Track Listing

1. Sunken Waltz
2. Quattro (World Drifts In)
3. Stucco
4. Black Heart
5. Pepita
6. Not Even Stevie Nicks...
7. Close Behind
8. Woven Birds
9. The Book and the Canal
10. Attack El Robot! Attack!
11. Across The Wire
12. Dub Latina
13. Guero Canelo
14. Whipping the Horse's Eyes
15. Crumble
16. No Doze

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10241 in Music
• Released on: 2003-02-18
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Calexico is Joey Burns and John Convertino of Giant Sand. Their fourth album is a masterpiece of beauty and diversity, with desert-rock guitar interplay to expansive noir-ish sweep to full-mariachi grandeur. 16 Tracks. Quarterstick. 2003.

Amazon.com
Unlike the ever-experimenting Lambchop, to whom they are often compared, Calexico stick to their niche. Since Calexico don't spring as many stylistic surprises on us as the sprawling Nashville ensemble, their track record is also less erratic. While Feast of Wireis a bit quieter than its three full-length predecessors, it also fits neatly into an ever-impressive body of work. John Convertino and Joey Burns--the Tucson band's core--only confirm their status as folk storytellers, their songs as irreducibly American as Cormac McCarthy novels, and their trademark Southwestern, sun-baked Ennio Morricone sound continues to be ambitiously timeless. "Black Heart," for instance, begins like a Portishead outtake before swelling majestically. Even when they shuffle styles ("Close Behind" marries '60s western grace with assured melodic chops, and "Attack El Robot! Attack!" goes off in an almost Devo-like direction before smoothly segueing into the full-on mariachi extravaganza of "Across the Wire"), they retain an immediately identifiable personality. Calexico may not make headlines, but this album solidifies their standing as one of the most endearingly idiosyncratic bands on the American scene. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Customer Reviews

Super collection of newer songs.
Listening to this comes as easy as a soft afternoon in the shade of maple tree. Each listen reveals more and does not tire. Recommended.

Calexico plays true
I can talk about this song or that, or how Calexico has a distinctive and beautiful sound, and all that. Here's how I know this album is good. After I got it, I played it for an entire week to the exclusion of pretty much everything else.

It gets under your skin it's so good. It changes pace and style from song to song, so you don't get bored, and songs don't all convolve together into just one indistinguishable pile of music. It'll keep in your mind even after you turn it off, and you'll look forward to getting back home so you can listen to it again.

And then, you should go to el Guero Canelo and get the best Sonoroan hotdog ever.

Feast of Sounds
This is a folk album and Calexico isn't afraid to do something different. The album has a very southwestern feel and even goes south of the border on several songs. I am not an instrument expert, but I do know there are some instruments in here that I only hear in Sergio Leone films. With such an array of instruments... Joey Burns vocals are almost ignored. But it is his voice that really lifts this album from being an experimental effort to a darn-close masterpiece.

A few instrumentals throughout the album might slow some listeners down. But it won't stop most from enjoying this album. Quattro (World Drifts In) is probably my favorite track and is classic Calexico with a several horns for good measure. Close Behind plays like a folk song with visions of Love's Forever Changes (1967). And that album seems to be a great influence on Feast of Wire. The great thing is that Calexico really invents their own style and sound. They may resemble something else, but Feast of Wire is still their own. Above or below Garden Ruin, this album is one of Calexico's best.