vivo)” – Bronco
“Para Que Lastimarme” – Gerardo Ortiz