Tijuana Sessions, Vol. 3 (CD - 2005)

Nortec Collective: Juan Carlos González, Nino Estudillo, Luis Elorza, Luis Humberto Crosthwaite, Isabel Flores, Raul Morales (vocals); Tom Strahle (guitar); Jose Valenzuela (acoustic guitar); Juan Tellez, Josue Chaparro (accordion); Ramon Ontiveros (clarinet); Jorge Gonzalez (trumpet); Renato Gijon (tuba); Luis Elorza (Hammond b-3 organ); Drew Schnurr (electric double bass); Marcos Tizoe (percussion); Pedro Cesar Beas (loops); Tony Gomez (unknown instrument); Berenice Elorza, Denisse Elorza (background vocals); Joey Burns, John Convertino, Cristina Velasco.

Personnel: Juan Jose Lopez (vocals, snare drum); Martin Wenk (whistling, vibraphone); Tom Strahle (guitar); Joey Burns (electric guitar); Luis Elorza (bajo sexto, Wurlitzer organ); Jacob Valenzuela (trumpet); Jorge Gomez (trombone); Drew Schnurr (upright bass); John Convertino (drums); Willy Negron (percussion).

Ensemble: Calexico.

Unknown Contributor Role: Tony Gomez.

The 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. ~ Chris Nickson minimize