review del Newsday de Nueva York

Turning up the heat on the Mexican border


Ed Morales

July 31, 2005

Tijuana's Nortec Collective is a loose confederation of DJs that has created a dance-club sound capturing the sensibility of the notorious border town. "Some people call it the happiest place on earth/Others say it's a dangerous place/ It's been the city of sin/But you know I don't care," go the lyrics of "Tijuana Makes Me Happy" from the new album "Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3" (Nacional Records). The use of lyrics on this mostly instrumental record hints at Nortec's desire to create a soundtrack that will make you remember TJ in your dreams.

Nortec Collective consists of the DJs Bostitch (Ramón Amezcua), Clorofila (Jorge Verdín), Fussible (Pepe Mogt), Hiperboreal (PG Beas) and Panóptica (Roberto A. Mendoza). Their first densely layered dance-music album, "Tijuana Sessions, Vol. 1" appeared in 2001. "Vol. 3" is actually their second album, the title being a joke on collectors who will wonder about a "missing" Vol. 2.

"There's a lot more humor than on the first album, a little more rubber around the edges, if you know what I mean," said Verdín, who appears on four tracks on the compilation. "Vol. 3" is slightly less concerned with dance rhythms, trading on a more ambient, evocative tone. As the curiously subversive sound of the tuba section (lifted from the northern Mexican dance genre known as banda) mixes with more familiar dub and hip-hop breakbeats, the record becomes an invitation to an endless, somnambulant Tijuana club crawl.

"Having live musicians changed the sound quite a bit," Verdín said. "We were able to actually write melodies, which gave us a lot more texture and detail." Borrowed from local banda outfits, players such as percussionist Willy Negrón, clarinetist Ramón Ontiveros and trumpet player Jorge González give tunes such as "Dandy del Sur" a visceral anchor to the spiraling surrealism created by the DJs.

"The track I did with Panóptica is what a gay bar for narcotraffickers would sound like," Verdín said, referring to "Narcotéque." Describing "Funky Tamazula," Verdín conjures up a scenario in which "you're wandering around a strip bar at three in the morning and you can't find your car keys." On "Vol. 3" you can feel the subtle undercurrent of muffled cumbias playing off the steady pulse of electronic loops that signal a night of edgy fun. Every progressive DJ's old friend, the dub beat, lurks continuously - its quirky rhythmic pulse constructing rare grooves for a world of tacky delirium.

But almost out of nowhere, Clorofila and Panóptica achieve a bona fide epiphany on "Olvídela Compa," a song about forgetting a lost love. The fluttering accordion gives the track just the right Mexican feel, right down to the last teary tequila-stained note.

You can dance to "Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3," but the album stands on its own as great pop music for uncertain times, and might become one of your favorites of the summer

i tunes (update)

el disco ya aparecio en la pagina principal de los new releases dentro del genero de musica electronica.

ps< sigo sin acentos

i tunes

Tijuana sessions vol 3. Numero uno de ventas en linea por i tunes, dentro de la categoria de "musica latina".

Motivo para celebrar...

ps: estamos tambien en la categoria de "musica electronica". Esperemos que pase lo mismo.

ps2: ando con compu prestada y no tiene acentos.

Get Underground

El sitio de internet, www.getunderground.com, nos dedica un divertido "review" del Tijuana Sessions Vol 3. A pesar de que siguen con la idea de que somos dj's por el hecho de estar metidos en la producci[on y composici[on de canciones del g[enero electr[onico, la nota es divertida:

Comprised of several DJs, graphic artists, filmmakers, and fashion designers, the Nortec Collective hail from North America's definitive meltin' pot, the U.S.-Mexico border. Nortec’s follow up to Tijuana Sessions Vol. 1 (disregard the title, nothing is as it seems in T.J.) infuses traditional norteña, ranchera and banda sinaloense music of Mexico’s tassel-sleeved urban cowboy population. DJs Fusible, Bostitch, Panóptica, Clorofila and Hiperboreal harness the frenetic pulse and sinsations akin to T.J.’s infamous Revolución street by sampling honking tubas, bass drum booms, and brassy trombones served to us on a vintage techno-platter. There’s even a lil’ vocals this time, as on the first single “Tijuana Makes Me Happy”, with hilarious lyrics backed by an irresistible auto-pilot party groove from Fusible. When in Tijuana, beware the painted mule. They gotta a nasty kick, and so does this record. Viva Nortec, la nueva frontera de la música.

Nortec en el New York Times:

Reseña aparecida hoy en el periòdico New York Times, en la columna de crìtica musical de nombre, Critic's Choice:


New CD's

By JON PARELES
Published: July 25, 2005

The annual Latin Alternative Music Conference returns to New York City on Aug. 3 through 6, gathering musicians and music-business figures who want the world to know about the sly, smart, joyfully polymorphous and culturally savvy rock and pop being made across the Americas. But there's no need to wait even that long. Albums being released tomorrow by Yerba Buena, from New York City, and Nortec Collective, from Tijuana, make the most of every border crossing.



Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3
Nortec Collective

Nortec Collective coalesced in Tijuana at the end of the 20th century as an alliance of music producers and visual artists. In sounds and images, they collage local traditions and modern abilities. On the musical side, that means treating the norteño music of the Mexican border - with its accordions and brass-band oompah - with the computer technology of sampling, looping and layering. Their first album, "The Tijuana Sessions Vol. 1," came out in 2001, and they have been busy in between on tour and as remixers. They skipped a volume number for the follow-up, "Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3" (Nacional).

The collective has stayed together for "Vol. 3," and the producers Bostich, Fussible, Panóptica, Hiperboreal and Clorofila are just different enough to keep the music diverse. They shift the proportions of old and new, electronic and down-home, in every track. It sounds as if they have newer equipment this time around, and they also hire musicians where they used to sample old recordings.

And while Nortec's strategies are no longer the revelation they were on their debut album, the possibilities are far from exhausted. Their most blatant try at crossover, Fussible's "Tijuana Makes Me Happy," is a full-fledged song with English lyrics, and it's the only track that falls flat. Nortec Collective's gift is for building tracks, not pop songs with lyrics.

The album cuts may start as punning titles - "Narcotéque," "Tijuana Bass" - but unlike much dance music, they keep on developing as they go, never resting on a single juxtaposition of sample and beat. They don't overstay, either; the album includes 15 tracks in 48 minutes. Clorofila and Panóptica's "Narcotéque" gets its bass riff from a tuba, adds hovering piano chords out of down-tempo club music and punctuates with norteño drumming, bits of trumpet, cackling synthesizer and overdubbed clarinets that suggest Steve Reich.

In "Narcotéque" and over the album's second half, something new emerges: an undercurrent of minor-key melancholy under the wry juxtapositions, as if the tracks are uncertain that the local culture they prize can survive the homogenizing pressures of modernity. There's no immediate danger of that; Mexican regional music is the best-selling Latin music in the United States. But Nortec Collective's music gives the old sounds some long-term insurance: it makes them cool.

Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3 -reviews-:

Toda la semana me han estado llegando resenas del nuevo disco de nortec. Afortunadamente todas muy buenas para el disco. Esta es una de las que mas me ha gustado, y es del San Diego Union Tribune:

Nortec Collective returns after a five-year lull (don't ask) with adventurous 'Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3'
By Hiram Soto
STAFF WRITER

July 21, 2005

There's one nagging question Nortec fans will have when they hear "Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3," the collective's long-awaited follow-up to their "Tijuana Sessions Vol. 1": What happened to Vol. 2?

Don't ask the guys. They don't want to talk about it. At least not to the media. But it has something to do with legal troubles with their former label, Palm Pictures, which never released the album.

Thus the five-year wait between volumes 1 and 3.

Some would say that during that time, the future came and went for Tijuana's innovative nortecos, who quickly awed music critics with their daring fusion of norte×a and electronic music and introspective observations of Tijuana. But if that was the case, then the future has been reclaimed.

"Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3" is just as witty and adventurous as the group's first record, with an even richer mix of such unlikely instruments as clarinets, tubas, synthesizers and organs. It's a dynamic album that features abstract songs, lounge beats and punchis punchis dance music.


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ALBUM REVIEW

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The Nortec Collective
"Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3"
Nacional

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As with the "Tijuana Sessions Vol. 1," Bostich, the godfather of Nortec, starts the new album, displaying his more serious and mature sound using only a trumpet and synthesizers in a get-up-and-move track called "Tengo la voz."

A loner – he rarely pairs up with another member of the collective and often employs only one instrument aside from his synthesizers – Bostich, aka Ramon Amezcua, embodies the Nortec sound. It's especially true on the catchy "Tijuana Brass," a track that was featured in a remix version of the collective's 2002 limited-edition "Tijuana Beat Shop."

Fussible (Pepe Mogt), one of the better-known members of the collective, offers a balance to Bostich's traditional Nortec sound on the ridiculously corny "Tijuana Makes Me Happy," the album's first single. It's the most unlikely Nortec song, with a pop feel to it, and it borders on musical satire as accordions accentuate off-beats.

No norte×a album would be complete without a narco-corrido – thus Fussible's "Colorado," a loose interpretation of Los Tigres del Norte's "La banda del carro rojo," which chronicles the fatal story of drug traffickers on their way to Chicago.

Fussible's I-don't-take-myself-too-seriously attitude is matched by Hiperboreal's "Dandy del Sur." The DJ (sic), also known as Pedro Beas, was the owner of the now-defunct Don Loope electronic music venue in Tijuana. He closed the venue, he says, because he needed more time to write music.

Hiperboreal, whose musical vision make him perhaps the most ambitious member of the collective, offers three sharp and versatile songs. On "Don Loope," for example, he uses accordions, clarinets, charchetas, percussion, trumpets, trombone, tuba and vocals. The mix is unmistakably Nortec.

Also displaying remarkable musicianship is Clorofila (Jorge Verdin), who features stellar wind-instrument solos on his tracks that often border on lounge and jazz. Panoptica, or Roberto Mendoza, also comes off strong with "Revu Rockers."

Like norte×a music, Nortec music is an acquired taste. For those who are not familiar with the polka sounds of norte×a, Nortec might not be love at first listen. The changes of tempo might even sound uneven at times, but the Nortec Collective brings a new perspective to the world of electronic music, which is even more refreshing when you think it was inspired by life on the border.

Australia

No sabia de la existencia de una ciudad que se llama Brisbane, pero aqui estoy. Brisbane es imponente, limpia, ordenada y hermosa. Una Nueva York del down under. Decenas y decenas de edificios monumentales por todos lados.

El domingo toque en Sidney y el lunes anduve por sus sorpresivas calles. Ahora hasta tengo una foto frente a la famosa Opera House.
Nunca fue un plan mio visitar el down under, pero la experiencia me ha llenado de energia para seguir (lo unico que no se puede hacer es parar, sino por la muerte).
Hablo ingles desde que cumpli siete veranos de vida, pero me cuesta un trabajo enorme entender el acento australiano.
Hablando de acentos, esta computadora no tiene acentos y no tengo tiempo para los ALTS.

No he visto canguros, ni canguras, pero si mucho vino y mucha gente hermosa y amable.
El viernes tocaremos aca en Brisbane, en el marco del Australian International Music Market o Queensland Music Festival como lo conocen aca.
Ya veremos la reaccion de los australianos ante los tarolazos, las tubas, bajosextos y los clarinetes que les tenemos programados.

En unas semanas estaremos tocando en Japon y supongo que sentire esta misma sensacion de extraneza y emocion que me acalambra el alma de energia.
Lo unico que no puedo dejar de hacer es canciones. Todo lo demas es prescindible.
La musica me arrastra hasta los lugares menos sospechados. Todo se lo debo a ella: mi amante fiel.

Veo que algunos siguen viendo al mundo como si este empezara y se acabara en Tijuana y aunque soy de los que creen que Tijuana es el centro del mundo (de mi mundo, al menos), tambien se que El Mundo esta afuera, lejos y apartado de esta ciudad fronteriza.

Leo teorias blogueras que me hacen reir a carcajadas, como esa de que la unica
Tijuana "real" es la Tijuana que no esta pavimentada, por lo tanto; todos los que vivimos en calles pavimentadas no pertencemos a la Tijuana "real", sino a una especie de Tijuana ficticia.
Hasta el dia de hoy, de todas las teorias sobre Tijuana que he escuchado o leido, esta es la mas ridicula de todas. Y por mucho.

Estando tan lejos de casa, de pronto entiendo que la fascinacion y el respeto por otros lugares (paises) se da a partir del entendimiento de su cultura y sus expresiones artisticas.
La promocion de la cultura y el arte es absolutamente necesaria en todos los paises, debido a que tanto la cultura como el arte son capaces de salvarnos de tantas y tantas estupideces. Por muy utopico que parezca, solo la apreciacion del arte y el conocimiento de la cultura de otros paises, son capaces de obstaculizar esa insensatez que es la guerra. Nunca he sido un pacifista confeso, pero seria incapaz de destruir mesopotamia (iraq) como los estupidos gringos lo hacen. Ellos destruyen mesopotamia debido a su ignoracia de siempre y a su avaricia de ahora.

No he pisado tierras Argentinas todavia(hasta noviembre estare por alla), pero ya la conozco y la siento profundamente. Esa pasion ha nacido a partir del tango, de Pugliese, Piazzolla, Esposito, Goyeneche del moderno y original Gotan Proyect. Tambien del loco de Charlie y de Spinetta y de su mejor alumno: Cerati. Y de leer algunos textos de Borges, de Cortazar, y de probar varios de sus vinos y sus asados.
Lo mismo me sucede con otras ciudades que no visitado aun.

Asi me paso cuando fui a Lisboa. Yo ya iba perdidamente enamorado. Ya conocia sus calles sin recorrerlas, ya sabia sus nombres antes de transitarlas. Ya imaginaba el sabor de sus sardinas asadas y de su sopa verde y ya escuchaba un Fado imaginario a la orilla del Tajo.Ya habia estado platicando y bebiendo con Fernando Pessoa y con Cesario Verde, aunque ellos murieron varias decadas antes de que yo naciera.
Lo mismo me paso con Paris y las figuras imprescindibles deGainsbourg, de Rimbaud, de Jarre, de Air,, deDaft Punk y sus decenas de movimientos de vanguardia.
Todo lo anterior hace que uno ame un lugar sin haber puesto un pie en dicho lugar. Todo eso hace que uno ame un lugar sin haber estado en el. La fascinacion por un lugar particular se da a partir de la fascinacion por su cultura y su arte.
La emocion por conocer una playa de arena blanca o por un vuelo de avion barato duran lo mismo que el amor de una prostituta.
El verdadero amor, la verdadera pasion por visitar un lugar, esta en el arte y la cultura de dicho lugar.

Asi las cosas...

a la distancia


Todas la Tijuanas son Tijuana. Una tan real como la anterior

NORTEC 2005 (la dieta funcionó):

Demanda de discos

Pues como lo he comentado antes, el nuevo disco de nortec sale a la venta el 26 de Julio. Yo tengo por acá unas copias "adelantadas" del mismo, las cuales sólo estaría dispuesto a intercambiar por una botella de vino tinto Liceaga, Cabernet Frank.
Todo sea por la promoción de la Baja California (nortec included).

intercambios favor de solicitarlos a: pgbeas@dijazz.com

Gracias.

la vida que viene

Pues en esto de dedicar la vida a la música uno se juega muchas cosas más allá de lo musical en cada disco. El futuro completo con varias de las aristas que lo componen, como pagar la renta, la luz y tener para comer, entre otras trivialidades, son parte de esa apuesta insensata, pero necesaria..
Si todo sale como espero, también necesito adquirir varios nuevos aparatejos para hacer sonidos y un nuevo sistema de cómputo como soporte general del estudio.

Hoy leí una entrevista con el señor Reznor y vi que su estudio es el lugar de mis sueños que espero se cumplan pronto.
Compren el disco, digan no a la pirateria y asistan a los conciertos de nortec. La señora que me renta el departamento, la compañía de luz y el taquero de la esquina de mi casa, se los agradecerán profundamente...