CALEXICO: Spiritoso

Calexico have had a long career, and for Record Store Day 2013 they have a special release that spans it. On SPIRITOSO, they’ve taken songs from the length of that career, recorded them WITH A FULL SYMPHONY and packaged them in a special limited edition vinyl package, and included a full CD as well. SPIRITOSO, recorded in June 2012 in Germany with Radio Symphonie Orchestra Wein, is only available at record stores starting on Record Store Day 2013, April 20. Check out this video of the recording of one of the tracks, “Para”, and come back to www.recordstoreday.com April 20 for another special peek inside the recording of SPIRITOSO. MORE

PREVIOUSLY: If Calexico were a movie instead of a band, it would be Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil – a taut, arty thriller set in a Southwestern border town, full of long shadows and obtuse angles, where evil wears a badge, good men die like dogs, and everyone gets what’s coming to him or her in the end. For going on 16 years, Calexico has been trafficking a brand of indie rock aptly described as desert noir – a distinctive blend of spicy mariachi flourishes, campfire cowboy folk, midcentury modern jazz, and panoramic post-rock. Calexico is piloted by the duo of singer/guitarist Joey Burns – who narrates the songs’ pulp-fiction plotlines with a shivery whisper of a voice – and drummer John Covertino, quite possibly the fleetest beatmaker in modern indie rock. If their albums never quite rise above three-star ratings, the live show – where Calexico bulks up to to a seven-piece of gifted multi-instrumentalists outfitted with horns, lap steel, vibes, accordion, piano, and upright bass – is always a five-star affair. MORE