CALEXICO
''SPIRITOSO''
2013
55:53
1 /Frontera/Trigger
Joey Burns/feat: Radio Symphonieorchester Wien/5:30
2 /Epic
J. Burns/4:25
3 /The News About William
J. Burns/3:46
4 /Black Heart
Joey Burns / John Convertino/4:54
5 /Minas de Cobre
J. Burns/3:41
6 /Inspiracion
Jacob Valenzuela/3:31
7 /Two Silver Trees
Joey Burns/4:31
8 /Para
Joey Burns / John Convertino/3:54
9 /Quattro
Joey Burns / John Convertino/4:46
10 /Crystal Frontier
Joey Burns/7:52
11 /The Vanishing Mind
Joey Burns / John Convertino/4:27
12 /Fortune Teller
P. Brown / Joey Burns/4:36
Tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 feat: Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg
Ryan Alfred /Bass, Vocals
Joey Burns /Guitar, Vocals
Dan Coleman /Arranger
John Convertino /Drums
Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg
Matt Dunkley /Conductor
Max Knoth /Arranger
Cornelius Meister /Conductor
Sean O'Loughlin /Arranger
Jacob Valenzuela /Trumpet, Vocals
Jay Wadley /Arranger
Martin Wenk /Guitar, Trumpet, Vibraphone, Vocals
Jairo Zavala /Guitar, Lap Steel Guitar, Vocals
REVIEW
by Heather Phares
**** Of *****
As the healthy number of live albums in the band's discography attests, Calexico are always a solidly entertaining live act and no stranger to documenting their performances. Still, Spiritoso is special enough that the group made it a Record Store Day exclusive for its original release. Documenting German performances with the Radio Symphonieorchester Wien and Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg, the album boasts a well-chosen set list drawing from Algiers, their most recent album at the time, as well as 1998's The Black Light, 2003's Feast of Wire, and 2008's Carried to Dust (they even perform "Crystal Frontier," a hard-to-find track first issued on the European version of their underappreciated third album, The Hot Rail). Hearing Calexico perform songs from a large portion of their career allows their strengths to come to the fore, and Spiritoso's highlights make the most of the drama that their music has had since the beginning. Beginning with the fan-favorite medley of The Black Light's "Frontera/Trigger," the album's orchestral treatments make the most of Calexico's spaghetti Western majesty and whispery noir undercurrents. "Black Heart," which has the kind of stylishly world-weary melody made for strings and brass, is another standout, along with the other Feast of Wire cuts "Minas de Cobre" and "Quattro." The orchestral arrangements aren't as integral to "Epic," where the insistent acoustic guitars take center stage, or "Two Silver Trees," where the strings add a little more depth. Even if Spiritoso isn't quite the definitive live Calexico statement, it's still an elegant album that should please fans who enjoy the band's concert documents.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
by Mark Deming
Calexico take their name from a town on the border of California and Mexico, and the title certainly fits the band, who've been mixing musical approaches and cultural perspectives with elan ever since group leaders Joey Burns and John Convertino began working together. Fusing the dusty sounds of the American Southwest with spaghetti western soundtracks, Mexican mariachi themes, vintage surf music, cool jazz, and a broad spectrum of Latin influences, Calexico are an eclectic ensemble whose work is as distinctive as it is unpredictable.
Calexico's story begins in 1990, when bassist Joey Burns, a music student at the University of California Irvine, met percussionist John Convertino, who was playing drums with Howe Gelb's long-running band Giant Sand. Burns soon signed on to play bass with Giant Sand on a tour of Europe, and then relocated to Giant Sand's home base of Tucson, Arizona. During downtime from Giant Sand's projects in 1993, Burns and Convertino teamed with guitarists Billy Elm and Woody Jackson to form The Friends of Dean Martinez, a group that fused lounge-influenced pop melodies with the musical flavors of the Southwest. The Friends of Dean Martinez soon developed a loyal following on the alternative rock scene, and Burns and Convertino began collaborating with an impressive number of well-respected musicians, including Richard Buckner, Neko Case, Bill Janovitz, Lisa Germano, Victoria Williams, and Barbara Manning.
In 1997, Burns and Convertino recorded an album together that was released in Europe under the title Spoke. However, when it was later issued in the United States by Quarterstick (a branch of the outstanding indie label Touch & Go), the duo opted to use the group name Calexico, and a year later they issued a second Calexico LP, The Black Light, which expanded on the cinematic feel and dry, evocative sound of the debut. Calexico's reputation as a live act grew after opening for the likes of Lambchop, Pavement, and the Dirty Three, and the group's sound and membership grew with their third studio album, Hot Rail, as violins and horns were added to the arrangements; Calexico's membership would remain fluid over the years, with various musicians assisting Burns and Convertino as the group pursued different projects.
In 2000, Calexico released Travelall, the first in what would become a long series of live albums the group would make available to fans through their web store or at the merchandise table at their shows. Burns and Convertino began collaborating with the group Mariachi Luz de Luna, and they joined Calexico in the studio for the 2001 EP Even My Sure Things Fall Through, a collection of new tracks and alternate versions of previously released tunes. With 2003's Feast of Wire, Calexico began edging into something closer to mainstream popularity -- it was their first album to chart in Billboard, grazing the Independent Album and Heatseekers surveys. 2004 saw Burns and Convertino record a tune with Nancy Sinatra for her self-titled comeback album. And after years of Calexico's music being described as cinematic, filmmaker Michael Mann confirmed it by featuring their song "Guero Canelo" in the movie Collateral.
In 2005, Sam Beam of Iron and Wine teamed up with Calexico to create a collaborative recording, and the EP In the Reins was the result; the two groups launched a joint tour to support the release. Calexico returned to working on their own on 2006's Garden Ruin, which became their first album to crack the Billboard Top 200 albums chart, peaking at number 156, a solid showing for an independent release. By this time, Calexico also had a growing following abroad, especially as a live act, and they toured Europe, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands more frequently than the United States. For 2008's Carried to Dust, Calexico invited several special guests to join the recording sessions, including Pieta Brown, Iron and Wine, and Doug McCombs of Tortoise. It was also Calexico's last album for Quarterstick Records; in 2009, the label scaled back their operations and ceased releasing new material, and for 2012's Algiers, Calexico partnered with Anti, an artist-friendly division of Epitaph Records. Calexico returned in 2015 with an especially ambitious new album, Edge of the Sun, written and recorded during a sojourn in Mexico City and featuring appearances by Neko Case, Gaby Moreno, Sam Beam, Band of Horses' Ben Bridwell, Devotchka's Nick Urata, and members of the Greek ensemble Takim.
TO THE TOP
''SPIRITOSO''
2013
55:53
1 /Frontera/Trigger
Joey Burns/feat: Radio Symphonieorchester Wien/5:30
2 /Epic
J. Burns/4:25
3 /The News About William
J. Burns/3:46
4 /Black Heart
Joey Burns / John Convertino/4:54
5 /Minas de Cobre
J. Burns/3:41
6 /Inspiracion
Jacob Valenzuela/3:31
7 /Two Silver Trees
Joey Burns/4:31
8 /Para
Joey Burns / John Convertino/3:54
9 /Quattro
Joey Burns / John Convertino/4:46
10 /Crystal Frontier
Joey Burns/7:52
11 /The Vanishing Mind
Joey Burns / John Convertino/4:27
12 /Fortune Teller
P. Brown / Joey Burns/4:36
Tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 feat: Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg
Ryan Alfred /Bass, Vocals
Joey Burns /Guitar, Vocals
Dan Coleman /Arranger
John Convertino /Drums
Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg
Matt Dunkley /Conductor
Max Knoth /Arranger
Cornelius Meister /Conductor
Sean O'Loughlin /Arranger
Jacob Valenzuela /Trumpet, Vocals
Jay Wadley /Arranger
Martin Wenk /Guitar, Trumpet, Vibraphone, Vocals
Jairo Zavala /Guitar, Lap Steel Guitar, Vocals
REVIEW
by Heather Phares
**** Of *****
As the healthy number of live albums in the band's discography attests, Calexico are always a solidly entertaining live act and no stranger to documenting their performances. Still, Spiritoso is special enough that the group made it a Record Store Day exclusive for its original release. Documenting German performances with the Radio Symphonieorchester Wien and Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg, the album boasts a well-chosen set list drawing from Algiers, their most recent album at the time, as well as 1998's The Black Light, 2003's Feast of Wire, and 2008's Carried to Dust (they even perform "Crystal Frontier," a hard-to-find track first issued on the European version of their underappreciated third album, The Hot Rail). Hearing Calexico perform songs from a large portion of their career allows their strengths to come to the fore, and Spiritoso's highlights make the most of the drama that their music has had since the beginning. Beginning with the fan-favorite medley of The Black Light's "Frontera/Trigger," the album's orchestral treatments make the most of Calexico's spaghetti Western majesty and whispery noir undercurrents. "Black Heart," which has the kind of stylishly world-weary melody made for strings and brass, is another standout, along with the other Feast of Wire cuts "Minas de Cobre" and "Quattro." The orchestral arrangements aren't as integral to "Epic," where the insistent acoustic guitars take center stage, or "Two Silver Trees," where the strings add a little more depth. Even if Spiritoso isn't quite the definitive live Calexico statement, it's still an elegant album that should please fans who enjoy the band's concert documents.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
by Mark Deming
Calexico take their name from a town on the border of California and Mexico, and the title certainly fits the band, who've been mixing musical approaches and cultural perspectives with elan ever since group leaders Joey Burns and John Convertino began working together. Fusing the dusty sounds of the American Southwest with spaghetti western soundtracks, Mexican mariachi themes, vintage surf music, cool jazz, and a broad spectrum of Latin influences, Calexico are an eclectic ensemble whose work is as distinctive as it is unpredictable.
Calexico's story begins in 1990, when bassist Joey Burns, a music student at the University of California Irvine, met percussionist John Convertino, who was playing drums with Howe Gelb's long-running band Giant Sand. Burns soon signed on to play bass with Giant Sand on a tour of Europe, and then relocated to Giant Sand's home base of Tucson, Arizona. During downtime from Giant Sand's projects in 1993, Burns and Convertino teamed with guitarists Billy Elm and Woody Jackson to form The Friends of Dean Martinez, a group that fused lounge-influenced pop melodies with the musical flavors of the Southwest. The Friends of Dean Martinez soon developed a loyal following on the alternative rock scene, and Burns and Convertino began collaborating with an impressive number of well-respected musicians, including Richard Buckner, Neko Case, Bill Janovitz, Lisa Germano, Victoria Williams, and Barbara Manning.
In 1997, Burns and Convertino recorded an album together that was released in Europe under the title Spoke. However, when it was later issued in the United States by Quarterstick (a branch of the outstanding indie label Touch & Go), the duo opted to use the group name Calexico, and a year later they issued a second Calexico LP, The Black Light, which expanded on the cinematic feel and dry, evocative sound of the debut. Calexico's reputation as a live act grew after opening for the likes of Lambchop, Pavement, and the Dirty Three, and the group's sound and membership grew with their third studio album, Hot Rail, as violins and horns were added to the arrangements; Calexico's membership would remain fluid over the years, with various musicians assisting Burns and Convertino as the group pursued different projects.
In 2000, Calexico released Travelall, the first in what would become a long series of live albums the group would make available to fans through their web store or at the merchandise table at their shows. Burns and Convertino began collaborating with the group Mariachi Luz de Luna, and they joined Calexico in the studio for the 2001 EP Even My Sure Things Fall Through, a collection of new tracks and alternate versions of previously released tunes. With 2003's Feast of Wire, Calexico began edging into something closer to mainstream popularity -- it was their first album to chart in Billboard, grazing the Independent Album and Heatseekers surveys. 2004 saw Burns and Convertino record a tune with Nancy Sinatra for her self-titled comeback album. And after years of Calexico's music being described as cinematic, filmmaker Michael Mann confirmed it by featuring their song "Guero Canelo" in the movie Collateral.
In 2005, Sam Beam of Iron and Wine teamed up with Calexico to create a collaborative recording, and the EP In the Reins was the result; the two groups launched a joint tour to support the release. Calexico returned to working on their own on 2006's Garden Ruin, which became their first album to crack the Billboard Top 200 albums chart, peaking at number 156, a solid showing for an independent release. By this time, Calexico also had a growing following abroad, especially as a live act, and they toured Europe, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands more frequently than the United States. For 2008's Carried to Dust, Calexico invited several special guests to join the recording sessions, including Pieta Brown, Iron and Wine, and Doug McCombs of Tortoise. It was also Calexico's last album for Quarterstick Records; in 2009, the label scaled back their operations and ceased releasing new material, and for 2012's Algiers, Calexico partnered with Anti, an artist-friendly division of Epitaph Records. Calexico returned in 2015 with an especially ambitious new album, Edge of the Sun, written and recorded during a sojourn in Mexico City and featuring appearances by Neko Case, Gaby Moreno, Sam Beam, Band of Horses' Ben Bridwell, Devotchka's Nick Urata, and members of the Greek ensemble Takim.
TO THE TOP
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