As founders of Nortec Collective, Tijuana-based musicians Bostich + Fussible (no, obviously not their real names) have long specialized in melding cultures and sounds. With nearly 20 years and multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations under their belts, they’re now considered godfathers of a particularly fruitful branch of alternative Latin and dance music.
The name of Nortec Collective, their first group with various other members, reflected this early ethos: blending indigenous and Mexican sounds like norteño with contemporary techno. (“Nor” plus “tec” – get it?) The original collective members have since branched out, but together, Bostich and Fussible continue to delight in exploring new boundaries and in bringing their music to new contexts – like one of the inaugural MLS Summer Beat concerts this weekend.
“We have been there many times,” said Bostich of San Jose, where they’ll fete fans arriving for the Cali Clasico at Avaya Stadium on Sat., May 27 (10 pm ET, Univision and Facebook in US, MLS LIVE in Canada). “Now to be there, but in a different context, in a soccer context, especially with this game with the Earthquakes and LA Galaxy, is something very new and exciting for us.”
What’s also exciting, they say, is the fire for soccer in their hometown along the border. “When I was a kid everybody had a football, and, like, it was very common to play on the street,” says Fussible. “We’d play with some rocks and we’d paint the street.”
But as Bostich recalls, with the United States so close, baseball often still reigned in the streets.
“But lately now we have our team, Xolos, and the people in Tijuana are more becoming fans of soccer,” he says. His own son’s interest from an early age, too, has only increased his fandom, he says.
At the same time as their passion for hometown futbol grows, so have the artists’ appetites for new musical influences. And any fans who might be familiar with their earlier work, sampling folkloric sounds over more straight-ahead techno, will find Bostich and Fussible exploring new sonic avenues.
“At the beginning we were doing just electronic music,” says Fussible. “We were thinking, like, of mixing folk sounds from our our town. It was very important to us as an experiment to see what came up. And Nortec came out of that.”
Now, though, they’re looking a little farther afield, says Bostich. “We’re collaborating with musicians from other genres,” he says. “We’ve been working with people from Kraftwerk and Talking Heads and other bands. And I think that’s the way the sound is growing a lot.”
So what can fans expect from their performance before the Quakes take on the LA Galaxy? Definitely don’t call them DJs – the Bostich and Fussible experience comes complete with live instrumentation, electronic experimentation, and, always, a party-ready vibe. Sounds like the perfect mix before the match.
Get full information about how to get a ticket to the concert and the match here.
Check out Bostich and Fussible’s Tijuana Sound Machineon iTunes here.
