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EVEN MY SURE THINGS FALL THROUGH
Calexico
(Quarterstock Records)
In what's easily the spookiest of the Calexico albums, Joey Burns, John Convertino and their various hornmen stray through a series of ambient remixes, new cuts and, best of all, electronic thinking box videos. Yep, we've entered a new age of music, folks, where it's not just what you hear that matters, but what you see, as well.
The introduced hit is Crystal Frontier, jazzier than usual, not quite as good as Ballad of Cable Hogue or Minas de Cobre, but the same kind of trumpet-driven song that puts pesos in the pockets of this excellent band. Maybe it's the familiarity of Crystal Frontier, or simply the fact that it doesn't jump around in tempo like Minas de Cobre, but it lacks the phasers of a flagship. It's still a solid enough song, good enough to include two versions of on this glorified EP.
A lyrically invigorating and thus better song is Chanel No. 5, a weird love poem, and the electronified remix of Untitled III from Hot Rail sounds kind of like a Nine Inch Nails transition during Trent Reznor's later, soundtrack years. Crank that one up loud and you're in heaven. Might as well keep it cranked up for Hard Hat, where among the instruments listed is an AM radio, the whole thing a really sneaky, haunting soundtrack to madness. Which is exactly what you need, looking for the feel-good hit of the summer, I'm sure. This one's swampy.
And on to the videos! Crystal Frontier takes a page from Buena Vista Social Club, images of knockout Mexican girls on buses, kids playing in the dirt and that inevitable last U-turn on the border. Lots of candles and murals - nice.
Ballad of Cable Hogue is especially cool; it's a song about betrayal and the ending, which has the bad girl smoking a bog cigar in a hot tub with her "army," can make you laugh out loud if you know the tune.
Like this album, the last video is the most impressionistic, The Black Light off Calexico's '98 masterpiece. The video is full of projections and jagged colour and boy is it a good song. So, buy this, hombre, just in case you haven't gotten the idea yet. Not too many CDs out there leave you with flashbacks of sweaty trumpeters and curvy dancing girls. Mmmm.
Track Listing
1. Sonic Wind (Instrumental Mix)
2. Crystal Frontier (Widescreen Version)
3. Untitled III (Remix)
4. Chanel No.5
5. Banderilla
6. Crooked Road And The Briar
7. Crystal Frontier (Acoustic Version)
8. Hard Hat