Nortec Collective Albums (2)
'Tijuana Sound Machine'
Release Date 1/1/2008
Tracks 15
Label 2008 Nacional Under Ex
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Though Tijuana Sound Machine is credited to the Nortec Collective as a whole, this time out only collective leader Pepe Mogt and majordomo Ramon Amezcua are on hand. This makes Tijuana Sound Machine considerably more focused and direct than the group's eclectic earlier releases. Mogt's fundamental concept for the Nortec Collective -- mixing the accordion, trumpets, guitarron and other key instruments of norteño, the native pop music of northern Mexico, with electronic beats and processing -- finds its purest form on Tijuana Sound Machine: these 15 brief tracks, only four of which feature vocals, are (with only rare exceptions, most notably "Brown Bike," which is basically a Beck-style pop song with sampled norteño trumpets and stage-whispered English-language lyrics) pure norteño, played on live acoustic instruments and only barely tweaked by the synths and samplers that predominated on the Nortec Collective's last album, The Tijuana Sessions, Vol. 3. The results might sound a bit cheesy to those not familiar with the glories of norteño -- with its polka beats and prominent accordions, many hipsters automatically (and incorrectly) mentally categorize it as a south of the border Lawrence Welk, yet the pure fun of songs like the jumpy "Mama Loves Nortec" and the hypnotic, dubby "Rosarito" is hard to resist. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
'Tijuana Sessions, Vol. 3'
Release Date 7/12/2005
Tracks 15
Label Nacional
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The third compilation from the loosely organized Nortec Collective (whatever happened to volume two?) offers four years of development from the debut, and that's apparent in a greater cohesion of sound. Where the debut offering sometimes seemed to graft Mexican elements onto electronica and dance music almost as an afterthought, here everything is more integrated, as with Hiperboreal's "Dandy del Sur," where village banda meets spaghetti Western. Sometimes it's plain goofy, such as with Fussible's "Tijuana Makes Me Happy," with its silly English lyric, and sometimes it triggers odd associations -- Bostich's "Tengo la Voz" brings to mind Herb Alpert with its trumpet rather than anything more rooted. It's notable that this time around, rather than appearing on the major Palm Pictures, it's on the Mexican-based Nacional label, a good home for this music, which overall succeeds in offering the listener 21st century Tijuana. Not everything is good -- Clorofila's "Almada" seems to get stuck in a monotonous groove, for example -- but some are superb. On "Colorado" Fussible seem to channel the spirit of Talking Heads, while "Narcoteque" from Clorofila and Calexico brings Brian Eno to mind. So, like any compilation, it's a mixed bag. But the unity of spirit brings it all together, and the good far outweighs the mediocre. ~ Chris Nickson, All Music Guide
