I was in the states this past month and spent time listening to spanish-language radio (I like nortenos ..). It seemed like the norteno genre has changed in the past year or two. There was lot of stuff with a faster tempo that all sounded synthesized, but still (artificial) tubas for bass, different tempos, lots of queasy cheap trumpet sounds that went ON and ON ... very very nice. I heard a few tracks that reminded me of Tom Ze .. renaissance!!!! Does anyone know anything about this stuff? Is it even nortenos?
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new mexican music
- Thread starter Eric
- Start date
Yeah what you're talking about would be Norteña, probably Banda. Basically Mexican polka with chirpy trumpets on the offbeat and a stumbling-around-drunk feel. Queasy is a good way to describe it. I like some, but it can get a bit... eh... flatulent sounding. Good drinking music I'd imagine, until you get sick, then it'd probably be TERRIBLE drinking music.
Mariachi is the more cliched sound that you'd hear in some lazy Hollywood film trying to show Mexican culture.
The stuff I like the best is Cumbia, which is originally Colombian, but there's a Mexican version that's pretty common. This stuff has the best rhythm IMO... kind of a slow skank with a walking bassline.
There always seems to be a dance or hip hop version of every Mexican genre, and here's a mix I just found of some (fittingly cheesy) clubby sounding Cumbia (which for the most part just seems to be loops of old Cumbia grooves with the occasional Hip Hop sample). No idea if there's a particular name for it... I do remember reading an article about a Nortena/techno hybrid in Tijuana in the late 90s called Nortecha or something, that I always wanted check out.
Rock en Espanol is surprisingly good. I remember sometime last year going to this Mexican club for a Goth night where a friend was djing early EBM/Industrial. Theres a really big Mexican Goth/Industrial/Etherial/EBM/Powernoise/etc following, esp in Mexico City (where my friend says people take music way more seriously than Americans do and have extremely devoted followings for a lot of unlikely artists/genres). Anyway, I wandered into this Rock en Espanol room; and I had been under the impression that the stuff was just crap generic rock in spanish, like spanish grunge and what-have-ya... but turns out it's a very distinctive sound, with kind of a "cowboy" feel (that's the only way I can think to describe it), and a more rhythmic emphasis than most rock. I think I remember the beat as being siimilar to Cumbia but my memory of that night is a tad hazy. Unfortunately, I wouldn't even begin to know what to recommend of that stuff...
Oh and this same friend tried to get me into old Mexican 80s pop too, a lot of which was a little beyond my tastes but this one was kinda charming. Apparently it was banned back in the day because it had vaguely free-spirited lyrics and the Mexican gov weren't too keen on that.
Mariachi is the more cliched sound that you'd hear in some lazy Hollywood film trying to show Mexican culture.
The stuff I like the best is Cumbia, which is originally Colombian, but there's a Mexican version that's pretty common. This stuff has the best rhythm IMO... kind of a slow skank with a walking bassline.
There always seems to be a dance or hip hop version of every Mexican genre, and here's a mix I just found of some (fittingly cheesy) clubby sounding Cumbia (which for the most part just seems to be loops of old Cumbia grooves with the occasional Hip Hop sample). No idea if there's a particular name for it... I do remember reading an article about a Nortena/techno hybrid in Tijuana in the late 90s called Nortecha or something, that I always wanted check out.
Rock en Espanol is surprisingly good. I remember sometime last year going to this Mexican club for a Goth night where a friend was djing early EBM/Industrial. Theres a really big Mexican Goth/Industrial/Etherial/EBM/Powernoise/etc following, esp in Mexico City (where my friend says people take music way more seriously than Americans do and have extremely devoted followings for a lot of unlikely artists/genres). Anyway, I wandered into this Rock en Espanol room; and I had been under the impression that the stuff was just crap generic rock in spanish, like spanish grunge and what-have-ya... but turns out it's a very distinctive sound, with kind of a "cowboy" feel (that's the only way I can think to describe it), and a more rhythmic emphasis than most rock. I think I remember the beat as being siimilar to Cumbia but my memory of that night is a tad hazy. Unfortunately, I wouldn't even begin to know what to recommend of that stuff...
Oh and this same friend tried to get me into old Mexican 80s pop too, a lot of which was a little beyond my tastes but this one was kinda charming. Apparently it was banned back in the day because it had vaguely free-spirited lyrics and the Mexican gov weren't too keen on that.
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Chris, you'll be talking about www.nor-tec.org. A lot of their stuff is really east to get hold of and pretty good. Here's their Myspace www.myspace.com/nortec
Chris, you'll be talking about www.nor-tec.org. A lot of their stuff is really east to get hold of and pretty good. Here's their Myspace www.myspace.com/nortec
Nice, there it is, thanks. Checking it all out right now.
Almost relieved to see that that stuff's still happening in a way...