964. Calexico - Feast of Wire (2003)

Track Listing

1. Sunken Waltz
2. Quattro (World Drifts In)
3. Stucco
4. Black Heart
5. Pepito
6. Not Even Stevie Nicks
7. Close Behind
8. Woven Birds
9. The Book And The Canal
10. Attack El Robot! Attack!
11. Across The Wire (Widescreen)
12. Dub Latina
13. Guero Canelo
14. Whipping The Horses Eye
15. Crumble
16. No Doze

Review

Calexico has got a really attractive mix of sounds, and that is particularly true of this album. There is still all the mariachi stuff but with that there is the Portishead style of Black Heart of the great jazzy stuff of Crumble.

In fact the album's sound is so varied that it could be seen as unfocused, but it never is. Calexico maintain a constant mood throughout, slightly dark and nostalgic it is also very beautiful stuff.

So this is a really worthy album of pop-folk-country-world-rock-jazz-trip-hop-stuff. It manages to be innovative without ever being unpleasant, it manages to invoke stuff like Tim Buckley without being derivative and it is a thoroughly enjoyable album.

Track Highlights

1. Black Heart
2. Crumble
3. Sunken Waltz
4. Across The Wire

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

A hidden instrumental track--"Untitled" -- 2:16--is in the album's pregap.

Black Heart: