Average Rating: 
Rating:  - More quasi-Mexican hoo-ha.
Another yawn-fest of boring pseudo-folk songs from this overrated Tucson band. White people professing their Hispanic influences is about as valid as Vanilla Ice pretending to be down with the 'hood, and using a Mariachi band as back-up musicians is just as offensive as John Courgar Mellencamp utilizing gospel singers to make it seem like he's a funk soul brother. Sorry, Calexico, but you're Gringos and you always will be--no amount of lyrics about migrant workers eating tortillas is ever going to change that. On top of this, the music is so laid-back, so devoid of energy, it's positively coma-inducing. It makes Giant Sand sound like Metallica. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
Rating:  - Junkmedia Magazine Review
Joey Burns and John Covertino's Calexico was pretty much written off as a sun-baked side project until their sophomore release, The Black Light, appeared on the scene. Taking its cue from Cormac McCarthy's heat-warped perspectives of the American Southwest, the record was neon tumbleweed tequila music that floated above an undercurrent of violence with cinematic grace. It was a major step forward in defining the band's sound and served notice that they would not be following the spaghetti-western chuck wagon. Instead, the album celebrated the magically real convergence of culture that occurs in the borderlands, explicitly linking their name and physical geography to a musical one.Calexico's third release, The Hot Rail, continued to expand on this formula. It was an album that unfolded with a filmic fluidity to reveal desert noir folk singers and Technicolor mariachi bands playing for pretty girls throwing flowers and men sharpening knives. Not surprisingly, it was their most successful record to date. Feast of Wire may soon change that, as the band once again ups the ante by widening their scope of sound. Cool West Coast jazz, eerie string sections, and dub are added to the storytelling folk, mariachi horns, kitschy border ballads, and sun-cracked soundscapes that rounded out previous efforts. If that sounds like a handful, it's because it is. Lesser talents wouldn't be able to hold it all together, but Calexico seamlessly blends these disparate parts into one of their most satisfying listens yet. Sure, with so much to hear and such a range of styles, the album can take a couple of listens before it starts to bloom. That said, after these requisite spins, one can't help but admire how smoothly Feast of Wire glides from track to track, style to style. As on past albums, the band does an excellent job sequencing the record by situating slower instrumental passages between the more traditional songs. These musical bridges help bind the album together and create a total listening experience that is becoming increasingly rare today. For example, after the Marty Robbins-influenced border ballad "Across the Wire," the band segues into "Dub Latina," a trippy, melodica laced instrumental which in turn flows into the rousing "Guero Canelo" with its speak and spell rapping and ebullient background singers. It's a heady mix, and though the three songs couldn't be more different, they end up making a wonderful suite within the record. Likewise, the gothic, string-laden "Black Heart," which is unlike anything the band has done before, dissolves into pulsing synths at the beginning of "Pepita" before ushering in a multitude of beautifully picked acoustic guitars and a forlorn-sounding pedal steel. The disturbingly pretty pop song "Not Even Stevie Nicks ..." immediately follows, telling the tale of a man driving his car off a cliff and being found later, "in the motor." I guess if the Gold Dust Woman can't help, there's no point in thinking about tomorrow. And while Feast of Wire continues to reveal new sounds at every turn, the most surprising track on the album comes near the end when the band falls into the cool jazz of "Crumble." It's wholly unexpected, approximating the sound of what Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain would have been like were it a collaboration with Charles Mingus. It's perfectly placed to knock out any last vestiges of resistance, leaving even the most hardened listener to break into a smile. As the final track, "No Doze," slowly recedes with a moaning cello and static, it becomes crystal clear that Burns and Covertino threw the maps out the window long ago and are blazing their own trail through the musical desert. How could you not want to follow along behind? -- Barin McGrath
Rating:  - What's this pop record you've got on?
My wife is a huge Calexico fan, asked this question about six songs into "Feast of Wire" I said "It's Calexico's new one"
"Unbelievable" was the reply. In "Feast of Wire" Calexico still employs plenty of accordian,pedal steel and south of the border trumpets. They also incorporate strings into many of the new tunes which greatly adds to their ever expanding soundtrack in your virtual drive through the badlands. Most of the songs are straight ahead pop or rock, but not to worry their are still plenty of brilliant vignettes of instrumental sounds. What struck me most about "Feast of Wire" is how Joey Burns so effectively uses his voice to tell his tales of dust, cactus, heat and desert life. I have always really enjoyed how different and magical Calexico's music could be and their uncompromised musical vision and in "Feast of Wire" Convertino and Burns have taken Calexico more towards the middle of the "outside" musical spectrum without losing and of the uniqueness. This is a totally
accessible album and should be taken with the same reverence as last years "Wilco" release. I think "Feast of Wire" is even more enjoyable then "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" in that it has broader soundscapes and musical ideas. Do yourself a favor, forget that pizza this week and go get "Feast of Wire" and take your virtual journey on a desert trip from Phoenix through El Paso. You can almost feel the sand and heat. Calexico has always been primarily an increible live band whose vision did not always translate on record. With "Feast of Wire" that has all changed.
|
