26-11-2011, 12:16
online listen
don't usually do compilations unless unfamiliar with the artist, as is the case here
hard call where to put this group, all over the map
unfortunately too many instrumentals for me, which weigh it down
great track in the clip though
thing is, the horns make it, and the album clip does not have them, bummer
1.3
from the album - Crystal Frontier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVMYzGLMZz4
released Nov 22nd, 2011
![[Image: q55077uxso5.jpg]](http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drq500/q550/q55077uxso5.jpg)
from all music
Bio
Calexico, a Tucson collective of musicians focused around Joey Burns and John Convertino, forged an eclectic
identity through their exploration of Southwestern culture. Composer Ennio Morricone's spaghetti Westerns as well
as Portuguese fado, Afro-Peruvian music, and '50s and '60s jazz, country, and surf music all factored into
Calexico's music. Burns studied classical music at the University of California, Irvine, before starting his rock
career, and Calexico formed after Burns met John Convertino in Los Angeles in 1990. At the time, Convertino had
been playing with Howe Gelb's experimental rock group Giant Sand after serving as their upright bassist for a
European tour. Burns and Convertino found their voice as a duo during a Giant Sand break, moved to Tucson in 1994,
and began collecting instruments from the Chicago Store.
First, they worked with Tucson's neo-lounge combo Friends of Dean Martinez, playing marimba, cello, accordion, and
vibraphone in addition to their usual work on bass, guitar, and drums. After a split with Friends of Dean Martinez
founder Bill Elm in 1996, the duo began to get session work with Barbara Manning, Richard Buckner, Victoria
Williams, Michael Hurley, Bill Janovitz, Vic Chesnutt, and Lisa Germano (as the trio OP8). Burns and Convertino
also experimented on their own with their new instruments in a home recording studio in 1996, releasing their debut
CD, Spoke, on Germany's Haus Musik Records. After signing with Quarterstick/Touch and Go Records in Chicago, they
released The Black Light in 1998 and The Hot Rail in 2000.
For their 2001 EP Even My Sure Things Fall Through, Calexico enlisted the support of soon-to-be members Martin
Wenk, Volker Zander, and Jacob Valenzuela, as well as members of Mariachi Luz de Luna. In 2003, the band issued its
most cohesive material to date with Feast of Wire. An EP of covers, Convict Pool, followed a year later. The
concert DVD World Drifts In: Live at the Barbican London was also released in 2004, and the group spent the rest of
that year and 2005 collaborating with artists such as Nancy Sinatra, Neko Case, Laura Cantrell, and Iron & Wine's
Sam Beam, with whom they recorded In the Reins. Along with touring with Iron & Wine in support of that album and
appearing in a cameo in Michael Mann's film Collateral, Calexico found time to record with producer J.D. Foster.
The results were the band's 2006 album, Garden Ruin, Calexico's most song-oriented release to date.
Early in 2007, Calexico appeared at Lincoln Center as a part of the venue's American Songbook Series, and performed
at New York's Beacon Theatre that fall as part of a Bob Dylan tribute. During that time, Burns and Convertino also
worked on new material, working with some of the same musicians they collaborated with on Feast of Wire as well as
Iron & Wine's Sam Beam. In summer 2008, one of Calexico's new songs, "Crystal Frontier," was beamed into space as
wake-up music for the astronauts on the Space Shuttle Discovery. That fall, Carried to Dust arrived.
Album Review
Selections from Road Atlas: 1998-2011 is another example of how much care and thought Calexico take in presenting
their music to their fans. A distillation of the limited-edition vinyl set of eight tour-only releases -- itself a
project the band embarked on because fans requested it -- it plays like a travelogue through Calexico's lesser-
known musical territory, since many of these songs were never released anywhere else. The whispery, thoughtful
Americana of âHalf a Smidgeâ and âGriptape,â culled from 2005âs The Book and the Canal, share a link with the
official Calexico albums surrounding it, Feast of Wire and Garden Ruin; the flamenco-surf of âGlowing Heart of the
World,â from 98-99 Road Map, evokes the bandâs earliest days. The collection favors one of the finest tour
releases, Aerocalexico, including four tracks from it, including fan favorites such as the holiday song âGift X-
Change,â the hypnotic take on the traditional âAll the Pretty Horses,â and the original version of âCrystal
Frontier.â However, none of the tracks here could be called predictable; the version of âLost in Spaceâ (from
Scraping) finds the band rocking out, while âDetroit Steamâ (from Tool Box) could be from a blaxploitation movie
soundtrack. Selections from Road Atlas: 1998-2011 does its job well: not only will it have fans who havenât heard
all of the tour albums hankering for more, it also reaffirms what a prolific, and consistent, bunch Joey Burns,
John Convertino, and company are.
Track Listing
1. Half a Smidge
2. Waitomo
3. Griptape
4. Glowing Heart of the World
5. Entrenando a Los Tigres
6. All the Pretty Horses
7. Inch by Inch
8. Lost in Space
9. Boletos
10. El Morro
11. Gift X-Change
12. Detroit Steam
13. Ghostwriter
14. Cachaaa
15. Crystal Frontier
16. Man Made Lake
don't usually do compilations unless unfamiliar with the artist, as is the case here
hard call where to put this group, all over the map
unfortunately too many instrumentals for me, which weigh it down
great track in the clip though
thing is, the horns make it, and the album clip does not have them, bummer
1.3
from the album - Crystal Frontier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVMYzGLMZz4
released Nov 22nd, 2011
from all music
Bio
Calexico, a Tucson collective of musicians focused around Joey Burns and John Convertino, forged an eclectic
identity through their exploration of Southwestern culture. Composer Ennio Morricone's spaghetti Westerns as well
as Portuguese fado, Afro-Peruvian music, and '50s and '60s jazz, country, and surf music all factored into
Calexico's music. Burns studied classical music at the University of California, Irvine, before starting his rock
career, and Calexico formed after Burns met John Convertino in Los Angeles in 1990. At the time, Convertino had
been playing with Howe Gelb's experimental rock group Giant Sand after serving as their upright bassist for a
European tour. Burns and Convertino found their voice as a duo during a Giant Sand break, moved to Tucson in 1994,
and began collecting instruments from the Chicago Store.
First, they worked with Tucson's neo-lounge combo Friends of Dean Martinez, playing marimba, cello, accordion, and
vibraphone in addition to their usual work on bass, guitar, and drums. After a split with Friends of Dean Martinez
founder Bill Elm in 1996, the duo began to get session work with Barbara Manning, Richard Buckner, Victoria
Williams, Michael Hurley, Bill Janovitz, Vic Chesnutt, and Lisa Germano (as the trio OP8). Burns and Convertino
also experimented on their own with their new instruments in a home recording studio in 1996, releasing their debut
CD, Spoke, on Germany's Haus Musik Records. After signing with Quarterstick/Touch and Go Records in Chicago, they
released The Black Light in 1998 and The Hot Rail in 2000.
For their 2001 EP Even My Sure Things Fall Through, Calexico enlisted the support of soon-to-be members Martin
Wenk, Volker Zander, and Jacob Valenzuela, as well as members of Mariachi Luz de Luna. In 2003, the band issued its
most cohesive material to date with Feast of Wire. An EP of covers, Convict Pool, followed a year later. The
concert DVD World Drifts In: Live at the Barbican London was also released in 2004, and the group spent the rest of
that year and 2005 collaborating with artists such as Nancy Sinatra, Neko Case, Laura Cantrell, and Iron & Wine's
Sam Beam, with whom they recorded In the Reins. Along with touring with Iron & Wine in support of that album and
appearing in a cameo in Michael Mann's film Collateral, Calexico found time to record with producer J.D. Foster.
The results were the band's 2006 album, Garden Ruin, Calexico's most song-oriented release to date.
Early in 2007, Calexico appeared at Lincoln Center as a part of the venue's American Songbook Series, and performed
at New York's Beacon Theatre that fall as part of a Bob Dylan tribute. During that time, Burns and Convertino also
worked on new material, working with some of the same musicians they collaborated with on Feast of Wire as well as
Iron & Wine's Sam Beam. In summer 2008, one of Calexico's new songs, "Crystal Frontier," was beamed into space as
wake-up music for the astronauts on the Space Shuttle Discovery. That fall, Carried to Dust arrived.
Album Review
Selections from Road Atlas: 1998-2011 is another example of how much care and thought Calexico take in presenting
their music to their fans. A distillation of the limited-edition vinyl set of eight tour-only releases -- itself a
project the band embarked on because fans requested it -- it plays like a travelogue through Calexico's lesser-
known musical territory, since many of these songs were never released anywhere else. The whispery, thoughtful
Americana of âHalf a Smidgeâ and âGriptape,â culled from 2005âs The Book and the Canal, share a link with the
official Calexico albums surrounding it, Feast of Wire and Garden Ruin; the flamenco-surf of âGlowing Heart of the
World,â from 98-99 Road Map, evokes the bandâs earliest days. The collection favors one of the finest tour
releases, Aerocalexico, including four tracks from it, including fan favorites such as the holiday song âGift X-
Change,â the hypnotic take on the traditional âAll the Pretty Horses,â and the original version of âCrystal
Frontier.â However, none of the tracks here could be called predictable; the version of âLost in Spaceâ (from
Scraping) finds the band rocking out, while âDetroit Steamâ (from Tool Box) could be from a blaxploitation movie
soundtrack. Selections from Road Atlas: 1998-2011 does its job well: not only will it have fans who havenât heard
all of the tour albums hankering for more, it also reaffirms what a prolific, and consistent, bunch Joey Burns,
John Convertino, and company are.
Track Listing
1. Half a Smidge
2. Waitomo
3. Griptape
4. Glowing Heart of the World
5. Entrenando a Los Tigres
6. All the Pretty Horses
7. Inch by Inch
8. Lost in Space
9. Boletos
10. El Morro
11. Gift X-Change
12. Detroit Steam
13. Ghostwriter
14. Cachaaa
15. Crystal Frontier
16. Man Made Lake
