La Arrolladora Banda El Limón

¡Nuevo! (starring Arrolladora, Incomparables, y Juanes)

Since Juanes is a Colombian guitar hero, he’s not exactly NorteñoBlog material, but today I’ll make an exception. After all, Loco De Amor was one of 2014’s best albums, a career high for the singer-songwriter, and now I see he’ll be singing his new song “Juntos” at this Sunday’s Grammys — y él estará cantando EN ESPAñOL! Besides his countrywoman Shakira, who’s busy nesting with a new baby, there are few Latino superstars better poised for such a breakthrough. Juanes has already played an all-Spanish concert on The Today Show, and his music is straightforward pop/rock with just enough touches of tropical rhythm and instrumentation to set him apart from, say, Sting. Unfortunately (you knew this was coming):

1. “Juntos” sucks. It’s toothless ska that would have been the eighth-best song, at most, on Loco De Amor.

2. It’s from the soundtrack to a terrible looking Disney movie where Kevin Costner plays the fish-out-of-water white hero to a Latino cross-country team, much like that movie where Jon Hamm recruits Indians to play… baseball, was it? I don’t feel like researching these movies, partly because the “Juntos” video contains a money shot of Costner staring skeptically at someone’s backyard rooster. Get it? OK, yes, roosters are naturally hilarious, but owning them isn’t. They and their harem provide eggs, companionship, and valuable childhood lessons about death. I’m pretty sure my (gringo) Mom had chickens growing up in central Missouri, and I know several (mostly gringo) Chicago suburbs have been lobbying for chicken-friendly zoning laws. Backyard chickens and roosters just make sense. If you’re gonna stereotype a whole group of people, at least get your signifiers right! This movie seems calculated to please the same people who’d enjoy that ridiculous McDonald’s commercial that currently precedes the “Juntos” video, the one where they encourage you to dance for your food. It’s not overstatement to say that McDonald’s, Disney, Kevin Costner, “Juntos,” and Juanes are complicit in hastening the end of civilization.

Um, watch the Grammys! Big moment for Juanes. For all of us.

Speaking of civilization in demise, La Arrolladora Banda El Limón drop a new album called Ojos En Blanco (Disa) this week. Its terrible lead single “Lo Hiciste Otra Vez” has already gone top 10 in both México and El Norte. (The song was written by newcomer Tláloc Noriega, who also landed the more swingin’ “Disculpa Corazón” with La Poderosa Banda San Juan.) Alert listeners and readers will remember these guys aren’t always terrible, especially when they sing Espinoza Paz songs: “Cabecita Dura” was a jam and “El Ruido de Tus Zapatos” led to a heightened state of awareness at least once.

In corridos, Los Incomparables de Tijuana released their 18th-or-so album Caro Quintero Soy (Sony), with a lead single of the same name, sung here in spellbinding duet with another band, Los Nuevos Rebeldes. (PICK TO CLICK!) Come for the big bushy beard; stay for the part in the middle where they put down their instruments and shout out their respective bands.

The Gerencia 360 label just put out a two-volume sampler called Evolution 360, featuring acts I know and love and included on 2014 year-end lists, including Noel Torres, Adriel Favela, and Martin Castillo. They also handle Helen Ochoa, pretty boy Jonatan Sánchez, Grupo Escolta, and a bachata dude named Yenddi, whose album The First Chapter drops this week.

And what would norteño music be without redundant and excessive exits compilations? Sony and Disa are flooding the market this week, with comps by Vicki Carr, Cornelio Reyna, Conjunto Primavera, Calibre 50, Recoditos (that one might be a lot of fun) — I won’t list ’em all, but they’re out there, cluttering up a discoteca near you.

February 3, 2015 1

Desfile De Éxitos 1/24/15

If it’s possible, the Hot Latin top 10 is getting even more stagnant. A month ago, nine of the top 10 songs were the same as they are now, and four of them were by Romeo Santos. As of two weeks ago, Gerardo Ortiz’s “Eres Una Niña” had replaced one of Romeo’s. No such excitement this week: all 10 songs are the same as they were two weeks ago. The #1 song has been on the chart for 43 weeks. The most recent of King Romeo’s three top 10 hits has been on the chart 44 weeks, and the longest an astounding 77 weeks. “Bailando” has always been at war with “Propuesta Indecente.”

As the farmer said to his dead cow while watching the sorghum grow, not much happening anywhere this week. On Hot Latin we say “adiós” to Yandel’s “Plakito”; on Regional Mexican, Banda Carnaval’s “El Que Se Enamora Pierde” loses the game of musical chairs. They’re replaced by Farruko’s “Lejos De Aqui” and Fidel Rueda’s “No Te Vayas,” respectively. (In case I haven’t mentioned it, the current picks to click are Victor Manuelle’s electro-salsa “Que Suenen Los Tambores,” #13, and Natalia Jiménez’s electro-mariachi “Quédate Con Ella,” #17. They’re slightly outside our scope, but good songs are good songs.)

In his great Pitchfork piece “I Know You Got Soul,” Chris Molanphy explains what’s behind this stasis:

In October 2012, [Billboard] announced an overhaul to its R&B/Hip-Hop, Country, and Latin Songs charts, all incorporating digital sales and streaming for the first time. The modernization of these genre charts was long overdue, but Billboard threw out the baby with the bathwater. Or, you might say, drowned the baby in too much bathwater: Now, digital sales from any source, any buyer (read: pop fans) would be factored into each chart. Worse, in order to achieve sales and radio parity, Billboard also incorporated airplay across all radio formats into the genre charts; so airplay from Top 40 or adult-contemporary stations of, say, an R&B song would now count for the R&B chart, of a country song would count for the country chart, and so forth. In essence, Billboard would now use the exact same data set for these genre charts that it uses for the Hot 100, and simply trim the charts back to whatever songs the magazine determined fit that genre — each chart became a mini–Hot 100.

This certainly explains the longevity of “Bailando,” whose Top 40 spins bolster its Hot Latin dominance. And indeed, “Bailando” is only the latest in a line of #1 hogs:

On Latin Songs, the steady turnover of hits atop the chart slowed down instantly, as a crossover hit that paired reggaetón stars Wisin y Yandel with Chris Brown and T-Pain vaulted to No. 1 and settled in for a months-long run.

I can’t explain the slow turnover among Regional Mexican Songs, though; or why the Mexican charts seem to turn over quicker.

These are the top 25 Hot Latin Songs and top 20 Regional Mexican Songs, courtesy Billboard, as published Jan. 24.

1. “Bailando” – Enrique ft. Descemer Bueno, Gente de Zona, & the word “contigo”
2. “Ay Vamos” – J Balvin
3. “Propuesta Indecente” – Romeo Santos (I just wanna point out this song is 77 WEEKS OLD.)
4. “Travesuras” – Nicky Jam
5. “Eres Mia” – Romeo Santos
6. “6 AM” – J Balvin ft. Farruko
7. “Eres Una Niña” – Gerardo Ortíz (#1 RegMex)
8. “Y Asi Fue” – Julión Álvarez (#4 RegMex) (Is this man the best banda singer around right now? Or should we forget the qualifier?)
9. “Odio” – Romeo Santos ft. Drake
10. “No Me Pidas Perdon” – Banda MS (#10 Reg Mex)

11. “Qué Tiene De Malo” – Calibre 50 ft. El Komander (#12 RegMex)
12. “Hablame de Ti” – Banda MS (snoooooozzzzzz)
13. “Que Suenen Los Tambores” – Victor Manuelle
14. “Javier El de Los Llanos” – Calibre 50 (#3 RegMex)
15. “Levantando Polvadera” – Voz De Mando (#2 RegMex)
16. “Mi Princesa” – Remmy Valenzuela (#6 RegMex)
17. “Quédate Con Ella” – Natalia Jiménez (Sleek! Horns + electrobeats!)
18. “Hasta Que Salga el Sol” – Banda Los Recoditos (#8 RegMex)
19. “Mi Vecinita” – Plan B
20. “Tus Besos” – Juan Luis Guerra 440

21. “Lejos De Aqui” – Farruko
22. “Soltero Disponible” – Regulo Caro (#7 RegMex)
23. “El Karma” – Ariel Camacho y Los Plebes Del Rancho (#11 RegMex)
24. “Soledad” – Don Omar
25. “La Bala” – Los Tigres Del Norte (#5 RegMex)

—————–

9. “Eres Tú” – Proyecto X

13. “Zapatillas Ferragamo” – Meño Lugo
14. “Entonces Que Somos” – Banda El Recodo (A nada Luciano Luna ballad off Recodo’s 2013 album, now turned into a dramatic short film.)
15. “Soy Un Desmadre” – Banda Tierra Sagrada ft. Marco Flores y La #1 Banda Jerez
16. “Dime” – Julión Álvarez
17. “Lo Hiciste Otra Vez” – La Arrolladora Banda El Limón (Oh dear, this is not good. Not just sap — meandering sap.)
18. “La Indicada” – Kevin Ortíz
19. “No Te Vayas” – Fidel Rueda
20. “Al Estilo Mafia” – Saul El Jaguar ft. La Bandononona Clave Nueva de Max Peraza

January 17, 2015 0

Who’s On the Mexican Radio? 1/10/15

In which Mexican radio churns through songs somewhat faster than the U.S.

In the month since I last posted this chart, seven songs have departed, including Calibre 50/El Komander’s #1 “Qué Tiene De Malo,” Los Tigres’ “La Bala” (both still big in El Norte), and the execrable “En Tu Twitter Y Facebook.” Two months ago, when I first posted this chart, eight of the 20 songs were the same, which seems like healthy turnover. Contrast that with the U.S. Hot Latin chart, where more than half the songs — 15 or 16 of 25 (I ran out of fingers) — are the same as they were two months ago. I mean, the only new song in the Hot Latin top 10 is “Eres Una Niña.” That’s two months with nine of ten songs permanently ensconced! “Bailando” has always been at war with “Propuesta Indecente.” Even among the roiling top Regional Mexican Songs list, 12 of 20 songs are still there after two months, the reverse of the Mexican chart. Why so much less turnover in the U.S.? Um… stay tuned.

These are the top 20 Popular songs of the week in México, as measured by radionotas. The General top 20 contains basically the same top 10, plus “Uptown Funk,” “Animals,” Calvin Harris, and some Spanish-language pop in its lower reaches. The pick to click, snuck in among all these ballads — and santo cielo, there’s a lot of ballads — is Marco Flores’s blazing “El Pajarito.” The man is a dancing machine.

1. “Contigo” – Calibre 50
2. “Eres Una Niña” – Gerardo Ortiz
3. “El Que Se Enamora Pierde” – Banda Carnaval
4. “Dime” – Julión Álvarez y Su Norteño Banda
5. “Cuando Tu Me Besas” – El Bebeto
6. “Me Sobrabas Tu” – Banda Los Recoditos
7. “Mayor De Edad” – La Original Banda el Limón
8. “Háblame De Ti” – Banda MS
9. “Lo Hiciste Otra Vez” – Arrolladora
10. “Broche De Oro” – Banda La Trakalosa

11. “Somos Ajenos” – Banda El Recodo
12. “Nos Acostumbramos” – Los Horoscopos de Durango
13. “Debajo Del Sombrero” – Leandro Ríos ft. Pancho Uresti de Banda Tierra Sagrada
14. “En La Sierra y La Ciudad La China” – La Adictiva Banda San Jose
15. “El Pajarito” – Marco Flores y La Número 1 Banda Jerez
16. “Perdoname Mi Amor” – Los Tucanes De Tijuana
17. “Se Me Sigue Notando” – Chuy Lizarraga
18. “Tan Bonita” – Pasado ft. Raul Hernandez
19. “No Entiendo” – Lucero
20. “Asi Te Quiero Yo” – Banda Tierra Sagrada

January 12, 2015 1

Desfile De Éxitos 1/10/15

These are the top 25 Hot Latin Songs and top 20 Regional Mexican Songs, courtesy Billboard, as published Jan. 10. Things to note:

The ~~New Year’s hangover~~ chart count for “Propuesta Indecente” increases to 75 weeks. While the Hot Latin top 10 seems etched in stone, 11-25 is more lively, thanks to musical rudeness if not the pace of chart turnover.

It’s been three weeks since we last checked these charts. (¡Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año!) On Hot Latin we say “adiós” to Ricky Martin’s song of the same name, along with songs by Luis Fonsi and Romeo Santos. (Weep not; Santos still has three others in the top 10.) In Regional Mexican, we bid farewell to Jorge Valenzuela, Los Huracanes, La Maquinaria Norteña, and La Adictiva Banda. But hey! — we sometimes like Banda El Recodo, Arrolladora, and Banda Carnaval, and they’re all here with new tunes of varying likability. So is Julión Álvarez, who’s always welcome, even if he’s brought the most boring song (“Dime”) off his latest album as a hostess gift. “It’s already been a hit in México,” he assures us, trying to impress.

Last week while we were reveling, Gerardo Ortiz’s supple bachata + banda ballad “Eres Una Niña” hit #1 on the Regional Mexican chart. This week it falls to Voz De Mando, but we can still revel. Especially since I finally listened to Remmy Valenzuela’s #18 ballad “Mi Princesa,” and it’s pretty good — cut from the ’50s doo-wop school of romance and sung with high drama. Valenzuela, you’ll remember, is a young fleet-fingered corridista, but he cleans up nice for his princesa.

Finally, Regulo Caro’s irresistible blast of smarm “Soltero Disponible” moves up to Hot Latin at #21. Its opulent, tongue-in-cheek video is sort of like Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space,” only with more breast bling. “Soltero” was notably the only norteño/banda song to make Leila Cobo’s list of the Best Latin Songs of 2014, which we’ll puzzle over later. (Her albums list contains zero regional Mexican, albeit lots of albums I haven’t heard.)

1. “Bailando” – Enrique ft. Descemer Bueno, Gente de Zona, & the word “contigo”
2. “Propuesta Indecente” – Romeo Santos (I just wanna point out this song is 75 WEEKS OLD, and that maybe someone’s chart methodology needs tweaking.)
3. “Ay Vamos” – J Balvin
4. “Travesuras” – Nicky Jam
5. “Eres Mia” – Romeo Santos
6. “6 AM” – J Balvin ft. Farruko
7. “Odio” – Romeo Santos ft. Drake
8. “Y Asi Fue” – Julión Álvarez (#5 RegMex) (Is this man the best banda singer around right now? Or should we forget the qualifier?)
9. “Eres Una Niña” – Gerardo Ortíz (#2 RegMex)
10. “No Me Pidas Perdon” – Banda MS (#14 Reg Mex)

11. “Qué Tiene De Malo” – Calibre 50 ft. El Komander (#9 RegMex)
12. “Levantando Polvadera” – Voz De Mando (#1 RegMex)
13. “Javier El de Los Llanos” – Calibre 50 (#3 RegMex)
14. “Que Suenen Los Tambores” – Victor Manuelle
15. “Hasta Que Salga el Sol” – Banda Los Recoditos (#10 RegMex)
16. “El Karma” – Ariel Camacho y Los Plebes Del Rancho (#7 RegMex)
17. “La Bala” – Los Tigres Del Norte (#4 RegMex)
18. “Mi Princesa” – Remmy Valenzuela (#6 RegMex)
19. “Tus Besos” – Juan Luis Guerra 440
20. “Quédate Con Ella” – Natalia Jiménez (Sleek! Horns + electrobeats!)

21. “Soltero Disponible” – Regulo Caro (#8 RegMex)
22. “Hablame de Ti” – Banda MS (snoooooozzzzzz)
23. “Mi Vecinita” – Plan B
24. “Plakito” – Yandel ft. El General Gadiel
25. “Soledad” – Don Omar

—————–

11. “Entonces Que Somos” – Banda El Recodo (A nada Luciano Luna ballad off Recodo’s 2013 album, now turned into a dramatic short film.)
12. “Eres Tú” – Proyecto X
13. “Zapatillas Ferragamo” – Meño Lugo
15. “Soy Un Desmadre” – Banda Tierra Sagrada ft. Marco Flores y La #1 Banda Jerez
16. “La Indicada” – Kevin Ortíz
17. “El Que Se Enamora Pierde” – Banda Carnaval (What a courtly bunch of hombres.)
18. “Al Estilo Mafia” – Saul El Jaguar ft. La Bandononona Clave Nueva de Max Peraza
19. “Dime” – Julión Álvarez
20. “Lo Hiciste Otra Vez” – La Arrolladora Banda El Limón (Oh dear, this is not good. Not just sap — meandering sap.)

January 2, 2015 2

Who’s On the Mexican Radio?

These are the top 20 Popular singles in México, as measured by monitorLATINO on December 5, 2014. Things to note:

As expected, there’s more shuffling on this list than on Billboard’s U.S. Regional Mexican Songs chart. (Granted, it’s been a couple weeks since we looked at this chart.) This week we say adiós to the ubiquitous Espinoza Paz, who may soon return with his power ballad about being a decent human being. A sadder adiós to three minor hits that were crass breaths of fresh air: Los Buitres’ “La Bipolar,” “Ya No Vives En Mi” by the preternaturally nomenclaturally gifted La Bandononona, and Banda Los Sebastianes’ “Todo Lo Incluido” — it’s nothing too special as a ballad, but as a study in how to sing high harmonies, oh man.

On the other hand, we welcome Lucero, a real live female, at #20, and at #10, a Recoditos ballad I’ve called “saccharine crap” but is worth hearing just because it’s by Recoditos. Gerardo Ortiz’s bachata-biting “Eres Una Niña” is at #9 — so with Los Tigres still charting and Calibre 50’s “Qué Tiene De Malo” starting to hit in El Norte, that makes three points of overlap with the U.S. chart.

1. “Qué Tiene De Malo” – Calibre 50 ft. El Komander
2. “El Que Se Enamora Pierde” – Banda Carnaval
3. “Hombre Libre” – La Adictiva Banda San José
4. “Cuando Tu Me Besas” – El Bebeto
5. “Dime” – Julión Álvarez y Su Norteño Banda
6. “Háblame De Ti” – Banda MS
7. “Se Me Sigue Notando” – Chuy Lizarraga
8. “Eres Una Niña” – Gerardo Ortiz
9. “Mayor De Edad” – La Original Banda el Limón
10. “Me Sobrabas Tu” – Banda Los Recoditos

11. “Somos Ajenos” – Banda El Recodo
12. “Perdoname Mi Amor” – Los Tucanes De Tijuana
13. “Lo Hiciste Otra Vez” – Arrolladora
14. “Broche De Oro” – Banda La Trakalosa
15. “En Tu Twitter y Facebook” – Danny Guillen (As you might imagine I went for this one first, and hoo boy, is this a terrible song.)
16. “El Papel Cambio” – Alfredo Rios El Komander
17. “La Bala” – Los Tigres Del Norte
18. “Bien Servida” – Los Gfez ft. Diego Herrera
19. “No Te Vayas” – Fidel Rueda
20. “No Entiendo” – Lucero

December 5, 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