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Launchpad [Issue
#16]
Nortec Collective:
By
Mandana Beigi
Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3
(CD
Nacional)
Four years ago,
Tijuana introduced the world to the gang of Nortec Collective: Fussible (Pepe
Mogt), Bostich (Ramón Amezcua), Panóptica (Roberto Mendoza), Clorofila
(Jorge Verdín) and Hiperboreal (Pedro Gabriel Beas). The city that has
and will continue to live under the shadow of both San Diego and the rest of
Mexico is home to these five amazing artists, who have come together and packed
dance floors across the world. And electronica hasn’t been the same since
Nortec’s first Tijuana Sessions in 2001.
Nortec is a fusion
of Norteño and Techno, highlighting the collision of the sound and style
of electronica and the culture and harmony of traditional Mexican music. That
said, Nortec Collective is definitely more electronica than Norteño -
more Tijuana, less Mexico! And Tijuana, with all its complexities, good and
bad, pretty and ugly, has been both the inspiration and the mirror to the sound
of Tijuana Sessions - embracing and inspiring this sound, as well as projecting
it as honestly and boldly as possible.
What you hear on
this album is what you see on the streets of Tijuana; everything symbolizes
something or someone. The unpredictability of the sound in Tijuana Sessions,
the sometimes harmonious and sometimes dissonant rhythms, and the virtual freedom
and occasional goofiness, all reflect the people, the life, and the reality
of a border metropolis with lots of motions and intensity.
Tijuana
Sessions Vol. 3 (what ever happened to Vol.2?) sounds more cohesive than
the group’s debut record in integrating the styles. From mocking the Americans’
stereotypes of Tijuana in “Tijuana Makes me Happy” and the party-up
vibe of “Funky Tamazula” to Clorofila/Calexico’s “Narcoteque”
ala Brian Eno, this Tijuana Sessions moves faster and smoother in spirit giving
you more space to interpret and make your own images of Tijuana. All in all,
Nortec Collective is an oddball hybrid but the sound is fun, refreshing and
bold; it’s exactly what was missing from the electronica world.
Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3
Nacional
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