¡Nuevo!

This week’s new or newish releases are motley and middling, sort of like the white elephant prize table at the office Christmas party.

Alfredo Olivas – El Privilegio (Sahuaro/Sony)
When we encountered Alfredito last week, we were hearing his song “Con La Novedad” covered by Banda Rancho Viejo. It’s possible this album won’t actually be released until January, per Amazon, but it’s also possible the whole thing’s currently up on Youtube, what with the Sony corporation’s attentions somewhat diverted these days. Olivas is a distinctive and “ito”-faced corridista and romantic who works with both a banda and a small group. He had a couple tracks on Hyphy’s El Corrido VIP comp.

Siggno – Zodiacal (Martzcom/Freddie)
and
Salido – “Ya No Eres La Misma” (Martzcom/Freddie)
Intocablish lopers.

Los Palominos – Strait Tejano (Urbana)
Now here’s something you don’t see every day: a Tejano band releasing an album of George Strait covers. Interesting, eh? In theory, at least. From what I’ve heard, these songs are less interesting than Strait’s own cover of José Alfredo Jiménez, “El Rey,” which may deserve its own thesis.

La Trakalosa de Monterrey – “Broche De Oro” (Remex)
A fairly nothing ballad with some nice close harmonies. Their padrino el diablo made them do it.

Chavela Vargas – Que Te Vaya Bonito (Caribe reissue)
Easily the most interesting person on this list, Vargas was a highly dramatic singer of ranchera torch songs, a movie actor, and a lesbian who came out late in life. Here’s a thesis to read! Like “El Rey,” this collection’s title song was written by José Alfredo Jiménez.

December 18, 2014 1

¡Nuevo!

Abundant biggish names this week, led by:

Banda Rancho Viejo – Dejando Huella (Disa)
Lawyer-turned-producer Fernando Camacho’s LATEST latest moneymaking scheme involves throwing songs at this group of colts, whose 2013 album I enjoyed a lot. Their new album leads with the meh single “De Por Vida,” but on first listen that’s the meh-est thing about it. The highlights are mostly covers: Alfredito Olivas’s “Con La Novedad,” Banda El Mexicano’s delirious study in phonemic differentiation “Ma, Me, Mi, Mo, Mu,” and best of all, Banda Brava’s even more delirious “Cumbia Con Opera,” a 1995 novelty of operatic interpolations that sounds like super-competent junior high kids goofing around. I’m enough of a hick that I find this hilarious.

Voz De Mando – Levantado Polvadera [Deluxe] (Afinarte/Sony)
You remember them — last week labelmates Dueto Consntido were playing “El Rolex” live in front of Voz De Mando’s drum kit. The title song has gone Top 20 Hot Latin, but the sixth-or-so full length by this tuba-anchored corrido band is disappointing, at least on first listen. Like Calibre 50 and LOS! BuiTRES!, whenever they try to break up their corrido onslaught with romantic ballads, their instruments have trouble filling the sonic space. Anemia ensues. Obviously the listening public disagrees with me because they’ve scored some big romantic hits.

Los Robles Del Norte – El Dinero (Frontera)
Los Robles already released one 2014 album, Desde Ojinagua Pal Mundo, with the exact same cover. Four months later, without even bothering to remove the old title, they’ve simply slapped a big pink “EL DINERO” on there and released 10 different songs. This is obviously as radical an act of commodification and semiotic collapse as anything Andy Warhol ever tried. First impression: they sound OK.

Los Rodriguez De Sinaloa – Me Miran Por Mayo (Hyphy)
Though I’ve never listened to a full album by this duo-plus-quartet, I’ve had a soft spot for them since they appeared on Hyphy’s El Corrido VIP comp a couple years ago. They were the most polished of the four bands on that collection, young go-getters while everyone else was bouncing off the cacti, but they were still more raucous than most major label corrido bands. Having since been nominated for “Corrido of the Year” at the Premios De La Radio, they’re back with this promising 16-songer. Lead single is a fast “¡Ay Chiquita!” number called “Lo Bonito De Tenerte,” pleasantly rambunctious.

Also new:
Alejandro Fernández – Confidencias Reales (Fonovisa)
Grupo Exterminador – Es Tiempo De Exterminador (Universal Latino)

December 10, 2014 1

¡Nuevo!

New this week:

Dueto Consentido – Con El Pie Derecho (Afinarte): From the same small label as Voz de Mando, this all-string trio plays corridos whose verses seem to ripple without end. Here they are performing “El Rolex” and “El Toro Encartado” live; the bajo sexto player, for one, is having a wonderful time. Informed readers could explain their band name, which doesn’t add up: they’ve got three members. “Dueto consentido” does show up as the last phrase of Rody Felix’s and/or Jesús Ojeda’s corrido “El Gringo,” and “consentido” may be some cartel term of art, but I don’t wanna presume.

Jenni Rivera – 1 Vida, 3 Historias (Fonovisa): Rivera’s latest posthumous release contains a live CD, a CD of friends and family covering her songs, and a DVD of interviews and performances. Side note: she just won the award for Artista Feminina Del Año at the Premios De La Radio, a people’s choice deal, for the fourth straight year.

Duelo – Navidad Desde El Meritito Norte (Duelo): Breezy, seems to meet the minimum threshold of competence for once-a-year music, occasionally sounds like watery Mavericks.

Espinoza Paz – “Si Amas a Dios”: Keyboard strings, real strings, judiciously placed horns, pounding drums, and Sr. Paz sounding like he could burst into tears any moment. He offers sound advice: For the love of God, don’t break open piñatas with your bloodstained guns. Stay alert and don’t shut out the world. He may be preaching to the choir — they come in at the chorus — but whatever, I kind of like it. Then again, my wife makes me listen to a lot of Josh Groban.

December 3, 2014 1

Banda Lamento Show: Chicago Vive Otra Vez

The invaluable if annoyingly pop-uppy radioNOTAS alerts me to the existence of a new song, “El Señor,” by Banda Lamento Show de Durango. (I also see they’re playing Waukegan late this Saturday night, roughly a mile south of the church where I play early Sunday morning — i.e., I can’t see them. Have a good time and tell ’em I say hi.) Lamento Show, you’ll remember, were the wildest of duranguense bands and also the happiest, wearing ironic hipster ponchos and hauling around a little boy on a burro for their mascot. Unlike some of the buttoned down heartachers in this genre, listening to Lamento Show felt like getting away with something. True story: when I called their label nine years ago looking for press photos, the PR person I spoke with had no idea who they were.

When you get a chance, listen to their 2005 Platino album La Noche Que Murio Chicago, named after the Paper Lace song covered therein. This album is our generation’s Disco Tex and His Sex-O-Lettes: canned crowd noises, nonstop dance songs running one into the other, and a feeling that, despite the songs’ apparent simplicity on paper, the players can do whatever they want and anything could happen. By comparison, “El Señor” is reined in, but whoever’s singing enjoys his swanky vibrato enough to give it a big
VALE LA PENA

November 13, 2014 0

¡Nuevo!

Say what you will about Disa Records — and no, I cannot prove they programmed a nefarious computer to generate songs, named the computer “Luciano Luna,” and then took a five-year lunch break — but they know how to anthologize their artists. Our big new release this slow week is the 20-song Lo Mejor De La Arrolladora Banda El Limón, not to be confused with last year’s 14-song Romances, as though Arrolladora plays anything else. You should also not confuse Mejor with this year’s Arrolladora live album, or with any of the Arrolladora-heavy Bandas Románticas comps, or with any of the umpteen other Arrolladora comps that have come before. Like arena en la playa, these albums are really hard to quantify, and they’re all essentially the same. Mejor is your first chance to own the fine “Cabecita Dura” and “El Ruido De Tus Zapatos” on the same disc, if that excites you. Maybe you need a gift for Mom.

Speaking of which, I’m pretty sure Arrolladora’s second most recent hit “A Los Cuatro Vientos” (not on Mejor) was their first single to miss the top 10 on Regional Mexican Airplay since “Ya No Te Buscaré” in 2011-12. (That one’s on Mejor.) It still got 14 million Youtube hits, so, you know, weep with Arrolladora not at them, but good luck humming “Cuatro Vientos” through your tears because it’s not much of a tune.

Also out today is Jonatan Sánchez’s Mi Primera Vez EP on Gerencia 360, also home to accordion hero Noel Torres, drummer Martin Castillo, and pretty boy Adriel Favela, all of whom have released enjoyable albums this year. Sánchez’s title single, a slight banda ballad, makes me think he’s Gerencia’s answer to Luis Coronel, Del’s teenage expert in slight banda ballads.

November 4, 2014 0

¡Nuevo!

Being a duranguense fan has lately felt like being a scorpion at a Sierra Club meeting — everyone runs away when they see you coming, but once they’re safely across the room, they talk about you with condescending pity and acknowledge your vital role. Hence the new compilation from Diana Reyes, Mis Mejores Duranguenses, a promising overview of an important career. Back in ‘04-’05, Chicago duranguense music was the hot sound of norteño, a pared down take on banda with synth horns, faster tempos, unhinged tambora, and a ridiculous dance step all its own. Born in Baja California, with family from Sinaloa, Reyes began her career recording traditional norteño but hopped aboard the Durango bandwagon and released several albums for different labels, including her own DBC. To give you an idea of how bankable this stuff was, her third album for Musimex/Universal was a Christmas album, Navidad Duranguense.

In 2010 Reyes released her best album, Amame Besame, through Capitol Records — back on the majors! Half duranguense, half techno corrido, and all exquisitely produced, it effectively marked the end of duranguense not just for Reyes but for regional Mexican music in general. Former heavy hitters like Grupo Montéz and Alacranes Musical have seen their popularity dwindle and their sound give way to banda pop. (That new Alacranes song, which I shouldn’t in good conscience endorse because the linked video promotes cockfighting, sounds rad.) Los Horóscopos de Durango just up and went banda. Reyes herself returned to norteño for an underwhelming 2011 album, and recently released this power ballad telenovela theme, “Yo No Creo En Los Hombres.” (Hey, me neither.) I won’t vouch for the song, whose horns read more “‘80s Chicago” than any horn-based music you’d actually wanna hear wafting from our fair city, but her husky vibrato remains a powerhouse. As for this new hits album, 20 straight duranguenses will be too many, but Reyes sang them as well as anyone. Aside from making lots of pretty, clattery pop, her music might make lots of people nostalgic for a time when they could reliably hear women’s voices on regional Mexican radio. Let’s hope so.

Also new this week:

Senzu-Rah from singer-songwriter Regulo Caro, whose album last year trafficked in off-kilter songwriting experiments and character studies, while still digging deep into corridos;

Así Te Quiero Yo from Banda Tierra Sagrada, who, if they don’t get sucked into a sarlacc pit of samey banda ballads, might deliver more energetic bad-boy anthems like the album’s lead single “Soy Un Desmadre”;

and a new live comp from Pesado, which’ll probably turn out to be a couple hours of mildly pleasant stodge that you either already own in some other form, or never need to hear again.

October 29, 2014 1