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Calexico is an American indie rock band based in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1996, the band's two main members, Joey Burns and John Convertino, first played together in Los Angeles as part of the group Giant Sand. They have recorded a number of albums on Quarterstick Records and City Slang, and their 2005 EP, In the Reins, recorded with Iron & Wine, reached the Billboard 200 albums chart. Their musical style is influenced by traditional Latin sounds of mariachi, conjunto, cumbia, and tejano mixed with country, jazz, and post-rock.
The band is named for the border town of Calexico, California, and has been described by some as "desert noir".
History
Formation
thumb|left|150px|Joey Burns
Calexico had its origins in 1990 when Joey Burns, who was studying music at the University of California, Irvine, met up with John Convertino, who was playing drums with Howe Gelb in Giant Sand. Burns also joined Giant Sand, The album was positively reviewed. On October 16, 2008, a three-song live acoustic video performance premiered on LiveDaily Sessions, featuring Joey Burns performing the songs "Two Silver Trees", "Writer's Minor Holiday" and "Man Made Lake." In 2009, the song "Banderilla" was featured in an episode of AMC's Breaking Bad.
In 2010, Calexico released the soundtrack of the documentary Circo. The band also spent part of 2010 touring with Arcade Fire along the US west coast. In May 2011, their song "Slowness" was dedicated by Gabby Giffords to her husband astronaut Mark Kelly as the wake up song aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on its final flight. Algiers was released 11 September 2012 on Anti-Records and City Slang (Europe). Algiers is titled after the neighborhood of New Orleans where it was recorded, Algiers, New Orleans. This was Calexico's seventh studio album.
In April 2013, Calexico released the album Edge of the Sun. The album features guest appearances by Neko Case, Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses), Gaby Moreno, Carla Morrison and members of the Greek instrumental group Takim. Burns commented how happy he was to work with Sergio Mendoza on writing the songs for the album. Mendoza also co-produced the album along with Burns and Convertino. This album was also released on Anti-Records. In 2016, the band performed on the main stage at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival.
The Thread That Keeps Us (2018 to present)
In 2018, Calexico released The Thread That Keeps Us. The album was recorded in Northern California in a home-turned-studio called Panoramic House. The band called this space “The Phantom Ship”. The album was co-produced by their longtime engineer Craig Schumacher. Calexico and Schumacher recruited musicians from all across the globe to find an earthy yet expansive sound. “There's a little more chaos and noise in the mix than what we've done in the past,” Burns points out. The Thread That Keeps Us also entered the charts in Europe at no. 7 in Germany, No. 13 in Belgium, No. 21 in Netherlands, No. 47 in France, No. 58 in the United Kingdom, and No. 60 in Italy.
On March 21, 2019, Calexico and Iron & Wine announced Years to Burn, their first full-length collaboration album. It was released on June 14, 2019 via Sub Pop.
Then, on December 4, 2020, they released their eleventh album Seasonal Shift via Anti- and City Slang.
In February 2022, Calexico announced that their thirteenth studio album, El Mirador, would be released on April 8, 2022.
The band reissued and toured Feast of Wire in 2023; the album's twentieth anniversary.
Members
Current members
- Joey Burns (1996–present)
EPs
- Descamino (2000)
- Even My Sure Things Fall Through (2001)
- Convict Pool (2004)
- In the Reins with Iron & Wine (2005)
- iTunes Live Sessions (2006)
Soundtracks
- Committed (2000)
- Circo (2010)
- The Guard (2011)
Live
- Scraping (2002)
- World Drifts In (2004)
- Ancienne Belgique (2008)
- Spiritoso (2013)
- Ancienne Belgique Vol. 2 (2013)
Critical acclaim
Their debut album Spoke received three stars from AllMusic, which called the album "a Santa Fe rummage sale of sounds." Their second album The Black Light, released in 1998, gained the band notoriety and attention. AllMusic praised this sophomore effort and gave the album 4.5 stars. The album was praised for being "deeper and richer than their debut."
Hot Rail was released in 2000 and continued off the success of previous albums. Pitchfork gave the album a 7.9. The band then took a brief hiatus and released their next studio album in 2003, Feast of Wire. The album received an 8.9 from Pitchfork, which described it as "the album we always knew they had in them but feared they would never make."
Feast of Wire was well received by Mojo, describing the 2003 album as, “Seductive, stirring songs about crushed hope and the corruption of beauty and some of their most ambitious arrangements make this their most fully-realised and accomplished album”.
Again after another hiatus, Calexico returned in 2006 with Garden Ruin. Amazon gave their album a 90/100 and described it as "what Sigur Ros might sound like if they came from Arizona, and it's truly excellent." In 2008, came Carried to Dust. By now Calexico was already established as a band who meticulously created beautiful albums. This success continued with Carried to Dust receiving 4.5 stars from AllMusic. Describing the album as "their most balanced, channeling their experience and potential into a subtly dramatic, chiaroscuro tour de force."
2012 was a busy year for Calexico, giving birth to a new album titled Algiers. The A.V. Club gave the album an A−. Another studio album came in 2015; titled Edge of the Sun. This album also received high ranks from reviewers. Rough Trade called it the twenty-first best album of 2015. Their next studio album came in 2018, The Thread That Keeps Us. Exclaim! rated the album a 4 out of 10.