This Time, Nortec’s Innovation Goes in Search of an Audience

Since the U.S. release of its major-label album, “The Tijuana Sessions Vol. 1,” a couple of months ago, the Latin electronica movement known as the Nortec Collective has conquered the clubs of its native Tijuana, as well as the hearts of many a rock critic across North America.

Orange County fans specifically, though, might be a little more difficult to win over.

On Sunday at Anaheim’s House of Blues, the collective drew about 40 fans. Without enough dancers and spectators to create some sort of atmosphere, the sets by Nortec luminaries Bostich, Fussible, Panoptica and Terrestre felt a little, er, mechanical.

A pity, because this is one electronica genre that generally brims with life, thanks to its unusual combination of disparate elements. The idea is to concoct hypnotic dance jams using samples from Mexican norteno and banda music, with their syncopated drum rolls, plump tuba riffs and hiccup-like bursts of accordion.

In the hands of artists such as Bostich and Plankton Man, the results are crisp, cohesive and surprisingly opulent. By combining the sophisticated DJ techniques of postindustrial society with the rustic sounds of a Third World musical genre, Nortec becomes a metaphor for the cultural schizophrenia one might experience growing up in Tijuana (or around Pico and Normandie, for that matter).

Sunday’s hourlong show did not succumb to monotony, as the DJs kept taking the flow of the music into new, unexpected directions. On the other hand, the lack of a crowd made clear the inherent limitations of the genre. If you have a good sound system, you might have achieved the same results by listening to the Nortec record at home.

* The Nortec Collective plays Wednesday at the House of Blues, 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 7:30 p.m. $12.50. (323) 848-5100. Also Thursday at the Knitting Factory Hollywood, 7021 Hollywood Blvd., L.A., 9 p.m. $8. (323) 463-0204; Saturday at Spaceland, 1717 Silver Lake Blvd., L.A., 9 p.m. $12. (213) 833-2843.