Favourites 8 : Calexico : Feast of Wire

I first became aware of Calexico in about 1999 when I was beginning to listen to Giant Sand and Calexico were still a part time side project for Joey Burns and John Convertino.  I was beginning to listen to a lot of Alternative Country had a number of the New Sounds of the Old West compilations on the Loose Label (a small specialist label run by the a kiwi in London) and it seemed every one had a Calexico track on it. 

Calexico is an extremely aptly named band - immediately apparent on first listen - a mix of Southern Californian rock infused with the sound of Mexico.  Think Ennio Marricone's sound tracks for A Fistful of Dollars combined with Fleetwood Mac. They even name check Stevie Nicks in Not Even Stevie Nicks

Feast of Wire

At the time I was making a few business trips to our Melbourne Office and that posed a few problems for me as there were two great CD stores downstairs that proved effective at hoovering money out of my wallet. So in 2003 I finally bought a full length album by Calexico.  The excellent Feast of Wire.   An album that immediately brings images of the Californian and Mexican border to mind.

This has been a constant favourite since then. I have bought a few others by them but this is the one I come back to.  From the opening moments of the Sunken Waltz that flows straight into Quattro (World Drifts In) .

Other stand out tracks include Black Heart and  Attack El Robot Attack.