Cave 17.

Every year, Los Tigres del Norte come out with a new album or two, and I usually don’t get around to reviewing them for anyone, and then it seems too late to talk about it, and no one really lets me write about regional Mexican music because none of the cool sites are into it and I’m not actually Mexican, except in my heart. Last year, their album Detalles y Emociones was superdopalicious, with one unquestioned classic song (”El Muro,” just one of two hilarious songs by that title that took aim at conservative plans to build a wall along the Rio Grande) and a lot of other great stuff; it won Los Tigres their second straight Grammy for norteño music a couple of months ago, and rightly so. But I never ended up writing about it, which sucked.

So I’m not going to let that happen here. Raices is Los Tigres’ newest thing, a flat-out burner of regional Mexican oompah (well, they’re all California boys by now but whatever) that is minimalist and open-hearted and leaner than a bantamweight. It’s not their best, perhaps, but that’s only because they have been making one or two albums every year for almost four decades, a hell of a track record for a little ol’ norteño band. And don’t be fooled — this is VERY hard music to make, especially when they have two different guitar lines happening and some hot accordion work. In addition, the drumming in norteño music has to be extremely precise and crisp, as they often drop a half-measure here and there to speed things along and the drummer has to hit the mini-roll just so or else the whole thing falls apart.

It’s hard work making things sound this easy. Jorge Hernández has lost a little bit of power from his voice but he still makes narcocorrido sagas like “Sangre Caliente” sound as delicious as romanticos such as “Cien Años.” Nothing here is as politically pointed as “El Muro” — on which they threaten to burn down any wall and compare the U.S./Mexican situation to Israel’s treatment of Palestine — or my favorite thing they have ever done, the tragic “José Pérez León,” a song about mistreatment of border-jumpers that said more about the immigration battle than anything, like, ever. But the first big single, “Rumbo del Sur,” is lively and evocative (and maybe self-parodic a little tiny bit?), “El Rey” is hilarious with its mocking backing vocals, and I love ending with “Tonta (Tonto),” a tearjerker about how love makes one stupid. DON’T I KNOW IT.

Anyway, Raices is a great record and Los Tigres del Norte are a force of nature and you smug gabachos better not forget it.