¡Nuevo!

El Komander Vs. The Thirsty Thirteen (aka Colmillo Norteño y Los BuKnas)

Despite running regular lists of the year’s best singles, NorteñoBlog has kept fairly quiet about the best albums of 2015. That’s not changing today, but if it were, my list would definitely include El Komander’s Detrás del Miedo and Colmillo Norteño’s 10-song “EP” A Quien Corresponda. Say what you will about these acts — and no, I cannot prove that El Komander’s tubist has a rare Tourette’s-like condition that makes him compulsively produce mouthpiece farts — but they don’t rest on their achievements. True to form, both have recently released more new music, and in both cases it’s good.

IN THIS CORNER, Komander’s new single “Hoy Toca” (Twiins) continues his string of songs about drinking and (I think) chinga-ing the haters. Alternating a banda with his small group, tight as a whipcrack yet fraying around the edges, this song sounds sensational.

IN THE OTHER CORNER, the quintet Colmillo Norteño leads off its new album Al Llavazo (Go) with “La Invitación,” a rollicking argument over who gets to enjoy the company of a treacherous mujer. Continue reading “El Komander Vs. The Thirsty Thirteen (aka Colmillo Norteño y Los BuKnas)” →

October 6, 2015 0

Banda de los Muertos Is Cool, But Come On! (or, NPR being NPR)

[Note: this post has been edited to strike some unwarranted snark, for which I apologize to Milo Miles.]

A few weeks ago, the excellent music writer Phil Freeman alerted me to some “avant-banda” music at his blog Burning Ambulance. Although Freeman knows and loves Latin genres, Burning Ambulance largely covers jazz and metal, and the banda in question was Banda de los Muertos, a Brooklyn consortium of horn players playing what amounts to an arty chamber homage. (Says Muertos founder Jacob Garchik, “I might play a dance gig with the Banda on a Saturday but the next day play jazz for a cerebral, sit-down audience. I don’t want to do just one or the other!”) The Banda sounds like they’re fun live — by all accounts, Muertos shows are a blast of “hoots and hollers” and dancing. But on their new album Banda de los Muertos (Barbes), their take on the thriving commercial genre of banda resembles Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy remakes of the Notorious B.I.G. and the Spice Girls — both played with gusto on this album — or Brooklyn’s Asphalt Orchestra when they covered Swedish metal band Meshuggah. It’s a step removed. It’s “fun” (or “banging” or “rocking”) with scare quotes.

What it’s NOT is Banda For People Who Don’t Like Banda. There’s no reason you can’t enjoy, as NorteñoBlog has, both the mainstream banda music on commercial radio stations AND Banda de los Muertos’ somewhat jazzed-up take via NPR. Unfortunately, NPR reviewer Milo Miles seems to disagree:

Now, a pair of multi-instrumentalists in Brooklyn, Oscar Noriega and Jacob Garchik have revitalized Banda, a Mexican style Noriega grew up listening to with his immigrant parents and playing in a band with his brothers. Noriega and Garchik call their new group Banda De Los Muertos ~~[ed: in this segment pronounced “BAYNda DEE los Muertos”]~~, and their leadoff original instrumental on the group’s debut, “Cumbia De Jacobo,” is as much unadulterated fun as any tune this year.

I turn to NPR for many things — detailed news, election coverage, the annual jazz poll for which they mysteriously allow me to vote, journalists trying to maintain straight faces while Republicans say crazy things — but I’ve never met anyone whose go-to source for “unadulterated fun” was NPR. (Maybe they need a new ad campaign.) Fun on NPR always seems thoroughly and explicitly adulterated, even if it’s adulterated by such respectable substances as “brains” and “human decency.” And while Muertos’s leadoff cumbia is, yes, fun, it’s fun in the manner of a killer Pérez Prado track from the ’50s.
Continue reading “Banda de los Muertos Is Cool, But Come On! (or, NPR being NPR)” →

October 1, 2015 6

¡Nuevo! (starring Maquinaria Norteña, Los Horóscopos, y más)

It is the longstanding position of NorteñoBlog that the puro sax styles of Chihuahua and Zacatecas would improve with the addition of more terrible “sax” puns in the titles. This week the máquinas de saxo in La Maquinaria Norteña drop their eighth (I think) album, Ya Dime Adiós (Azteca/Fonovisa) (alternate title: Break Up Saxo), from whence comes their top 10 airplay hit “Para Qué Amarte.” Maquinaria hail from both Chihuahua AND Zacatecas, doubling their potential fan base, and they’re solid and reliable polkaderos with a really good logo. On first listen, though, this album isn’t saxing it up for me like the next one:

The puro Zacatecans in La Inquietud Norteña venture into minor key territory for the title single to their latest album, Dimelo (AGLive) (alt title: Vamos a Hablar Sobre el Saxo). Singer Hugo Avellaneda wails high and clear, sax and accordion skate across the song with as little apparent effort as spinning Olympians, and whoever’s playing the polka bass gets his R&B licks in. Pick to Click!

Continue reading “¡Nuevo! (starring Maquinaria Norteña, Los Horóscopos, y más)” →

September 28, 2015 7

Explosion Norteña: Beto’s Revenge

One of my top five norteño acts, Explosion Norteña was an infamous band known for their brash, boastful, but most of all based-on-a-true-story corridos about the gritty, unforgivable world of the Tijuana Cartel. Since the band’s formation back in 1995, they have had one of the most entertaining musical careers since Chalino Sánchez.

Word on the street was that in the beginning, members of the Tijuana Cartel sponsored the band, allowing them to buy better equipment and purchase studio time to record their first album. I would argue that the current crop of brash and violent lyrics, so popular in today’s narcocorridos, was heavily influenced by Explosion Norteña’s style.

Their lyrics were combative and named specific individuals, and they made no secret of their allegiance to the Tijuana Cartel. The civil war between former cartel lieutenant El Teo and Luis Fernando Arellano, head of the cartel, erupted in 2008, during which the band stayed loyal to CAF (Cartel Arellano Felix) leadership. Eventually someone decided they didn’t care much for Explosion’s corridos, or possibly they had some personal issues, and as with a lot of things in Mexico, they decided the best way to handle it was to murder lead singer Beto Cervantes.
Continue reading “Explosion Norteña: Beto’s Revenge” →

September 17, 2015 3

¡Nuevo! (starring Banda MS, Clave Nueva, y más)

Billboard magazine, 2009:

In forming Banda MS, manager/producer Fernando Camacho says he wanted a group that would play downhome party music, including corridos. But the danceable [novelty] material, besides being easier to promote at some corrido-shy stations in Mexico, is especially popular on morning radio shows. “They use them to wake people up,” Camacho says.

And that was the last time anyone would accuse Banda MS of keeping people awake.

Jajaja! NorteñoBlog loves to kid Banda MS, because the 16-piece ensemble of well-embouchured lovermen invariably responds by curing NorteñoBlog’s insomnia with a soothing romantic ballad. Over the past half-decade, MS has gone from starring in a trendpiece about novelty songs — the Billboard headline was “Looney Tunes” — to being the most consistent hitmaking banda balladeers on the U.S. Latin charts. Their polite waltz “Háblame de Ti” spent a couple months inside the top 10 of the Hot Latin chart, which measures a combination of radio play, sales, and online streaming. Before that it was the polite backbeat of “No Me Pidas Perdón.” I tend to forget these songs seconds after they’re over, but judging by the rabid audience responses on their new live album En Vivo: Guadalajara – Monterrey (Lizos), I’m the only such cretin. Banda MS cedes entire verses to the audience, and the audience doesn’t disappoint. This indie album by former major-label stars is #1 on the Latin Albums chart, and with all that audience energy, I can grudgingly see why. And hey — any album that includes “Hermosa Experiencia,” “Me Gustas Mucho,” and “El Mechón,” that debut novelty hit from six years ago, can’t be all bad.

Continue reading “¡Nuevo! (starring Banda MS, Clave Nueva, y más)” →

September 14, 2015 0

Indie Animales (starring Los Inquietos, El Chapo de Sinaloa, y más)

We all know insufferable (and occasionally kickin’) Brooklyn indie bands love naming themselves after animals. But did you know that kickin’ (and occasionally insufferable) indie norteño bands also dig animal metaphors? And were you aware that writing intros is not NorteñoBlog’s strong suit? Read on!

Los Inquietos del Norte started one of norteño’s most successful artist-directed indie labels, Eagle Music, in 2002. Along with their fellow Bay-area natives Los Amos de Nuevo Leon, Los Inquietos helped create the sound of hyphy norteño, the party punk version of bro-norteño, all lickety split tempos, simple accordion slashes, and lyrics about wild debauchery. Inquietos quickly went their own way: though their songs still sounded hyphy, they dropped the hyphy name and started adding wobbly violin-based ballads to their repertoire. They also grew their record label. Along the way they’ve cut distribution deals with mom-and-pops and majors. I’m not sure how their new album De Noche Enfiestado is being promoted, but I did hear its wobbly violin-based lead single “No Dudes De Mi” on midwestern corporate radio the other day, so somebody’s pushing it.

In addition to their Eagle mascot, Inquietos are into perro y gallo metaphors. NorteñoBlog has discussed their wobbly, weirdly operatic single “Como Perro Amarrado,” which is sort of like Jamey Johnson’s “Dog In the Yard” without the rue. Like, serious lack of rue. The Meza brothers’ vibrato is where rue goes to die. Their profane and violent “La Cerre el Hozico al Perro” has more energy, and I’m partial to “Los Tres Gallasos,” if only for the accordion. Rosalio Meza has some fast licks at his disposal, but he’s not afraid to simply hang out on one repeated note, frowning his instrument’s approval at the lyrics. There’s a cultivated carelessness in this bunch.

Continue reading “Indie Animales (starring Los Inquietos, El Chapo de Sinaloa, y más)” →

September 4, 2015 1

Who Played It Better: Ariel Camacho or These Dudes?

First, the moment we’ve all been waiting for: a crap recording of Roberto Tapia’s new banda single “No Valoraste.” It’s trad and jubilant. You’re welcome.

But now it’s time for a new, probably never-to-recur NorteñoBlog feature called “Who Played It Better: Ariel Camacho or These Dudes?” Ariel Camacho, you’ll remember, has been a favorite of the blog ever since I heard his excellent El Karma album at the beginning of the year. He played the requinto guitar — tuned higher than normal, prone to virtuoso displays — and led a band, Los Plebes del Rancho, that also included a rhythm guitar and a tuba. Omar Burgos’s tuba managed to function as bass, percussion, and lead instrument all at once. Then in February Camacho died in a car accident at the way-too-young age of 22. Tributes followed, and outpourings of grief, and — this is where our new feature comes in — bitings of his post-Sierreño style.

So I ask you, loyal NorteñoBlog reader: WHO PLAYED IT BETTER?

Continue reading “Who Played It Better: Ariel Camacho or These Dudes?” →

September 2, 2015 3

Yo Quiero Tu Saxo

It is the longstanding position of NorteñoBlog that the puro sax styles of Chihuahua and Zacatecas would improve with the addition of more terrible “sax” puns in the titles. This week’s roundup is all Chihuahua (“Saxo Con Mi Chihuahua”? nononono), but stay tuned, as Zacatecas continues to prolifically birth more sax bands than any of us can handle.

Los Bravos de Ojinaga have just released their 10th album, A Más No Poder (Azteca) (alternate title: Saxo Toda La Noche), and it’s everything you like about the puro Chihuahua sax: accordion and sax lines intertwining around the singer, spritely dance grooves, and yearning harmonies. It’s also everything you dislike: namely, it gets kind of samey after a while and it never peaks. This is music for house parties and cleaning up after them. (Saxy norteño albums really make me step up my sweeping and mopping game.) The video for Los Bravos’ romantic single “Comprendelo” features a cuckolded cowboy and Jesus on an accordion.

Speaking of el saxo y la salvación (there’s your album title!), Los Salvajes de Chihuahua recently released album number 11, Soltaron la Rienda (Goma). In an unusual case of puro Chihuahua sax distinctions being cost-effective, “Algo de Ti” is a better lead single than “Comprendelo” because it throws in some additional beats and minor chords where you don’t expect them. A cursory listen to Soltaron makes me think Los Salvajes pay more attention to their pop hooks than Los Bravos do, and Edgar Estrada sings with an appealing rasp. Pick to Click!

I feel like we’re giving short shrift to the rival puro sax style of Zacatecas. I know this comes as a huge disappointment. Whatever. The puro Houston fishermen Los Pescadores del Rio Conchos have a new single out, “Fui Un Mal Amor” (Azteca), in which they harmonize and lament. El Rio Concho, as you know, is a Rio Grande tributary that flows through Chihuahua and contains 12 endemic species of fish. It’s also the title of a Richard Boone Western film from 1964. If I knew more about movies, I might be able to tell you how sussing out the distinctions in puro sax songs is like doing the same with Westerns, where type scenes manage viewer expectations and little moments can make all the difference. Forthcoming thinkpiece/album title: Mal Saxo Es Mejor Que No Saxo.

August 4, 2015 2

La Trakalosa Toma Su Revancha

Even by the melodramatic standards of banda singers, Edwin Luna stands out. Like Guy Fieri in the genre of “annoying Food Network personalities,” Luna adds to the baseline expectations of his job description an idiosyncratic arsenal of tics, his husky quaver swooping and shouting where other singers would be content to just, you know, hold the note. Like Fieri, this makes Luna interesting to listen to — you never know what invitation to parody will emerge from his throat next — even when the surrounding material is lacking, as it is on La Revancha (Remex), the latest album from Luna’s band La Trakalosa de Monterrey. Unlike Fieri, Luna has the self-awareness to turn these tics into artistic achievement. Trakalosa’s 6-month-old “Adicto a La Tristeza” remains a jam because it’s about Luna’s over-emoting. It’s the sonic equivalent of a cinematic closeup on a single tequila-filled tear.

The eight-minute video for La Revancha‘s title single collects a vial of those tears, shakes ’em up with lime juice and salt, and then pours the whole mess back into your eyes. (SPOILER ALERT!) In the most momentous period of anyone’s life, ever, Luna loses his job the day he learns his wife is pregnant. Months later, with his wife approaching labor while he still can’t find any, Luna bumps into a friend on the street. We can tell this friend is no good because he’s wearing reflective aviator shades. Friend brings Luna to meet his face-tattooed, gun-toting jefe; with a heavy heart, Luna scribbles down his contact info and goes home. There is a mixup with some of jefe’s cocaine-sniffing cabrones. They read Luna’s info, go to his house and kill his family. For some reason Luna goes to jail, where his fellow inmates throw stuff at him in the cafeteria and presumably give him wedgies. This teaches Luna to toughen up, which is good because we get to see him without a shirt, and also because jefe and cabrones eventually show up AT THE SAME JAIL. By now, Luna is a well-established man about prison and can barter for a pistol, which he keeps on a shelf in his cell, out in the open, next to a photo of his dead wife and a little statue of La Virgen. What will happen in the next episode? Will a guard passing by Luna’s cell, you know, see the pistol and confiscate it? OR WILL LUNA HAVE SU REVANCHA? Stay tuned!

The rest of the album is OK. Despite the energy of Remex bands’ singles, their albums tend to be heavy on ballads. La Revancha is no exception, although, like most other Remex albums, it runs mercifully short. Highlights include “Camuflaje,” a piano-led duet with mariachi Fato, and the stacked harmonies of “Ya Verás.”

Nevertheless, NO VALE LA PENA.

August 3, 2015 0