Calexico
Named after the border town of the same name in California yet based in Arizona, Calexico revolves around its two main members, Joey Burns and John Convertino, both once members of the band Giant Sand. The pair met eighteen years ago whilst Burns was studying music at the university of California, and moved as part of Giant Sand to Arizona four years later. Alongside Giant Sand, the pair also acted as a rhythm section for Victoria Williams, Barbara Manning and Richard Buckner, all before Calexico took off properly in 1996, with the release of the album Spoke on German label Hausmusick. It was a limited run of only 2000 copies, and named after the title the band had adopted at the time. They stuck with the moniker until they signed to Touch and Go records subsidiary Quarterstick, who reissued their debut LP a year later.
There was a gap of less than 12 months between that reissue and the release of Calexico’s next record, a concept album about the Arizona desert entitled The Black Light, released in ’98 to rave reviews. The band were picked up and taken on the road with the likes of Pavement, The Dirty Three and Lambchop, and were knocking out live shows impressive enough to document on a live LP, 1999’s Road Map, though said record was only sold at Calexico gigs.
The duo of Joey and John were fleshed out with many a brass instrument and violin for their third studio album, 2000’s Hot Rail. The turn of the millennium proved to be a particularly busy time for the pair, as they also found themselves once again recording and touring with Giant Sand (who, incidentally, also release an album this week), for the album Chore of Enchantment. Collaboration was the theme of the year, with a record made with French friends Naim Armor and Thomas Belhom entitled Tete a Tete also being birthed in 2000.
The theme for the year after however was compilations – the band issued not one but two collections of rare Calexico material in 2001, with outtakes, b-sides, remixes and previously unreleased (in the US at least) material making up the majority of Even My Sure Things Fall Through and Aerocalexico albums, whereas the Scraping LP, which also saw the light of day that year, was the band’s second live record.
With all that out the way, the two could finally concentrate on issuing new material. In 2003, Feast of Wire, the band’s fourth studio album in seven years (and eighth in total), saw them hitting the big time – or at least to more of an extent than anything prior to it – as they appeared on the Billboard Heatseekers Independent album chart, made a few videos for a few singles and, because Calexico don’t enjoy doing things by halves, releasing a live DVD entitled World Drifts In: Live at the Barbican, filmed in London.
By 2005, Calexico were writing songs for Nancy Sinatra, appearing on soundtracks for Tom Cruise movies, and joining forces with Sam Beam of Iron and Wine for an EP, In The Reins. By the time of 2006’s Garden Ruin, perhaps their lushest, most countrified effort to date, the duo were being hailed as the Radiohead of the alt-country scene. And with bloody good reason.
CASADECALEXICO: Unlike many official site affairs, this is actually an excellent little web page – easy to navigate, friendly on the eye and chock full of information, videos, a blog, old setlists and the like.
MYSPACE.COM/CASADECALEXICO: A selection of tracks from throughout the band’s wide and varied career, including a Love cover, and a selection from that new album of theirs.
CALEXICO @ THE INTERNET ARCHIVE: The best collection of Calexico live audio material you will ever stumble across – a veritable goldmine, this.
ALONE AGAIN OR: “Although lessening the orchestration and adding a slightly Spanish feel, they don’t do the blasphemous thing and alter the song to any great extent. Calexico instead provide one incredibly accomplished, note-perfect cover, thankfully with enough personality stamped across it to make it their own. It’s unquestionably gorgeous stuff…” – Tom Hannan
QUATTRO: “Roughly nine minutes ago, it seemed like N.E.R.D. had invaded a CD-player in what was surely an attempt by Williams and Hugo to get their names on yet another song. Yet, about six minutes ago, the scenery had changed and suddenly European culture had flourished. And then, just three minutes ago, sadness enveloped those ears that had already taken more of a trip than any normal audio-receptors should have to undergo, and further confused things. The listener is befuddled; this is certain. But for some reason, the listener wants more…” – Austin Louis Ray
WORLDS DRIFT IN – LIVE AT THE BARBICAN, LONDON DVD: “As flourishing and thick as their sound itself, ‘World Drifts In’ embraces depth, diversity of content and the vivid invention of the performers themselves to provide a not-so-concise delving into one of the world’s most intriguing, overlooked acts. If you weren’t a devout follower before, best prepare for an instant conversion…” – Toby L
GARDEN RUIN: “With every thing they do, the tunes are nothing short of gorgeous. Garden Ruin might not be as freeform as some other efforts, but in that most important, melodious respect, it hits the nail ever so sweetly on its head…” – Tom Hannan
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