WEDNESDAY'S REVIEW: NORTEC COLLECTIVE

Nortec Collective "Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich + Fussible | Tijuana Sound Machine" (Nacional)

No longer underdogs or outsiders (they got a Grammy), these guys now face the challenge of remaining interesting. After all, it's been about a decade since Bostich, Fussible and their fellow clubland mischief-makers decided that Tijuana needed some high-concept, tuba-flavored electronica. It could've been a gimmick, but it wasn't. Since then, the Collective has developed into something broader than music. It espouses the idea that border towns are unique urban frontiers, and it implies that Mexico's creative types have still-untapped tastemaking capabilities. Here's what I hear on Tijuana Sound Machine, though: A bunch of grooves fresh from a laboratory.

Horns and accordions and oom-pah beats -- the stuff of norteño revelry -- are everywhere, but the Collective consistently yanks them away from any class context. As a result, those sounds are "folky" or "Mexican" only in the abstract; on "Shake It Up," for instance, the rhythm is obviously not from the First World, but it's also far from the gritty, man-made thump that fuels typical norteño. And maybe that's the point here: Globalization subsumes everything in its path, but strong local flavors never completely dissipate, blah blah blah. In short, even industrial multinational south-of-the-border robots can feel the beat. I'm much more intrigued, however, by the overall tone of the tunes. Some, such as "Jacinto" are almost elegaic. But for what? I'd argue that it's all about change, and with any change, comes some mourning. So in that sense, Tijuana Sound Machine is the sound of sadness -- the sense that even a dynamic border town, one full of delicious contradictions, can have an all-too-vague future.

PREVIOUSLY: Pink Skull | The Last Shadow Puppets | Kail | Grupo Fantasma | Mannequin Men | Nicolay & Kay | Times New Viking | Lyrics Born | Shelby Lynne | The Stance Brothers | Kokayi | The Sword | Fuck Buttons | Cadence Weapon | Paul Oakenfold

Comments

[djeurok]

you forget to mention that the album is kind of boring.