Blowin' Indie Wind "Feast of Wire"- Delicious and Dangerous

Author: Erika Mercer

Picture a tawny desert floor, a bare sweep of never-ending dust and dirt. Above it all, a pervasive stretch of sky, a boundless expanse of blueness. Solitary bushes withhold the scorching heat, standing stagnant, determined, caked with dust.
Somewhere, a scorpion scuttles hastily across the burnt ground, whipping its lethal tail. Far in the distance, along the fringes of where civilization dares to live, lies a lone red sombrero, a discarded memento of lively nights now whisked by fierce winds into the lonely, desolate, romantic desert.
Naming itself after a border-town between California and Mexico, Calexico formed in Tucson, Ariz. in 1996 when multi-instrumentalists John Convertino and Joey Burns opted to take time off from their band, Giant Sand, to produce Calexico's first official album, "Spoke" in 1997.
Begun as a side project, "Spoke" proved Calexico's potential for being much more, and the band soon released its second album, "The Black Light," in 1998, an album which made it into the hands of critics who dubbed Calexico the band to listen to in alt-country music.
In 1999, "Road Map" was released, followed in 2000 by "Travelall" and "Hotrail," the band's second major critical success. Between 2001 and 2002, Calexico produced "Aerocalexico" and "Scraping," both tour-only releases, along with the Ep, "Even My Sure Things Fall Through."
While Montreal-native Burns and Long Island-native Convertino have comprised the band's core (and competed for most talented musician - Burns sings and plays upright bass, cello, guitar, mandolin, percussion, accordion, loops and organ, while Convertino plays drums, percussion, vibraphone, marimba, accordion and piano), they have regularly drawn on various other musicians to create and bolster their already impressive sound.
On their most recent album, "Feast of Wire," released on Feb. 18, 2003, Calexico enlists musicians Martin Wenk on trumpet and accordion, Paul Niehaus on pedal steel, Jacob Valenzuela on trumpet, Nick Luca on piano, synthesizer and guitar, Volker Zander on bass and Craig Schumacher on trumpet and synthesizer.
Together with Convertino and Burns, these six musicians have crafted Calexico's most polished and exciting release to date.
Calexico's music thrives on American's southwestern border, drawing from and combining American and Mexican influences to create what one critic aptly described as "neon tumbleweed tequila music." Within its eclectic mix of instrumental and vocal music, Calexico includes jazz, country, Mexican Mariachi ballads, desert-rock, noir-folk and blues.
The result of this idiosyncratic blending, experimentation and juxtaposition is a surprisingly cohesive and accessible form of music - one which borrows from various ethnic and musical influences to mold its own unique sound.
The album's songs shift between diverse genres - "Sunken Waltz" sways and swaggers in triple meter, "Across the Wire" presents a southwestern border narrative, "°Attack, El Robot, Attack!" uses mechanical keyboard noises to create a weird sci-fi world, "Crumble" draws on the cool-jazz sounds of musicians such as Miles Davis and "No Doze" is slow, folksy and eerie.
Throughout the album, the music retains a rustic, earthy feel - it is not elusive or ethereal but rather organic and grounded. "Feast of Wire" evokes a sense of sprawling American landscape and hot desert scenery - it presents what one critic called "a vision of a land handed down over the years through literature and more recently the cowboy moves that many in our generation were raised on."
The romantic vision of the American West features largely into Calexico's music, bestowing it with a down-and-dirty, intoxicating and thrillingly dangerous feel.
At the same time, Calexico draws from influences south of the border - alongside its depiction of the Wild West it paints a picture of dusty sombreros, brightly colored ponchos and double-tequila shots.
This Mexican influence apparent in the band's songs is what distinguishes Calexico from other bands in the alt-country genre by producing a more sensual, sexy and passionate aura. The music on "Feast of Wire" flows smoothly - the album glides almost unnoticeably from track to track.
Beneath the romance, though, lurks danger, which manifests itself in the band's dark lyrics and often contrasts with the amorous, mesmerizing music.
In the song, "Not Even Stevie Nicks," one of the more pop-leaning pieces on the album, Burns sings, "With a head like a vulture / and heart full of hornets / he drives off the cliff / and into the blue." The song, which laments the fact that he could not be saved, characteristically juxtaposes a seeming romanticism with hard, melancholic reality.
Similarly, in the seventh song on the album, "Close Behind," the lyrics ominously read, "High atop radio towers / sky darkens in the final hours / marie wrings her praying hands / don't see why the spirit won't understand / while lines are crossed / hope's broken at the knees / and at a loss / the world's made of dust / and dust it will return." Calexico's lyrics are the scorpion hiding in wait, the imperceptible reminder of danger and death.
"Feast of Wire" is just that - a romantic, delicious feast, a buffet of eclectic sounds and strange combinations - yet the lyrics remind that what the listener is indeed ingesting are sharp, deadly bits of wire - of reality.