Calexico

[DudeAsInCool]

Calexico cultivates a new pop-ish sound with their latest CD, 'Garden Ruin'

With a name like Calexico, a band might expect to be pigeonholed. And for most of their time together, guitarist-singer Joey Burns, drummer John Convertino and their cohorts have played to the vibe implied by their group's border-town name. Based in Tucson, Ariz., for the past decade or so, they've hand-painted their cinematic musical panoramas from a palette that includes Tejano accordion, mariachi horns, pedal steel, acoustic Spanish guitar and reverb-drenched surf guitar, all shaded with chamber-pop cello, organ, post-rock vibes and electronica.

That admixture -- coming off at times like a noir, experimental-pop version of Ennio Morricone spaghetti-Western sound tracks -- has garnered a faithful following in the United States and abroad. But according to Burns, who leads the band into the Fillmore in San Francisco for two nights, Friday and Saturday, June 16-17, Europeans "get" Calexico in ways that American critics don't.

Read the full interview at

The San Francisco Gate

[method77]

I don't like their new CD

[DudeAsInCool]

I don't like their new CD

I've read it's a departure from their previous material - what cd's of theirs do you recommend?

[method77]

the first one is a masterpiece but I can't remember the name

'...of fire'

something like that