After 15 years of being part of Nortec Collective, the Mexican duo, Bostich (Ramón Amezcua) & Fussible (Pepe Mogt,) is parting ways with this project.
They are celebrating their years together by releasing one last album with the collective crew, Motel Baja, under Nacional Records. Prior to their performance at Red Bull Music Academy Panamérika Presents ‘Sabrosura’ show last week at the Regent Theater in DTLA, Bostich & Fussible sat with Al Borde to talk about their new album, their extensive trajectory with Nortec Collective and plans for the future.
What is the meaning or significance behind the name of this album Motel Baja (released on September 16, 2014)?
We had in mind a trilogy of albums. The first one is the story of a vehicle named Tijuana Sound Machine, the second Boulevard 2000, and now Motel Baja. The story is that Tijuana Sound Machine now makes a stop in a hotel in Tijuana. All motels have stories to tell, but we think that motels in Tijuana have even more stories and interesting events to tell. Tijuana serves as a motel in general, being a stopping place for so many people traveling from Mexico and other countries, but it can also provide a place for nostalgia and memories of people specifically going there just to party.
Being that this is the last album with Nortec Collective, is there a difference between this album and the previous ones?
We experimented with different symphonies and new technologies that we hadn’t before, we also brought in some special guests and collaborators. We wanted to do a recap of the root sounds that we started with Nortec Collective to the new ones we used recently.
Who were the special guests and collaborators in this album?
We wanted to work with people that we admire and never really thought we would work with. We had Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth of Tom Tom Club, Wolfgang Flur of Kraftwerk, and Uwe Schmidt of Señor Coconut. It was a great experience having worked with them.
What has been your experience in mixing Mexican music with electronic elements?
We’ve worked with electronic music even before our project with Nortec Collective. We grew up listening to banda and norteña music. It’s what we would hear at family parties, the stores, and the streets, so we wanted to fuse these cultural elements and mix them with electronic sounds that people are not used to.
Bostich y Fussible will embark on a tour in 2015 in support of this last album with Nortec Collective. Tour dates are to be released.
A few hours after speaking with Al Borde, Bostich y Fussible accompanied by their parade of musicians took the stage and gave their fans one last show for 2014, at the free event that hosted a full dance party to a packed house. Sharing the stage, were latin-funk band Jungle Fire, modern cumbia masters El Conjunto Nueva Ola, Maria y Jose and his “ruidoson,” and the non-stop djs of Subsuelo. The dance floor vibrated and the historic venue resonated till the early morning hours.
*Photos by Laura Pelayo & Angel Aguilar
