La Bandononona Clave Nueva de Max Peraza

Who’s On the Mexican Radio? 6/23/16

cuisillos

Sorry for the relative radio silence; NorteñoBlog has lately been norteñobogged down in real-life work and living changes. But you know where the radio ISN’T silent? (Wait for it…)

That’s right: in Mexico, where faith in the police is sky high and noted Chapo trollers Los Titanes de Durango can talk themselves out of speeding tickets by Knowing A Guy. I refer of course to their speedirific “Rumbo a Maza,” already a small hit in El Norte and a previous Pick to Click, now at #18 on la patria’s radio chart.

Also big on the radio this (and every) week are ballads stained with tears. At #17, the nomenclaturally gifted Bandononona Clave Nueva de Max Peraza demand “Dime Cómo” from the mujer who broke their collective heart. The only sadsacks sadder are Banda Cuisillos at #12, who demand “Utilízame” from the mujer who keeps getting her heart broken by some douchebag. (In the circus-themed video, said douchebag is a smoldering trapeze artist. Trigger warning: SAD CLOWNS ENSUE!) NorteñoBlog often enjoys Cuisillos, who veer wildly from ’80s-style pomp banda to raucous drinking songs, but the generic ballad “Utilízame” doesn’t utilize their strengths.

The real action is at #15, where the Calibre 50 splinter group La Iniciativa has teamed up with the swanky bros in Recoditos for a tongue-twisting tune about wingmen and the women they share at the club. (Standard translation caveats apply.) Like “Dime Cómo” and “Utilízame,” not to mention three of Taylor Dayne’s first four singles, “Convidela” issues demands; like Dayne, the combined norteño+banda ensemble actually sounds urgent about it. I’m also a big fan of throatiness in my banda singing, and Ariel Inzunza and Luis Angel Franco turn the tune into a total throat-off. Pick to Click!

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June 24, 2016 3

¡Bandononona! ¡En la Jukebox!

No lo siento por mi “dis” de unas “indie bands” en The Singles Jukebox la semana pasada, cuando escribimos sobre Bandononona Clave Nueva y “Cuál Adiós.” Tal vez era un golpe bajo, pero mi argumento era específico: bandas son grandes, indie rock bands son pequeños, y sus ironías estarán diferentes. (¿Defensivo? ¿Yo?)

Escribí:

I’m impressed: this banda-pop cover of Fato’s mariachi-pop “Ya No Vives En Mi” manages more lushness and luxury than the original (or Yuri’s straight-up pop version, or Samuray’s cumbia, or whatever this future-Tarantino-title-music horror is), while still sounding like the band’s making fun of it. Blame the flutter-tonguer in the back row, or Max Peraza’s bewildered double takes in the video. Not only are bandas perfectly suitable delivery vehicles for pop songs; when they put their minds to it, they can achieve shades of irony your little indie band can only dream of.

October 26, 2015 0

Desfile de Éxitos 9/26/15

ROBERTO TAPIA GRAPPLES WITH FEELINGS, FENG SHUI ON BEACH:

If you’ve hung around NorteñoBlog for very long, you’ll know that when I fall for a Roberto Tapia banda single, I fall hard. So it is with his new tune “No Valoraste” — the waltz beat is stiffer than his previous “Me Enamoré” and “Mirando Al Cielo,” but the high-climbing melody sounds great in his upper range. Along with Friday’s brand new video, and having heard it on the radio a couple times last week, “No Valoraste” shoots into Pick to Click status. And by all means watch that video: it’s like Ingmar Bergman shot a novela on the beach using the castoff furniture from Return to Oz. See Tapia and his ex-mujer stalk one another in symbolically opposing color schemes, as they seek cold comfort from an absent God and/or Princess Ozma.

Tapia’s at #4 on the airplay chart, so the streams racked up by this new video should propel him onto the big Hot Latin chart next week.

ADRIEL FAVELA WALKS THE BOOTY BEAT:
Continue reading “Desfile de Éxitos 9/26/15” →

September 21, 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

Desfile de Éxitos 6/13/15

When Pitbull someday releases a career-spanning greatest hits album, it’ll be a monster. He’s got one hits album already: 2012’s Original Hits compiled his early stuff from TVT records and it looks good (I confess I haven’t heard all the songs), but since he released it in the midst of the Planet Pit/Voli Vodka world takeover, most of the world outside the 305 area code overlooked it. NorteñoBlog doesn’t often cover Pitbull because he has about as much to do with regional Mexican music as Rita Moreno does. (I confess I have even LESS of a connection to the format, but here we are.) But since he is possibly the most charming man on the planet — he needs to be loved slightly more than everybody else does — I will share my theory of Pitbull hits:

There are two tiers of Pitbull hits. The top tier includes such monster EDM smashes as “Timber,” “Give Me Everything,” and “Time of Our Lives,” and these songs are pretty good, just as the Planet Pit album was pretty good. That’s disc one of our hypothetical career spanning compilation. But the second tier, our hypothetical disc two of smaller hits… THAT’S where Pitbull hides his gold. I’m talking stuff like last year’s #23 hit “Fireball,” his astounding Ying Yang Twins feature “Shake” (included on Original Hits), 2010’s phenomenal, bilingual, featuring-Lil-Jon-and-everybody “Watagatapitusberry,” and the Pick to Click that climbs this week to #25 on Hot Latin, “El Taxi” featuring Sensato & Cuban oral sex freedom fighter Osmani Garcia. (“Chupi Chupi” was the too sexy song in question.) It’s really Garcia’s song — he originally received top billing and it’s more than a year old at this point, with 111 million Youtube views, but I assume it’ll appear on Pit’s forthcoming Spanish album Dale. “El Taxi” is lowdown and slinky. It features car horns beeping. I mean, come on.

Continue reading “Desfile de Éxitos 6/13/15” →

June 5, 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

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

Desfile De Éxitos

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

The Finnegan’s Wake book club chart count for “Propuesta Indecente” increases to 72 weeks. Speaking of which, King Romeo has four songs in the Top 10. The Hot Latin chart is BOOOOOORRRRIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG.

On Hot Latin we say adiós to Camila’s “Perdón” and Prince Royce’s “Soy El Mismo.” In Regional Mexican, we show to the door strategically facial-haired Fidel Rueda, young and peach fuzzy Luis Coronel, and Banda Carnaval’s “Manos” — careful, you don’t know where those things have been! Hola to Proyecto X, La Adictiva, and especially Ariel Camacho, hitting both charts with a meditative take on “El Karma,” which also showed up on Noel Torres’s recent album as a shitkicking duet with Voz De Mando. With its careful harmonies and taunting tuba, Camacho’s version sounds way more sinister.

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 72 WEEKS OLD, and that maybe someone’s chart methodology needs tweaking.)
4. “Eres Mia” – Romeo Santos
5. “Travesuras” – Nicky Jam
6. “Y Asi Fue” – Julión Álvarez (#1 RegMex) (Is this man the best banda singer around right now? Or should we forget the qualifier?)
7. “6 AM” – J Balvin ft. Farruko
8. “No Me Pidas Perdon” – Banda MS (#6 Reg Mex)
9. “Odio” – Romeo Santos ft. Drake
10. “Yo Tambien” – Romeo Santos ft. Marc Anthony

11. “Javier El de Los Llanos” – Calibre 50 (#3 RegMex)
12. “La Bala” – Los Tigres Del Norte (#2 RegMex)
13. “Tus Besos” – Juan Luis Guerra 440
14. “Eres Una Niña” – Gerardo Ortíz (#9 RegMex) (Hooray!)
15. “Hasta Que Salga el Sol” – Banda Los Recoditos (#5 RegMex)
16. “Levantando Polvadera” – Voz De Mando (#4 RegMex)
17. “Que Suenen Los Tambores” – Victor Manuelle
18. “Adios” – Ricky Martin
19. “El Karma” – Ariel Camacho y Los Plebes Del Rancho (#10 RegMex)
20. “Qué Tiene De Malo” – Calibre 50 ft. El Komander (#17 RegMex)

21. “Quédate Con Ella” – Natalia Jiménez (Sleek! Horns + electrobeats!)
22. “Plakito” – Yandel ft. El General Gadiel
23. “Mi Princesa” – Remmy Valenzuela (#12 RegMex)
24. “Soy Un Desmadre” – Banda Tierra Sagrada ft. Marco Flores y La #1 Banda Jerez (#7 RegMex)
25. “Llegaste Tu” – Luis Fonsi ft. Juan Luis Guerra

—————–

8. “Zapatillas Ferragamo” – Meño Lugo

11. “La Indicada” – Kevin Ortíz
13. “El Agüitado” – Jorge Valenzuela
14. “Al Estilo Mafia” – Saul El Jaguar ft. La Bandononona Clave Nueva de Max Peraza
15. “Ahora Por Ley” – Los Huracanes Del Norte
16. “Asi Ya No” – La Maquinaria Norteña
18. “Soltero Disponible” – Regulo Caro
19. “Eres Tú” – Proyecto X
20. “Disfrute Enganarte” – La Adictiva Banda

December 15, 2014 1

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

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