Tijuana Sessions, Vol. 3

by Chris NicksonThe 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.