NorteñoBlog

Who’s On the Mexican Radio? 3/27/15

Little to report this week: the only new songs in the top 20 are disappointing ballads by Julión Álvarez and Saul “El Jaguar.” One of the bright spots is #8, where norteño quintet Pesado’s “Que Aún Te Amo” lopes and soars amid all the ballads surrounding it in the top 10. (Also, I’m wondering whether I could get my hair to look like the young lead in the video. My blending skills need work.) At #9, mariachi singer Pedro Fernandez soars but doesn’t lope; rather, his beat chugs and pulses in ways that remind me of mid-’80s NRG ballads, or maybe Vangelis. And I won’t say it’s good, but Banda MS’s video for “A Lo Mejor” somehow crams an entire novela episode, including a cheap trick ending, into five minutes; I’m still trying to figure out how everyone’s related. Better than Sudoku for keeping your mind sharp!

These are the Top 20 “Popular” songs in Mexico, as measured by radioNOTAS. Don’t confuse “Popular” with the “General” list, which contains many of the same songs but also “Uptown Funk!”, “Sugar,” and, once again, the ABBA-Schlager of Natalia Jiménez.

1. “Contigo” – Calibre 50
2. “Que Tal Si Eres Tu” – Los Tigres Del Norte
3. “Después de Ti ¿Quién?” – La Adictiva Banda San Jose
4. “A Lo Mejor” – Banda MS
5. “No Fue Necesario” – El Bebeto
6. “Perdi La Pose” – Espinoza Paz
7. “Culpable Fui (Culpable Soy)” – Intocable
8. “Que Aún Te Amo” – Pesado
9. “Si Tuviera Que Decirlo” – Pedro Fernandez
10. “Confesion” – La Arrolladora Banda El Limón

11. “Todo Tuyo” – Banda El Recodo
12. “Malditas Ganas” – Alfredo Rios El Komander
13. “Ponte Las Pilas” – America Sierra
14. “Me Importas” – Los Primos MX
15. “Escuchame” – Fidel Rueda
16. “Adicto a la Tristeza” – Banda La Trakalosa ft. Pancho Uresti
17. “Indeleble” – Banda Los Sebastianes
18. “El Amor de Su Vida” – Julión Álvarez
19. “Que te Quede Claro” – Saul El Jaguar
20. “Sencillamente” – Raúl y Mexia + SuenaTron

¡Adios!
“Tranquilito” – El Chapo de Sinaloa
“Me Sobrabas Tu” – Banda Los Recoditos

March 27, 2015 3

¡Nuevo! (starring Julión Álvarez, Shalia Dúrcal, y más)

Julión Álvarez has been called many things: the best singer on the continent (OK, that was me), “un gran ejemplo para la juventud mexicana” (THAT was the president of México), the biggest deal in regional Mexican music last year because Gerardo Ortiz didn’t release a new album, and… Well, people don’t actually talk about Álvarez that much, even though he’s never made a bad album that I’ve found, and his last album produced three radio hits. The former Banda MS singer has worked his way from an indie to a major label with an impressive consistency that may be hard to write about. Álvarez emerges from the studio once a year with an untroubled good album: mostly uptempo, a variety of styles, and a voice that sounds both lived-in and young, toying with its own scratchy crags and the tricky rhythms of his trio and a big banda. “Y Así Fue,” his single from 2014, could have been anyone’s spritely sex romp, but Álvarez rendered it indelible with the little swoops in his voice. His unpredictable vibrato threatens to lose the pitch at any moment, almost like he’s about to cry.

So he’s a romantic who makes easy listening. The thing is, Indispensable was the best album of 2014 because it was so easy to listen to, and each listen revealed something new about the singer’s devotion to musical pleasure. Álvarez’s new album, El Aferrado (Fonovisa), sounds after a couple listens like a singer who’s successfully codified that pleasure, at least for himself. There are surprising moments like the title song, a Pick to Click that combines the two ensembles to jarring effect. But though trombone, tuba, and accordion reinvent the song nearly every second they play, nobody ever sounds like they’re about to lose it. It’s a very professional take on Wild Banda + Trio. The lead single, a ballad called “El Amor De Su Vida,” is far worse, to the point where you might not even know Álvarez is singing. The greatness of his singing has always dwelled in his sense of rhythm and phrasing as much as the unique grain of his voice. Now the grain of his voice remains, but nothing gets caught on it, least of all the pat melody of “Amor.”

The band name Luis y Julián Jr. pays tribute to Luis y Julian, a stolid country harmony duo from, oh, the ’90s or possibly earlier. I’m not sure whether Luis y Julian Sr. sang songs with the kind of macho, tight-lipped sense of humor that makes me certain they’re about to bash my head against the bar; but Luis y Julián Jr. sure do! “Las Muchachas de Estos Tiempos” is your standard “women and their Facebook dragging me away from my cockfights, amirite” song; the duo also sings something I’m guessing not entirely complimentary about Boy George and “Georgie” Michael. Drinks in your faces, assholes. NorteñoBlog has previously covered their latest single “Asi es el Juego,” ft. Naty Chávez, a cover of Colmillo Norteño. Its explicit take on Real Talk norteño balladry is sort of cute, but it’s not like you’d wanna listen to it for the music or anything. So three more drinks to the face, and expect more of the same on what I think is their debut album, A Chin… ¿pos Qué Pasó? (Remex).

Shalia Dúrcal is from Spain but has gotten some traction in México, having sung with Jenni Rivera and delved into Mexican styles. Her latest single “No Me Interesa” blends Nashville guitar licks, ranchera horns, and electropulse into something that never peaks but is more compelling for it. Second Pick to Click, what the heck, and her self-titled sixth (?) album is just out on EMI. The album opens with “Has Sido Tú,” a tech-folk-ranchera stomper whose main riff is lifted directly from one of Slash’s solos in “Sweet Child o’ Mine.” Now the second song, sweeping ballad “Yo Daría,” is sweeping me off my feet. I have extremely high hopes for this album and should probably just liveblog it. (I won’t tell you who Durcal’s mom is, you’ll have to look that shit up, but fear not — it’s in the first paragraph of every bio.) Go listen to Shalia Dúrcal!

Uriel Henao, “El Rey del Corrido Prohibido,” releases albums on his own self-titled label and just put out an Éxitos comp. “La Mafia Continua” is about the mafia and how it continues.

Not to be outdone, Los Rieleros del Norte have just released their 42nd album, Corridos y Canciones de Mi Tierra. Their tierra is Pecos, TX, though like many Texas bands they get their puro sax style from Chihuahua. Lead single “Mis Peores Deseos” has effortless appeal, just like every other Rieleros song I’ve ever heard.

Sadly I don’t have time to lead you down the rabbit hole of puro Chihuahua and/or Zacatecas sax, but check out the good folks at MundoNorteño, who’ve been going crazy with that stuff.

March 26, 2015 1

Maná ft. Shakira at the Jukebox

“¿Cuál es la verdad?” Pilato le preguntó a Jesús. Yo olvido como Jesús respondió, pero Maná y Shakira dicen, “Tú eres mi verdad.” ¡Herejía! (Tú también eres otras cosas: su amór, su alegría, su sandwich, etc…) Al Singles Jukebox, pensábamos que la canción fue aburrida; yo escribí:

A friend from high school affectionately calls Maná hippy music, lumped in with Bacilos and Juanes, both of whom I prefer. I can see it, though — they’re sick and tired of hearing mentiras from neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed dictadores, just give them some verdad. Gently, please. See also the video where the band and pregnant Shakira sing around trash can fires in the last outpost of civilization. (It’s either that or a closed banquet hall with unorthodox chair stacking methods.) As always, there’s pleasure here, mostly in hearing Fher Olvera’s instantly recognizable voice trace a sturdy melody; I also smiled at Shakira’s sighs of “ay, ay, ay.” But as usual, it’s hard to remember their verdad once the next batch of liars comes along.
[4]

March 23, 2015 0

The GLAADness of Los Tigres

Good for them!

Los Tigres del Norte are making history today. The San Jose, Calif.–based norteño group are receiving a Special Recognition (Spanish Language) award from GLAAD for “Era Diferente,” a song on their newest album, Realidades. The song is about a lesbian teenager who falls in love with her best friend. It’s the first song about gay love in the band’s 47-year history…

“Era Diferente” translates to “She Was Different,” and is about a young girl who struggles with boys fighting for her attention. “They make bets for her affection,” sings Hernandez, “but none of them win her love … She was so different from the other girls because she was never interested in a boy’s love.”

The song itself, since you’re wondering, is cheerful pop-rock, with a backbeat and everything, as catchy as anything else on Realidades. In other news, every day I grow more certain that I underrated Realidades last year.

As for the song’s reception, the Youtube comments showcase a couple of the expected “abomination”-baiters, but on the whole I can’t imagine anyone being too surprised or upset with Los Tigres. The band has a long history of supporting sensible immigration policy and basic human decency, while singing out against North America’s more stupid immigration and drug policies. Even with some badass narcocorridos in their repertoire, they seem like polite liberals. (This Gustavo Arellano listicle remains the single best overview.) In the above article, singer/songwriter/accordionist Jorge Hernandez says, “Sometimes in the Latino community we see machismo and problems with acceptance, but this is an area where acceptance is the most important because this is such a large community and we must accept people who love each other and live normal, happy lives.” “The NPR of norteño,” suggests my friend Anthony.

I’ve likened Los Tigres to Springsteen before and I’ll do it again. They came up around the same time, in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Their detailed story songs make larger points about politics and society. Drawing on their respective traditions, their music has moved más allá de tradición, to the point where they embody their genres. Just as Reagan couldn’t escape Springsteen, socially conservative norteño fans can’t escape Los Tigres, even if they wanted to. I bet most of the cops who turned their backs on “41 Shots” remained Springsteen fans. At some point fans accept that these guys will always speak for them like nobody else can, never mind the small disagreements.

March 23, 2015 2

Desfile de Éxitos 3/28/15

You’d be excused for thinking the charts are dormant this week — the same #1’s, mostly the same top 10’s, “Bailando” has always been at war with “Propuesta Indecente,” etc. — but look beneath the filthy snow and there are signs of life. For one thing, NorteñoBlog will never complain about an accordion ballad reaching the Hot Latin top 10, even when that ballad is as lifeless as Calibre 50’s “Contigo.” True, this particular song might not push my buttons, but anything that helps squeeze out one of King Romeo’s romantic bellows is fine by me. (i.e., Adios to “Eres Mia,” only a year old.)

For another, some decent songs are muscling their way up. The Pick to Click is “Nota de Amor,” a pretty piano/accordion reggaeton love note by Wisin, Carlos Vives, and Daddy Yankee. 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. We noted last week that the puro Chihuahua sax of La Maquinaria Norteña is awesome, and their “Si Te Vuelvo a Ver” is getting more radio play. And wonder of wonders, Tuscon’s teen tenor Luis Coronel is charting with a song that doesn’t suck! “Cuando La Miro” is some fairly likable magic changes bullshit. Coronel can barely keep up with it, but he knows how to put across wide-eyed eagerness.

All that plus Pitbull! NorteñoBlog will also never complain about the presence of Pitbull. And not just on the charts — in public and semi-public spaces. Even if Pitbull set up a Sheets Energy Strips display inside a funeral home and cornered NorteñoBlog, NorteñoBlog would just end up buying a bunch of energy strips and handing them out to the bereaved because, you know, it’s Pitbull. He could charm the rigor off of rigor mortis and/or Marco Rubio.

These are the top 25 Hot Latin Songs and top 20 Regional Mexican Songs, courtesy Billboard, as published March 28.

1. “El Perdon” – Nicky Jam & Enrique Iglesias
2. “Propuesta Indecente” – Romeo Santos (86 WEEKS OLD)
3. “Ay Vamos” – J Balvin
4. “Bailando” – Enrique ft. Descemer Bueno, Gente de Zona, & the word “contigo” (52 WEEKS OLD! “Feliz cumpleaños contigo…”)
5. “Hablame de Ti” – Banda MS (#6 RegMex) (snoooooozzzzzz)
6. “Mi Verdad” – Maná ft. Shakira
7. “Contigo” – Calibre 50 (#1 RegMex)
8. “Travesuras” – Nicky Jam
9. “Yo También” – Romeo Santos ft. Marc Anthony
10. “El Karma” – Ariel Camacho y Los Plebes del Rancho (#11 RegMex)

11. “Hilito” – Romeo Santos
12. “Lejos De Aqui” – Farruko
13. “Fanatica Sensual” – Plan B
14. “Piensas (Dile La Verdad)” – Pitbull ft. Gente de Zona
15. “Disparo Al Corazon” – Ricky Martin
16. “Eres Una Niña” – Gerardo Ortíz (#9 RegMex)
17. “Soltero Disponible” – Regulo Caro (#2 RegMex)
18. “Dime” – Julión Álvarez y Su Norteño Banda (#8 RegMex)
19. “Juntos (Together)” – Juanes
20. “Lo Hiciste Otra Vez” – La Arrolladora Banda El Limón (#3 RegMex) (Oh dear, this is not good. Not just sap — meandering sap.)

21. “Pierdo la Cabeza” – Zion & Lennox
22. “Mi Vuelvo Un Cobarde” – Christian Daniel
23. “Qué Tiene De Malo” – Calibre 50 ft. El Komander (#18 RegMex)
24. “Nota de Amor” – Wisin + Carlos Vives ft. Daddy Yankee
25. “Mi Princesa” – Remmy Valenzuela (#13 RegMex)

¡Adios!
“Eres Mia” – Romeo Santos (53 WEEKS OLD)
—————–

4. “Levantando Polvadera” – Voz De Mando
5. “El Que Se Enamora Pierde” – Banda Carnaval
7. “Eres Tú” – Proyecto X
10. “No Te Vayas” – Fidel Rueda

12. “Que Aun Te Amo” – Pesado
13. “Se Me Sigue Notando” – Chuy Lizarraga y Su Banda Tierra Sinaloense
14. “Mi Primera Vez” – Jonatan Sánchez
15. “Calla y Me Besas” – Enigma Norteña
16. “Si Te Vuelvo a Ver” – La Maquinaria Norteña
17. “Me Sobrabas Tu” – Banda Los Recoditos
18. “Cuando La Miro” – Luis Coronel
19. “Todo Tuyo” – Banda El Recodo
20. “Bonito Y Bello” – La Septima Banda

¡Adios!
“Y Vete Olvidando” – Javier Rosas
“Entonces Que Somos” – Banda El Recodo (A nada Luciano Luna ballad off Recodo’s 2013 album, now turned into a dramatic short film.)

March 20, 2015 1

¡Nuevo! (starring Mario Delgado, Gerardo Ortiz, y más)

Julión Álvarez’s new White Album El Aferrado comes out next week, and already Fonovisa is protecting is assets by taking down any version of the lead single, “El Amor de Su Vida,” that leaks to the internet. I’ve seen at least three Youtubes go down since yesterday! That’s how you know it’s gonna be big. The above link seems to be the official Fonovisa audio-with-an-album-cover post; unfortunately, the song’s about as compelling as its static, monochrome “video.” Last year’s album was a breakthrough for Álvarez; it scored three Top 11 singles on the Hot Latin chart and was a NorteñoBlog favorite, making this generic new “Amor” especially disappointing. If this song wasn’t sung by Álvarez — a man who is, by most conservative estimates, the best singer on the continent — it could be any midtempo banda ballad about a lovelorn hombre wooing a buxom mujer.

Speaking of which! Gerardo Ortiz’s new album comes out in May, I think, but for the time being he’s content to keep releasing singles from his career-defining Archivos de Mi Vida. This week it’s “Perdóname,” written by singer-songwriter América Sierra; the song starts slow and boring but livens up once Ortiz strings together endless runs of triplet syllables. This makes it slightly better than Álvarez’s song, which never livens up. A year and a half after the album dropped and Ortiz is still only on his third single! The man knows how to pace himself.

Amid all the flying corazóns, this week’s Pick to Click is a sad but swinging protest corrido using chicken farming as a parable about Mexican kidnapping violence (I think — see the video screenshot above). It’s entitled “El Rancho,” by Mario ‘El Cachorro’ Delgado (Garmex). The simple tune is appealing enough, but check out the interplay between bass, guitar, and requinto, alternately locking in together and tugging at the rhythm with passages of loose virtuosity.

Bomba Estéreo doesn’t really fall under NorteñoBlog’s purview, but their new “Fiesta” (Sony) is rat-a-tat-tat electro-cumbia with crazy manipulated voices bouncing all around. And while we’re talking Sony products outside the purview, I should mention the two Natalias: Spain’s Natalia Jiménez, whose album Creo En Mi contains NorteñoBlog fave “Quedate Con Ella” and lots of other dramatic and/or fun pop, at least one song of which features pedal steel (I’m blanking on the title). And then there’s México’s murmury Natalia Lafourcade, beloved of the Singles Jukebox though not necessarily me, with the album Hasta La Raíz. “Mi Lugar Favorito” is fun in an arty go-go boots way — sort of reminds me of Stereolab.

Somehow I’ve overlooked the January debut of Toño Lizárraga y Su Banda Son de Tambora, Vuelvo a Nacer (Skalona). Based on only a couple songs, we didn’t miss too much, though the video for “Me Pegó la Gana” is entertaining, with Lizárraga’s banda overloading some rowboats as they serenade a remote jungle river.

Finally in cumbia reissues, the Magenta label has re-released two turn-of-the-millennium albums with extremely cool covers: La Junta’s No Voy a Cambiar…

and Hernán Rodriguez’s De Película. I’d go with Rodriguez, since his album doesn’t open with a sappy easy listening ballad. His sappy ballad comes in the middle of the album, when you’re ready to fall down or refill your coffee. Plus it has some improbably distorted guitar.

March 17, 2015 4

“Go Tejano Day”: What’s In a Name?

[Note: This article has been edited to reflect NorteñoBlog’s belated realization that HLSR is in fact a non-profit, using its proceeds for full college scholarships. Outside accusations of discrimination remain.]

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo sounds like a county fair on steroids and gamma rays, an orgy of horses, country music, and mad cowboys deep frying everything that’s not nailed down. I’m frankly jealous we don’t have one up in Chicago. But there’s trouble in Bayou City, and there has been for the past eight years, specifically surrounding the rodeo’s annual “Go Tejano Day” event:

Go Tejano Day is one of the biggest days at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo but it didn’t stop protestors from rallying outside of NRG Park.

Tejano supporters protested Sunday afternoon saying officials here have chosen musical acts in the Norteno and Banda genre and have not stayed true to Tejano music and culture.

Indeed, yesterday’s Go Tejano Day crowd broke the rodeo’s alltime record for attendance: 75,357 people paid to enjoy the music of Arrolladora and La Maquinaria Norteña, one banda and one norteño group, both of whom NorteñoBlog has been known to enjoy. Neither group has anything to do with Tejano music. To repeat, that’s the biggest ever paid attendance at any day of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which otherwise features first-tier country artists and a couple top-40 pop stars. (Dierks Bentley’s playing tonight; tomorrow’s Ariana Grande.) The second most attended day in history? 2012’s Go Tejano Day, which featured Julión Álvarez and Los Invasores de Nuevo Leon, one banda one norteño, neither of them Tejano.

Indeed, you have to go back to 2007 to find an actual Tejano act playing Go Tejano Day. (It was crossover country star Emilio.) Not coincidentally, that was also the last year the event didn’t spark protests. In 2008 the concert planners broke with tradition. For the first time since Go Tejano Day started in 1990, its headliners weren’t Tejano bands — instead they were Duelo, Texans playing norteño, and Los Horoscopos de Durango, playing Chicago duranguense. 71,165 people still showed up, but so did some protesters:

“The bands that are inside are representing Mexico,” said one protester, Steve Rodriguez, 54. “That’s not representing Tejanos.”

The rodeo’s excuse has always been reasonable, as you’d expect from a gigantic ~~moneymaking~~ corporation. If you’re a Tejano music fan, maybe it’s infuriatingly reasonable. Go Tejano Day was never meant to refer to Tejano music; rather, it was a play on the “Go Texan” slogan and designed to appeal to Houston’s large-and-growing Hispanic population, and the nineties just happened to be when Tejano music was on the rise. As we saw around Grammy time, back in 1996, when the Grammys were busily neglecting norteño music, the Tejano music industry marshaled its clout to create the “Best Mexican-American/Tejano” category, which La Mafia promptly won. Since then, though, Tejano has grown less and less popular. As Tejano fan Ramiro Burr pointed out in 2008, “When it comes time to booking the bands, the Houston Rodeo folks are doing what commercial radio and record labels do — they go for what brings in the largest crowds.” Since Go Tejano Day started featuring norteño and banda acts, the event has consistently broken attendance records for the rodeo’s organizers. Can you blame them?

Well, maybe.

The thing is, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, to whom I’ll start referring as the more nefarious-sounding HLSR, has also done that big-corporation thing of changing the terms of the debate. The HLSR has accomplished this with diabolical ease. (MWA-jajaja!) The 2008 protests weren’t only about which bands would play the main stage; they made other demands:

1. Award greater number of scholarships to Hispanics. Only a few
scholarships are awarded to Hispanics.

2. Need Hispanic representation at the Executive Committee Level of the
rodeo’s governing group. Currently, Hispanics do not have
representation.

3. Retain event title as “Go Tejano Day”, while building greater
awareness of Tejano music & culture.

4. Expand role of “Go Tejano Committee” in the entertainment selection
process. The Go Tejano Committee has no role in selecting bands to
perform.

5. Pay parity for Tejano music artists. Tejano artists are paid much
much less than the other non-Hispanic artists. Yet, the Tejano artists
have broken numerous attendance records.

6. Increase Hispanic themed days/events at the Houston Rodeo.

Indeed, in 2008, “Several black lawmakers, including State Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, joined the Tejano cause…, saying blacks, too, should play a bigger role in the show.”

But:

Rodeo officials counter that about one-third of scholarships already go to Hispanic students. And while there are no blacks or Hispanics on the rodeo’s highest volunteer committee [it’s called The Executive Committee, MWAjajaja], that’s because membership is based on years of service and financial contributions.

I can’t speak to the scholarship numbers. But that second point is a classic method of refusing to integrate your organization while still seeming cool with the idea of integration. The idea goes, “They, the people whose money we’re taking in record-setting amounts, can’t help us plan the specific means of taking their money because they’ve never done it before. But seriously, we’re concerned.” Well, if nothing changes, nothing changes. Here, feast your eyes on the pasty faces of the current 2015 Executive Committee! The rodeo does have a black Vice President and some Latino-sounding names on the Board of Directors, which isn’t nothing. But it also isn’t integration. And if you’re serious about representing your clientele, it won’t take you eight years to integrate your Executive Committee, sure as you don’t wanna touch your shoe soles after visiting the livestock show.

(Um, I would like to pre-emptively apologize to Chris Richardson or any other members of the Executive Committee who might, in fact, be Hispanic. Set me straight!)

But in 2008, Leroy Shafer, the HLSR’s Chief Operating Officer, saved his fighting words for the musical argument. “The very vast majority of the Hispanic community knows that this is a subterfuge to try to keep a dying music industry alive,” he said of the protest. “They’re not buying into it.” He’s right about that. This 2009 message board thread is a good read, with every other post offering a sound argument about appropriate names for the event (the meaning of Tejano isn’t in question) and which music is worth supporting. But nobody really addresses the power structure like those 2008 protesters, except for a poster named MH, who says, “[W]e will not be able to influence the Tejano Day if we do not start becoming involved in their planning…”

This year’s protests got some extra attention thanks to Oscar de la Rosa of La Mafia, that Grammy-winning Tejano band; de la Rosa went on a profane rant against rodeo organizers during one of his concerts. (La Mafia has played the rodeo in the past.) There was also a change.org petition. But neither addressed the power structure of the HLSR; they just implored Tejano fans to boycott so that the HLSR would schedule some Tejano bands. The HLSR responded in kind: “We put music on our main RODEOHOUSTON stage that attracts fans and sells tickets.” There are bigger fish to fry here. I frankly don’t care who plays Go Tejano Day, but there’s no question Tejano’s appeal has waned for a while. It simply has fewer fans than norteño and banda. Changing the name to “Hispanic Heritage Day” or hiring La Mafia instead of Arrolladora isn’t gonna change who’s in charge of the rodeo or how they make their scholarship money. They’d just make less money if they hired La Mafia.

March 16, 2015 7

Who’s On the Mexican Radio? 3/13/15

Los Tigres’ celebration of triplets (the musical figure, not the polyzygotic phenomenon) continues at #1 in Mexico this week. There’s some activity in the lower rungs of the chart, where Arrolladora replaces one boring ballad, still a hit in El Norte, with one slightly less boring tune that sounds vaguely like Dean Martin’s “Sway.” (Only Arrolladora have the magic technique.) Banda Los Sebastianes re-enter the chart with the evanescent “Indeleble,” and El Chapo de Sinaloa appears with “Tranquilito,” for which only a turbulent “making of” video exists.

For once the US charts are more interesting! For one thing, Hot Latin boasts its fifth #1 in five weeks, with Nicky Jam & Enrique’s “El Perdon.” Last week was the late Ariel Camacho’s “El Karma,” which recedes to #10 this week following its death bump. Before that was J Balvin’s “Ay Vamos,” then Maná ft. Shakira, and before that…

This is the first time five different songs have topped the chart in as many weeks since January/February 2014, when Marc Anthony gave way to Prince Royce, then to King Romeo’s “Propuesta Indecente,” then to Enrique ft. Marco Antonio Solís, and finally to the “Odio” juggernaut. “Odio,” you’ll remember, was the last number one before our recent glorious era of “Bailando.” (“Bailando” has always been at war with “Propuesta Indecente.”) The era came to an end with Maná and Shakira’s “Mi Verdad.” During the previous set of five number ones in five weeks, back in 2012, the chart turned over more frequently; this was just prior to Billboard‘s controversial decision to incorporate both streaming data and airplay from across all genres into genre charts, and Hot Latin songs began ruling the roost for weeks on a regular basis.

New songs in the US Regional Mexican top 20 include La Séptima Banda’s “Bonito y Bello,” likable for its minor chords but otherwise meh; Los Huracanes’ “Como Tu No Hay Dos,” a slow country waltz; and the Pick to Click, La Maquinaria Norteña’s “Si Te Vuelvo a Ver,” a stomping country polka with some puro Chihuahua sax, by way of New Mexico. I want La Maquinaria Norteña’s logo on my windshield.

1. “Que Tal Si Eres Tu” – Los Tigres Del Norte
2. “Contigo” – Calibre 50
3. “Culpable Fui (Culpable Soy)” – Intocable
4. “A Lo Mejor” – Banda MS
5. “Después de Ti ¿Quién?” – La Adictiva Banda San Jose
6. “Que Aun Te Amo” – Pesado
7. “Todo Tuyo” – Banda El Recodo
8. “No Fue Necesario” – El Bebeto
9. “Malditas Ganas” – Alfredo Rios El Komander
10. “Perdi La Pose” – Espinoza Paz

11. “Me Sobrabas Tu” – Banda Los Recoditos
12. “Si Tuviera Que Decirlo” – Pedro Fernandez
13. “Sencillamente” – Raúl y Mexia + SuenaTron
14. “Ponte Las Pilas” – America Sierra
15. “Escuchame” – Fidel Rueda
16. “Me Importas” – Los Primos MX
17. “Confesion” – La Arrolladora Banda El Limón
18. “Adicto a la Tristeza” – Banda La Trakalosa ft. Pancho Uresti
19. “Indeleble” – Banda Los Sebastianes
20. “Tranquilito” – El Chapo de Sinaloa

¡Adios!
“Lo Hiciste Otra Vez” – Arrolladora
“El Que Se Enamora Pierde” – Banda Carnaval
“Tiene Espinas El Rosal” – Grupo Cañaveral De Humberto Pabón ft. Jenny and the Mexicats

March 12, 2015 1

¡Nuevo! (starring El Komander, Grupo H-100, y más)

Alfredo Ríos El Komander (I guess that’s what we’re calling him now?) continues to fire off charming singles that sound like he wrote them on a napkin and recorded them in the back of the bar. His latest, “Fuga Pa’ Maza” (Twiins) makes the theme explicit. It’s a drinking song whose background crowd noises exist as much for their musical energy as their verisimilitude — note how the crowd abruptly shuts up mid-whoop at the end of the song, rather than fading into a jumble of congratulatory high-fives. “Mi vida es pura pura pura borrachera,” Ríos brags, his tuba and requinto (I think) players capering around the bar, spilling everyone’s drinks. Youtube commenters seem disappointed this isn’t a corrido, but it wins NorteñoBlog’s coveted VALE LA PENA/CLICK TO PICK double shot. Now go corrupt some youth!

You’ll remember la semana pasada NorteñoBlog noted two new Hyphy releases by corridistas Chuy Vega and Los Originales de San Juan. They’re both back this week, having released other albums of apparently new music for different indie labels. Not that I’m complaining — jazz players like Wadada Leo Smith and Rob Mazurek busily compile equally confusing discographies, and putting the pieces together is part of the fun. This week, Vega’s Puras Norteñitas (jesus jose vega cuamea) and Los Originales’ Celebrando 39 (Long Play) both sound (on cursory listen) like solid country collections, with a slight edge to Vega, but if you don’t have Spotify or Rhapsody you might just have to take my word for it because Youtube’s not yielding much.

Not to overlook Hyphy, their young bass quintet Grupo H-100 has a debut album out called Nada Que Hacer. Its cover hearkens back to the golden age of hyphy norteño, with bullet-holes, skull jackets, and a shiny urban metal-and-leather aesthetic. But these guys have nothing to do with hyphy norteño. (Thinkpiece forthcoming.) Lead singer Jasiel Felix has kind of a Noel Torres thing going on, where he seems to be perpetually holding your shoulder and looking you in the eye without expression. I really find this style of singing appealing. What this says about my cauterized emotional receptors I’m not sure, but they’re worth a listen. Biggest hit so far is the corrido “Chuy Verduras,” and the band also has a rewarding new series of videos where they play live in a garage.

H-100’s sometime labelmates and duet partners Los Nuevos Rebeldes have a new live album with Banda La Conquista, (En Vivo), that has one of the busiest covers I’ve ever seen. The cover matches the sound, where the crowd is barely audible but every instrument is dry and upfront. Given the Conquista trumpeters’ haphazard approach to tuning, this strategy has its drawbacks. I’m not finding Youtube excerpts, but here’s one of those garage concerts with all the same players and then some.

The sextet-or-septet Puro Domador (aka Domador de la Sierra) play a fusion of grupero and Tierra Caliente, which in the case of single “Tu Profesor” means happy norteño pop with a sax, tambora, and a keyboard that I think is playing some very convincing tuba lines — but miraculously without any cheesy basement-psycho synth leads. The fusion has NorteñoBlog’s approval.

March 10, 2015 1