|
|
Comprised of Joey Burns and John Convertino, both former members of Howe Gelb's oddball Giant Sand outfit, Calexico, by now on album number five, are a side project with legs to burn. Often lazily described as Tex-Mex (a kind of horrible, hillbilly rock/country/latino hybrid), Calexico are in fact as much about jazz, experimental rock, classical and, apparently, "afro-Peruvian music" (Que?) as much as anything else. If this all sound like some awful kind of new age fusion bollox then chillax; Calexico are nothing if not more than the sum of their insanely eclectic parts. Take 'Black heart,' for instance, a song that has Portishead's strings, the Beta Band's guitar and a beautiful, pure Neil Young chorus while really sounding like none of them at all. Actually, Young's influence stalks most of the first half of the album (this is a good thing) from the single Quattro, which could be a really, really good Travis song, to the excellent opener Sunken Waltz which contains the lines "Washed my face in the rivers of empire/ Made my bed with a cardboard crate," (no prizes for guessing where the influences are coming from here then). Further excitement comes from the alt-country shout-outs (urgh!) to Bonnie Prince Billy and Papa M, all over Woven Birds and Not Even Stevie Nicks respectively. Best among these though are the superb instrumentals Close Behind, the theme to a spaghetti western someone forgot to make and Pepito, which reminds you why you always secretly though those country slide guitar things were really cool.
Feast of Wire is very much a record of two halves though, and having sucked you in with their very nice, gentle country songs, Burns and Convertino want you to listen to their more experimental side. Lucky you. Burns's classical music degree comes in handy for The Book and The Canal while the brilliant, Tortoise-referencing Attack El Robot! Attack! (which itself sounds like the name of a Japanese all-girl garage rock band) comes complete with funky Can-style drumming, a jazzy trumpet solo and patented avant-rock-brand Weird Bleepy Bits. Some dull moments of course: Dub Latina does exactly what it says on the tin in a bland Café del Mar kind of way while (yes, okay, Tex Mex) Across The Wire come a bit near to sounding like an Old El Paso jingle for comfort. But these are minor quibbles. By far the most satisfying and admirable thing about Feast of Wire is that every track comes in below the four minute mark. It's that rarest of beasts - an experimental album without the usual, mind-numbing wanking off. What's great about this record is that Calexico genuinely sound like they don't give a toss (okay, okay, enough with the masturbation metaphors), switching from Country to rock to jazz to classical with seemingly effortless grace. Listen: it's like being led around a really good, really small record store by an enthusiastic muso who makes you listen to a bit of everything before moving on. Basically, Calexico are a genre unto themselves (art-country anyone? No? Fair enough) which sounds like faint praise but isn't. That they've managed to combine their spectacularly wide range of influences into 16 short songs without it ever sounding over-done is impressive in itself; that they've managed to make a fine record at the same time is nothing less than a cause for minor celebration.
.
About the Author
Des Fitz
is unsure.
Back to... Reviews
|
|
|
|