Years Of Pain

 

Seasonal schmaltz? Nice try, but alas, even the esteemed señores Burns & Convertino can't really escape the sugarcoated trappings of the X-mas album. Ho ho ho hum. The track below sure is a moving one though.

Calexico - Heart Of Downtown

First One's Always Free

"We're catching bullets in our teeth, it's hard to do but they're so sweet..." Presenting yet another six pack for your listening pleasure, with explosive artwork by Tinca. Number one with a silver bullet, baby, and it's got your name on it.

Observer All Stars & King Tubby - Silver Bullet
Tom Waits - The Right Bullets
The Dream Syndicate - Bullet With My Name On It
Cosmic Psychos - Bullet
Tunng - Bullets
Calexico - Bullets & Rocks

Take My Fear

The second collaboration between Iron & Wine and Calexico sounds more like a Sam Beam solo record with the guys from Tucson in the role of backing band supreme. Impeccably played and all of course, but Years To Burn lacks that certain je ne sais quoi that characterizes Calexico's best stuff.

Calexico/Iron & Wine - What Heaven's Left

Dim The Lights

Hang on, 'cause here's the cream of the cosmic crop of 2018, a fine fine year in music. Tough call then so, but now the die is shaken, now the die must fall... Collect 'em all why don't you. Fingerpointing cover art by the one and only Tinca.

1. Garcia Peoples - Cosmic Cash
2. Minami Deutsch - With Dim Light
3. Howlin Rain - The Alligator Bride
4. Kikagaku Moyo - Masana Temples
5. Yo La Tengo - There's A Riot Going On
6. Mythic Sunship - Another Shape Of Psychedelic Music
7. Wooden Shjips - V
8. The Other Years - The Other Years
9. Calexico - The Thread That Keeps Us
10. Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood - With Animals

Garcia Peoples - Hangin' On

For A Spell

"Spin it again, ride it out so you can tell..." Finally off on my holidays today, my amigos da musica. Normal business will be resumed after a week or two of sun, sea, and piracy. ¡Hasta luego!

Calexico - Writer's Minor Holiday

Back To This Place

Calexico just might be the most consistent band around. The lads from Tucson have yet to release a subpar record, and their new The Thread That Keeps Us is indeed another keeper. Their trademark desert rock is there, often Mexican-spiced of course, but there's plenty of pop sensibility to be found as well. And as the uplifting Another Space shows, Burns and Convertino can play da Remain In Light-like funk with ease, too. Class, pure class.

Calexico - Another Space

Seventually

And here's that inevitable list again, mi amigos da musica. Presenting the toppermost of the poppermost of 2015: seven heavenly albums one shouldn't be without.

1. Phil Cook - Southland Mission
Phil Cook - Sitting On A Fence
2. Ryley Walker - Primrose Green
Ryley Walker - Love Can Be Cruel
3. Meg Baird - Don't Weigh Down The Light
Meg Baird - Mosquito Hawks
4. Giant Sand - Heartbreak Pass
Giant Sand - Heaventually
5. Calexico - Edge Of The Sun
Calexico - Tapping On The Line
6. Simon Joyner - Grass, Branch & Bone
Simon Joyner - In My Drinking Dream
7. Dave Rawlings Machine - Nashville Obsolete
Dave Rawlings Machine - The Last Pharaoh

Search For A Sound

Let the sun shine in with the Calexico boys, as their new offering (recorded in Mexico City of all places) makes an excellent soundtrack for a spring that has finally sprung. Proposition: Joey Burns and John Convertino will never ever make a sub par record. It's just not in them.

Calexico - Beneath The City Of Dreams

Don't Go

These desert cats always deliver. Exhibit A, from the new Calexico album Algiers: a lilting song in the loving tongue of Spanish, featuring Jacob Valenzuela and Jairo Zavala on vocals. Keywords: corazón, linda, and amor of course... And that's claro que si.

Calexico - No Te Vayas

Sweeping Over The Land

Dig violins? Then look no further and let the Calexico gang satisfy you. This one's from their excellent Feast Of Wire album. "One man's close pursuit is another man's last chance..." Oh yes it is.

Calexico - Black Heart

Better Metal

Leave it to the Calexico gang to provide the perfect soundtrack to all your imaginary westerns.

Calexico - Minas De Cobre (For Better Metal) MP3

Colour Me Silver

"We take our own chances and pay our own dues, the silver tongued devil and I..." Or: one more shiny shiny hand picked six pack for you to explore. This time around, Kris Kristofferson confronts his devils, krautrockers La Düsseldorf float over their fair city, while Lee Clayton simply saddles up and rides. Reggae crooner Ken Boothe talks sweet (and it's not what he´s smoking), the Calexico boys spy decay of blossoms and roots well hacked, while Gene Clark takes a whiff on me. Spot a cool tune? Go ahead and buy the album.

Kris Kristofferson - The Silver Tongued Devil And I MP3

La Düsseldorf - Silver Cloud MP3

Lee Clayton - Silver Stallion MP3

Ken Boothe - Silver Words MP3

Calexico - Two Silver Trees MP3

Gene Clark - From A Silver Phial MP3

No Last Name

Mix the songwriting genius of Tom T. Hall with the melancholy mariachi-style desert trumpets of Calexico and you know you´ve got yourself a winner. "If you meet a girl named Juanita, with some ribbons in her hair, would you tell her that she's wanted on the phone..."

Calexico - Tulsa Telephone Book MP3

Wild Weekend Vol. 12

Wild Weekend, take 12. Like some ancient Greek oracle, the ghost in the iPod has spoken again. And once more it prophesied a musical six pack with a little something for everyone. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. Btw: despite his lousy musical examples, I kinda agree with this guy that iTunes and iPods have changed the way one listens to music, and that these new technologies have even diluted the act of listening in a way.

But enough of that, we´re off to a furious start with some early Hüskers, from the days the Minneapolis power trio still played hardcore of sorts. "The only freedom worth fighting for is for what you think." Exactly. After which we´ll play the ace of spades, but not the Motörhead song this time. Nope, this is lush southern soul by way of Overton Vertis Wright. "I'm the ace of spades, baby that's me, ace of hearts just keep loving misery... ace of diamonds, somethin' every woman craves... I use the ace of clubs to keep my baby in place..."

Hüsker Dü - In A Free Land MP3

O.V. Wright - Ace Of Spades MP3

The first five Roxy Music albums are all dear to my heart, but nothing beats their adventurous untitled debut from ´72. Must be the prominence of a certain Brian Peter George St. John Le Baptiste De La Salle Eno, whose synth wizardry is the cream on the glamrock cake here. Just take that mysterious intro to Ladytron for instance... Time to travel to the Arizona desert now, where Calexico reigns supreme. I´ve been following them since their fine debut came out in the late nineties, and they never disappointed me since. You can find the infectious, Mexican flavored Victor Jara´s Hands on the excellent Carried To Dust. For some background on Jara, check here.

Roxy Music - Ladytron MP3

Calexico - Victor Jara´s Hands MP3

It´s Everly time. I was lucky enough to see Don and Phil perform once in the early nineties, thanks to a friend who managed to sneak me in for free. I didn´t expect that much of it, but was pleasantly surprised to find their voices still soared in perfect harmony. Which is quite a feat really, as by that time the love between them apparently had gone rather bad indeed. And we´ve come to the end of another Wild Weekend with Motorpsycho, the pride of Trondheim. These adventurous Norwegians made some fine varied albums in the early nineties, alternating between hard rock, experimental noise, psychedelica and pop with ease. The latter two styles are showcased in the exuberant Waiting For The One.

Everly Brothers - So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad) MP3

Motorpsycho - Waiting For The One MP3