(Nacional)

www.nacionalrecords.com

The six-headed Tijuana DJ troupe Nortec Collective is responsible for causing a head-on collision between bleepy-beepy, loopy electronica and brassy-fartsy, Mexican folkloric norteño music. With two solid, but similarly-sounding albums behind them, they had decided to disintegrate their musical Voltron and try out solo albums. But when dentist-by-day DJ Bostich realized fellow Collective beat-maker Fussible also wanted to make a more acoustic and traditional album, the TJ DJs figured two heads would be better than one.

They were right. Not surprisingly, Tijuana Sound Machine, with its same name single and opener “The Clap,” is their most rootsy, but equally danceable albums. They bring back local TJ talent like trumpeter Jorge “El Zorrita” Gonzalez and accordionist Juan Tellez, but this time around they sonically put them front and center.

The exquisite Mexi-Polka result raises the question: Are two Nortec heads better than six? With four other albums scheduled to drop in 2008, time will tell.

Standout Tracks: “The Clap,” “Rosarito” MARIO I. OÑA