NorteñoBlog

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

Ask a Norteño Fan: Juan Carlos talks Movimiento Alterado

“The first time when I hear the corridos — ‘Sanguinarios del M1’ — when I hear that song and when I see how these guys dress, I like it, and I buy a lot of clothes and I like a lot of style of those guys, of those groups… the Movimiento Alterado.”

So says Juan Carlos, a 25-year-old norteño fan who lives and works mixing chemicals near Chicago. Though his family hails from the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, he mostly treasures the new corridos coming out of Sinaloa, a few states to the northwest. His first love, “Sanguinarios,” was the 2010 flagship song of Movimiento Alterado, a loose affiliation of wannabe millionaires playing ultraviolet horror-corridos under the aegis of Burbank-based producers Adolfo and Omar Valenzuela, aka “Los Twiins.” They’re the guys in the “Sanguinarios” video who scowl at you last, and the only ones who don’t sing a verse.

Listeners with a vested interest in the 100-year-old corrido tradition tend to despise Alterado, but for many young fans like Juan Carlos, the movement defines “corrido.” Continue reading “Ask a Norteño Fan: Juan Carlos talks Movimiento Alterado” →

September 15, 2015 5

¡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

Who’s On the Mexican Radio? 9/8/15

NorteñoBlog has pretty much made its peace with boring ballads about corazones and the hombres who break/nurse/fondle them, so this week’s Mexican Top 20 comes as a pleasant surprise. Most of the new songs are fast! Or at least midtempo, which often sounds like “fast” around this lot. (When Arrolladora’s devious mujer destroyed their collective soul, she also apparently destroyed their ability to play faster than 60 bpm.) Almost every inch of this new batch is perfect, from the bottom to the top:

At #20, Leandro Ríos, of superfun rhyming exercise “Debajo del Sombrero” fame, is now a no-good cheating bastard. But he’s really tortured about being caught “Entre Ella y Tú,” so that’s gotta count for something, right? Oh wait — HE’S NOT TORTURED AT ALL. As long as you’re content with the amount of Leandro you’re getting, what’s the problem? The jaunty accordion gave him away.

Continue reading “Who’s On the Mexican Radio? 9/8/15” →

September 8, 2015 2

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

Top 5 W.T.F. Corrido Moments!

5) Omar Ruiz performs “El Americano” for George Jung

For an American to get his own narcocorrido is rare in itself. For George Jung, the infamous drug trafficker, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine him being worthy of one — after all, the man already had a movie made based on his life. He’s an individual that I’m sure has lived through some surreal moments. So I can only imagine what was going through his head when he ran into the young up-and-coming artist Omar Ruiz. (Although by the looks of it, it was most likely a planned meeting.)

The video shows an attentive if somewhat confused Jung trying to understand the corrido being sung to him about his own life… in Spanish, of course. At one point he lights a cigarette. Perhaps he was getting bored but I’d like to think he was just taking it all in. By the end of the song, it becomes apparent that Jung did indeed appreciate the song, describing it as beautiful.

Continue reading “Top 5 W.T.F. Corrido Moments!” →

August 31, 2015 10

Gerardo Ortiz en La Jukebox

En otros ocasiones cuando The Singles Jukebox ha escrito sobre Gerardo Ortiz, ha escrito cosas felices, pero ahora… ¿tal vez estábamos cansados? Rebecca Gowns dice Gerardo está cansado — o mejor, “El Cholo” está “sloppy,” “loping and dragging.” Es justa. Multiples criticas escribieron sobre el shoutout a El Chapo, pero él es solo un parte del paisaje aquí.

Escribí:

Accordionist Marito Aguilar is a badass of Randy Rhoads proportions, in that I imagine certain young shredheads — albeit with diametrically opposing hairstyles — buying the CDs of Gerardo Ortiz or Ozzy Osbourne just so they can retire to their bedrooms and dissect the flurries of fingers. Aguilar is the best reason to hear Ortiz’s latest album; given free reign by the star, the studio pro came back with some jaw-dropping chromatic French cafe shit. The drum sound, boomy but articulate, makes me wonder whether someone found a way to mic Luis Navarro’s sticks. Otherwise, Ortiz’s living-the-good-life corrido is… good enough. It’ll be an eternal singalong anthem for Sinaloa partisans, same way I still get a kick from hearing Nelly shout out Plaza Frontenac.

VALE LA PENA

August 27, 2015 1

Get Off My Lawn With That Accordion!

You know how it is — you feel like throwing on some real street, gritty corridos and you’re bobbing your head as the first couple accordion notes start to sound off. Then you hear what appears to be a 6-year-old kid singing about the hit squad he belongs to and how prepared he is to battle his enemies.

I like a great narcocorrido as much as the next guy, but whenever I hear a little kid crooning about bazookas and assault rifles, it rubs me the wrong way, I don’t respond to it with approval, instead all I can think of is “Where are your parents?!”

Well, it turns out, more than likely, his parents are right beside their little protégé belting out the latest corrido. Now . . I don’t want to sound like a hater, But! I just can’t vibe to the song if the singer sounds like El Chavo del Ocho.

Songs like “El Mal Ejemplo” by Calibre 50 only have the young kid singing for a couple seconds, but it just doesn’t sound right. To Calibre 50’s credit, the song is about a father realizing he is setting a bad example for his son and decides to teach him the right way in life. But still, I’ll pass.

Another example is “En Preparacion,” sung by Nachito Hernandez, the son of veteran corridista Nacho Hernandez. The thought of a kid singing about waging war against a rival cartel is too much to believe. I’m sure it wasn’t meant to be taken seriously but when you have a kid singing this type of song it feels like a gimmick and filler for the album.

It doesn’t mean Kid singers can’t do the job right. Take for example Los Ramones de Nuevo Leon, a four-piece band of young singers, who came out two years ago with a rendition of “Flor Hermosa,” one of the best versions I have heard in a while. Their singing style and use of instruments is superb and their voices just keep getting better and better each year. Basically, when you listen to them, you feel the same way after eating some of your mom’s lasagna on a bitterly cold night… satisfied!