Calexico

Calexico
Calexico in a concert in 2007
Background information
Origin	Tucson, Arizona, USA
Genres	Americana Indie rock Alternative country Indie folk Tex-Mex Post-rock
Years active	1996–present
Labels	Quarterstick Our Soil, Our Strength EMI
Associated acts	Giant Sand, Friends of Dean Martinez, Howe Gelb, OP8, The Band of Blacky Ranchette, Iron & Wine, Neko Case, Los Super Seven, ABBC, Victoria Williams, Barbara Manning, Richard Buckner, Naked Prey, Gotan Project, Depedro, Nancy Sinatra, Lizz Wright, Marianne Dissard, Amor Belhom Duo
Website	www.casadecalexico.com

Members	Joey Burns John Convertino Paul Niehaus Jacob Valenzuela Martin Wenk Volker Zander

Calexico is a Tucson, Arizona-based Americana / Tex-Mex / indie rock band. The band's two main members, Joey Burns and John Convertino, first played together in Los Angeles as part of the group Giant Sand. They have recorded a number of albums on Quarterstick Records, while their 2005 EP In the Reins recorded with Iron & Wine has reached the Billboard 200 album charts. Their musical style is influenced by traditional Latin sounds of mariachi / conjunto / cumbia / Tejano music and also the Southwestern United States country music as well as '50s-'60s jazz and '90s-'00s post-rock, and they have been described by some as "desert noir" or indie rock. The band is named for the border town of Calexico, California.

Formation

Calexico had its origins in 1990 when Burns, who was studying music at the University of California, Irvine, met up with Convertino, who was playing drums with Howe Gelb in Giant Sand. Burns joined them, after first playing upright bass on a European tour.

Giant Sand moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1994. John and Joey formed the Friends of Dean Martin (later the Friends of Dean Martinez) which scored a record deal with Sub Pop. However, the pair split up with Bill Elm, the co-founder of The Friends of Dean Martinez in 1996. The band subsequently became a kind of indie rhythm section for hire, working with the likes of Victoria Williams, Barbara Manning and Richard Buckner before forming Calexico.

Recording history: 1996–1999

Calexico first recorded Spoke in 1996 for German independent label Hausmusik with a limited edition of 2,000 copies. At that point the band was still called Spoke and the album was technically self-titled. After the band signed with Quarterstick Records (a subsidiary of Touch and Go Records) and changed their name to Calexico, Spoke was reissued by that label in 1997. Burns and Convertino also collaborated with Gelb and Lisa Germano on the album Slush released under the name OP8 that same year.

Their second album The Black Light was released in 1998. This was a concept album about the desert of Arizona and northern Mexico and received excellent reviews, with the critic from the Wall Street Journal rating it as one of the best records of the year.

The band built their profile by touring as support acts for bands such as Pavement, the Dirty Three and Lambchop. Calexico has regularly played festivals such as the Bonnaroo Music Festival, the Hurricane Festival and All Tomorrow's Parties. The Road Map album was a limited recording released in 1999 for sale only at Calexico's live shows.

Recording history: 2000–2012

Calexico released its third album Hot Rail in May 2000 featuring the addition of horns and violin to their sound. The duo was busy in 2000 as they also appeared on a Giant Sand record called Chore of Enchantment as well as a tour only record Travelall.

At the end of 2000, Calexico joined with two French friends Naïm Amor and Thomas Belhôm to record Tete a Tete for release at the beginning of 2001. The band released two collections of rarities during 2001. Even My Sure Things Fall Through collected outtakes from previous albums, B-sides, remixes and material previously unreleased in the US. The album also featured Mariachi Luz de Luna who frequently played live with the duo. The Aerocalexico album was sold exclusively at their gigs in 2001.

The Scraping live album was released in 2002. Their next studio recording Feast of Wire was released in 2003 and made the charts for the first time appearing on Billboard's Heatseekers and Independent album chart. They made their first video for "Quattro (World Drifts In)" which was a single from Feast of Wire. They released a live DVD in 2004 called World Drifts In: Live at the Barbican. The song "Güero Canelo", from Feast of Wire, was featured in Michael Mann's Film, Collateral, starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx.

Calexico contributed the song "Burnin' Down the Spark" to Nancy Sinatra's self-titled album in late 2004. The album featured artists who cited Sinatra as a musical influence. The song was released in the UK as the second single from the album in early 2005.

In 2005, Calexico joined up with Miami based folk band Iron & Wine. Howard Greynolds of Overcoat Records was responsible for bringing the two bands together having previously been responsible for Tortoise and Will Oldham recording together. The In the Reins EP was released in September 2005 and received a positive reception with an MSNBC review giving it honorable mention.[1] It also made an appearance in the Billboard 200 album charts, becoming their first recording to make the album charts, and No. 12 on the independent charts. In October 2005, they commenced a US tour with Iron & Wine to promote the record.

Released in 2006, Garden Ruin is Calexico's fifth studio album. The sound strays slightly from earlier works, focusing less on the horn section, and placing more emphasis on guitar and vocal tracks, giving the whole album a more mainstream sound.

In 2007, Calexico was invited by Arcade Fire to record a cover of their "Ocean of Noise." This recording was used as the B-side for Arcade Fire's "Intervention" single, originally released on vinyl on May 21, 2007.

Several of Calexico's songs, usually their shorter instrumental pieces, have been used as interstitial and background music on Public Radio International's This American Life.[2] Their songs "Ballad Of Cable Hogue" and "Service And Repair" were featured in the 2001 German comedy movie Lammbock.

Their sixth studio LP called 'Carried to Dust', featured Sam Beam of Iron & Wine, Douglas McCombs of Tortoise and Pieta Brown. It was released in the USA via Touch & Go Records on September 9, 2008.[3] The album enjoyed solid reviews, with hometown paper the Arizona Daily Star praising the band's "ability to sweep you into its world, taking listeners to the American Southwest. This is one of the reasons Europeans love Calexico and others in this country are beginning to come around."[4]

On October 16, 2008, a three-song live acoustic video performance premiered on LiveDaily Sessions, featuring Joey Burns performing the songs "Two Silver Trees," "Writer's Minor Holiday" and "Man Made Lake".[5]

In 2010, a new album of Calexico was released: the soundtrack of the documentary "Circo".

Until recently, Calexico has been on tour with Arcade Fire along the west coast in 2010.

In May 2011, their song "Slowness" was dedicated by Gabrielle Giffords to her husband astronaut Mark Kelly as the wake up song aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on its final flight.[6]

Their new album, Algiers, was released 11 September 2012 on ANTI Records and CITY SLANG (Europe)

Members

The current members of Calexico are:

Joey Burns – vocals, guitars, bass, cello, piano, keyboards, accordion, percussion, vibraphone
John Convertino – drums, percussion, piano, vibraphone
Paul Niehaus – steel guitar, guitars
Jacob Valenzuela – trumpet, keyboards, vibraphone, vocals
Martin Wenk – trumpet, guitar, keyboards, accordion, glockenspiel, vibraphone (occasionally harmonica & French horn)
Volker Zander – standup bass, electric bass

Albums

Spoke (1997)
The Black Light (1998)
Hot Rail (2000)
Feast of Wire (2003)
Garden Ruin (2006)
Carried to Dust (2008)
Circo (Soundtrack) (2010)
The Guard (Soundtrack) (2011)
Algiers (2012)

Tour only and miscellaneous albums

98–99 Road Map (1999), tour CD
Travelall (2000), tour CD
Tête à Tête (2001), side project as ABBC with Amor Belhom Duo
Aerocalexico (2001), tour CD
Scraping (2002), live
The Book And The Canal (2005), tour CD
Tool Box (2007), tour CD
Festin D'Aden * Elysee Montmartre, Paris * March 08, 2001 (2008), 2xCDr limited to 50 copies
Ancienne Belgique – Live in Brussels 2008 (2009), tour CD

EPs

Descamino (2000)
Ballad Of Cable Hogue (2000)
Even My Sure Things Fall Through (2001)
Clothes Of Sand / New Partner (2001), 7″ split single with The Frames
Convict Pool (2004)
Live In The KFJC Pit (2004), 7″ split single with Camper Van Beethoven
Black Heart (2004)
In the Reins (2005), with Iron & Wine
The Guns of Brixton / Interior of a Dutch House (2006), 7″ split single with Beirut

DVDs

World Drifts In: Live at the Barbican (2004)
Live From Austin TX (Austin City Limits) (2009)

Compilations

Selections From Road Atlas: 1988-2011 (2011)

Compilation contributions

Committed Soundtrack (2000)
It's a Cool, Cool Christmas – "Gift Xchange" (2000), a charity compilation by Xfm
All Tomorrow's Parties 1.0 - "Piker Sam" (2001)
Nothing Left to Lose: A Tribute to Kris Kristofferson – "Casey's Last Ride" (2003)
Dead Man's Shoes :"Untitled II" "Untitled III" "Ritual Road Map""Crooked Road and the Briar" - Soundtrack (2004)
Por Vida: A Tribute To The Songs Of Alejandro Escovedo - "Wave" (2004)
Music From The Film "Happy Endings" - "Glimpse" and "Old Man Waltz" (2005)
Sweetheart 2005: Love Songs – "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (2005), Hear Music
Acoustic 07 – "Cruel" (2007), V2 Records
I'm Not There: Original Soundtrack – "Goin' to Acapulco" (2007) The band also provide backing for other artists on several tracks.
Lammbock: Original Soundtrack
El Alpinista De Los Sueños - Tributo A Antonio Vega - "Mi Hogar En Cualquier Sitio" (2010)
Luz de Vida – "Absent Afternoon" (2011)

Remixes

Two Lone Swordsmen - "Tiny Reminder No3 (Calexico Remix)" on Two Lone Swordsmen's EP "Further Reminders" (2001)
Goldfrapp – "Human" (Calexico Vocal Version) on Goldfrapp's EP "Human"(2001)
ISO68 – "Stoppages Est Plus (Calexico Remix)" on ISO68's EP "Here / There Played By" (2003)

Collaborations

On Jean-Louis Murat's album Mustango (1999)
On Françoiz Breut's album Vingt à Trente Mille Jours (2000)
On Neko Case's album Blacklisted (2002)
On Jenny Toomey's album Tempting (2002), a collection of songs by Franklin Bruno
On Nancy Sinatra's album Nancy Sinatra (a.k.a. To Nancy With Love) (2004)
"Don't Leave Me Now" on Amparanoia's album Rebeldia Con Alegria (2004)
On Los Super Seven's album Heard It on the X (2005)
Esa Banda En Dub – with Nortec Collective's Panoptica included in Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3 (2005)
On Françoiz Breut's album Une Saison Volée (2005)
You Can't Always Listen to Hausmusik, But... (2006) – "Careless" (with The Notwist) and "Freunde" (with A Million Mercies)
On Neko Case's album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006)
"Amor Porteño" on Gotan Project's album Lunático (2006)
On Marianne Dissard's album "Dedicated To Your Walls. May They Keep Blooming" (2006), performed and composed by Joey Burns.
On Naïm Amor's album Sanguine (2007)
On Marianne Dissard's album "L'Entredeux" (2008), performed, produced and composed by Joey Burns. Also, with John Convertino on drums.
On Lizz Wright's album The Orchard (2008)
On Naïm Amor's EP Introducing... (2008)
On Depedro's album Depedro (2008)
On Neko Case's album Middle Cyclone (2009)
On Naïm Amor's EP Precious Second (2009)
On Depedro's album On Tour (2009)
On Susie Hug's album Tucson Moonshine (2010)
On Amparo Sánchez's album Tucson-Habana (2010)
On Depedro's album Nubes De Papel (2010)
On Maggie Björklund's album Coming Home (2011)

Chart positions

Hot Rail – 2000 – UK No. 57[7]
Feast of Wire – 2003 – No. 23 Independent Albums, No. 45 Heatseekers, UK No. 71[7]
In the Reins – 2005 – No. 135 Billboard 200, No. 12 Independent Albums, UK No. 161[7]
Garden Ruin – 2006 – No. 156 Billboard 200, No. 14 Independent Albums, No. 3 Heatseekers, UK No. 76[7]
Carried To Dust – 2008 – No. 98 Billboard 200, No. 9 Independent Albums, No. 28 European Albums, UK No. 55[8]

Notes

^ ‘Apologies to the Queen Mary’ rocks 2005 - Year in Review - MSNBC.com
^ This American Life - FAQ
^ 'Calexico Dust Off Sixth LP'
^ Kevin W. Smith (September 18, 2008). Calexico, with excellent new CD, to play Rialto benefit Saturday. Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved 2009-02-26
^ Video performance of "Two Silver Trees," "Writer's Minor Holiday" and "Man Made Lake" by Joey Burns of Calexico at LiveDaily Sessions
^ "Endeavour Leaves Space Station for Last Time". Cape Canaveral, Florida: Fox News. May 30, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
^ a b c d Zobbel (2007-06-16). "Chart Log UK". Zobbel. Retrieved 2008-09-217.
^ "Official Album Chart for the week ending 20 September 2008". ChartsPlus (Milton Keynes: IQ Ware Ltd) (369): 5–8. |accessdate= requires |url= (help)

References

Casa de Calexico -- official pages
MTV Calexico artist page
Houston Press Interview "Crystal Frontier"
Calexico Allmusic.com article
"One more gift from two great bands" MSNBC article on collaboration between Calexico and Iron & Wine
"Calexico." Contemporary Musicians, Volume 33. Gale Group, 2002. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2005.

External links

Official website
Calexico on MySpace
Calexico lyrics
Concert photos by Laurent Orseau (Black Session)
Interview with Joey Burns and photos by Jonathan Leyser
Calexico collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
Carried to Dust interview with Joey Burns and John Convertino in L.A Weekly, September 2008.
Calexico's Joey Burns writes about his eight favorite songs

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