low_delta

The opening band, Oakley Hall was... fine. They had a problem with too many people with too similar sounds. Two guys on slide guitar, or three guys on electric guitar, or slide guitar matching the violin.

Calexico didn't have that problem. They sounded great. I can't say there's anything about them that really stands out, but they're unique and they have a quality sound.

Their sound varied between straight-ahead rock, to rock-influenced Mexican/mariachi music. The slide/steel guitar gave it a country tinge. At one point, they did an extended tune that was rather jazz.

The leader said that since this was the first time they'd played Milwaukee, they'd do more of their older songs.

The bassist often played an upright bass, which sounded beautiful. One of the trumpeters sang a little, and the other also played accordion, harmonica, guitar, keyboards and vibes.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=502316
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=506346

Calexico crosses borders — political and musical — with ease
International influence keeps sound evolving
By JON M. GILBERTSON
Special to the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Sept. 22, 2006

It's been observed that "all music is country music, because all music comes from one country or another."

Members of Calexico have an international pedigree and an appreciation for European music from Irish folk songs to Norwegian death metal.

If the phrase contained "and" instead of "or," it would have succinctly described Calexico. To frontman Joey Burns, neither geographical nor artistic borders are worth regarding. "I'm not interested in getting formulaic," he said. "It goes against being a musician, and I'm always trying to introduce different kinds of music that either listeners or friends would be into. It's amazing what happens when you start checking out what's in the musical community." It's also amazing what happens on "Garden Ruin," Calexico's fifth full-length album since Burns and drummer John Convertino formed the band's core a decade ago.

Through 11 tracks and in less than 40 minutes, the disc brings a greater vitality to Calexico's eminently fluid blending of cultures. Burns acknowledged the sea change. "Gradually, we noticed the songs were different," he said. "We did not want to rely on any kind of trademark sounds or signatures. We didn't want to repeat ourselves."

"Garden Ruin" retains the band's fondness for the vast echoes and sonority of the big-sky country (Calexico's home base is Arizona) and its naturalistic use of instrumentation - trumpet, glockenspiel, cello, banjo - that with most other bands would sound exotic or baroque. At the same time, songs like the gentle, Elliott Smith-reminiscent "Lucky Dime," the forcefully strummed "Letter to Bowie Knife" and the meditatively incandescent "All Systems Red" stand among the band's most fiercely focused music.

No track sounds quite like any other; every track sounds like Calexico. For that quality, Burns gives partial credit to producer JD Foster, who had worked with Convertino and Burns on roots-rock singer/songwriter Richard Buckner's albums.

"He knew we wanted to do something different, and he was going to be helpful in every way possible," Burns said. "JD has a great sense of song, and layers and textures. The mantra that was repeated over and over was, 'It's all about the process.' Don't get lost in the detail, don't fight a problem. It might lead to the next song."

Much of "Garden Ruin" leans toward the political, albeit in the broadest sense. Calexico imbues its perspective on current events with a deeper understanding of history, myth and general human behavior.

"We looked to great writers like Dylan, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits," Burns said. "I've always preferred songs that are more on an abstract plane, not so blatantly trying to champion a cause. We wanted something that wouldn't be dated, nor be sloganeering."

Burns and Convertino found considerable assistance in the current Calexico lineup: Jacob Valenzuela (trumpet, keyboards) and Paul Niehaus (pedal steel and electric guitar) from Tuscon, Ariz., and Nashville, Tenn., respectively; Martin Wenk (trumpet, keyboards, accordion, guitar, etc.) and Volker Zander (bass), both of whom Burns and Convertino recruited in Germany during one of the band's European jaunts.

"We've always appreciated European music: Irish folk songs, Norwegian death metal," said Burns. "The idea of having this international community seemed to come very naturally to us. We see the connections to bridge, and the guys are all unique in their own right."

In various combinations, Calexico personnel have also been sidemen for a long list of other musicians, including alt-country and power-pop chanteuse Neko Case, UK electronic-pop duo Goldfrapp, indie-folk artist Iron and Wine and even Nancy Sinatra.

Reflecting on this intense activity - in a month that has seen Calexico tape a performance on the popular PBS live-music program "Austin City Limits" and participate in the 25th anniversary party for Touch and Go, the Chicago indie label that releases the band's records - Burns had little trouble locating the heart of his and Calexico's raison d'être.

"You take a risk on bringing different instruments or musicians together," he said. "You pick up on the spontaneity of special moments and don't question the impulse. The most satisfying thing is just seeing connections work. Not the guitar solos or the records sold."

Calexico's intimacy connects
Southwestern sensibility shapes lyrics
By THACHER SCHMID
Special to the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Sept. 28, 2006

In the Southwest, dusk may be marked by coyotes howling at precisely the same instant, though miles apart, as if sharing a secret. Calexico, playing its first Milwaukee show Wednesday, interacts with this kind of instinct. Similarly, a very Southwestern intimacy with death liberates and shapes its lyrics, la muerte offered as freedom from society's suffocating fear.

Led by singer and guitarist Joey Burns and drummer John Convertino, Calexico, from Tucson, Ariz., plateaued with its latest CD, "Garden Ruin," the main source of Wednesday's set. For this ensemble, though, that means not stasis but continuation of the high standard set by 1997's "Spoke." Many an artist has bet the farm on big money up front, become a mountain, then a valley. Burns and Convertino instead chose steady independence, recording early ideas with an answering machine, releasing live or limited edition discs, joining compilations.

So instead of a luxe tour bus, a dusty brown van with Arizona license plates sat outside the Pabst Theater, which eventually filled two-thirds up.

Burns struck up a dialogue with Convertino from the first note, guitar and drums chattering. When not concentrating on his economical tenor, Burns turned his back on the audience and jammed face to face with Convertino, seemingly mugging. On the audience's left, multi-instrumentalists Jacob Valenzuela and Martin Wenk executed a nimble dance on vibraphone, harmonica, guitar, accordion and keyboards - punctuating with dual trumpets and ensuring no two songs sounded alike. Some 50 dancers gathered near the stage.

If there was a weakness in the 105-minute, five-encore show, it was . . . never mind, there wasn't a weakness. Volker Zander played concert and electric bass with a balance of melody and funk, while Convertino's drumming was painterly.

Interpretations of Love's "Alone Again Or" and Bob Dylan's "Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)" were highlights. Nashville's Paul Niehaus wove his lap steel guitar deftly into the strange fabric of vibraphone and accordion, yet no thread frayed. For a moment, during "Deep Down," Valenzuela's vibraphone was buried beneath layers of rock guitars, but then he turned up the volume.

After ending with "Crystal Frontier," an abstract ghost tale based on Carlos Fuentes' stories, Calexico played the first encore, "Song of Everything," with opening band Oakley Hall, a Brooklyn six-piece.

Calexico then combined "Sunken Waltz" and "Service and Repair," ending with a rocking version of Manu Chao's "Desaparecido."

Oakley Hall brought a footloose and fancy-free feel to its 40-minute opening set. A collection of rootsy, lap steel and fiddle-driven Americana started slower than a waterwheel but gradually won the crowd with three-part vocal harmonies and long-form blues.