Carried to Dust

Calexico | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 9, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Quarterstick
• ASIN: B001CVCB9O
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #37,865 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Victor Jara's Hands

2. Two Silver Trees

3. The News About William

4. Sarabande In Pencil Form

5. Writer's Minor Holiday

6. Man Made Lake

7. Inspiracion

8. House of Valparaiso

9. Slowness

10. Bend to the Road

11. El Gatillo (Trigger Revisited)

12. Fractured Air (Tornado Watch)

13. Falling From Sleeves

14. Red Blooms

15. Contention City

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's impossible to experience any undue tension or stress while listening to Calexico. Despite time spent in Los Angeles, where they met, founders Joey Burns (vocals, guitar) and John Convertino (drums) produce sounds more reflective of their sun-blasted Tucson environs. Since spinning off Howe Gelb's indomitable Giant Sand and forming their own collective, their songs have always been too hushed, too much like lullabies not to soothe the most savage breast, and Carried to Dust marks their most relaxed and confident effort to date. Burns and Convertino pursue such a mellow, yet expansive muse that they blur the lines between indie rock, imaginary soundtracks, and ethnographic explorations. As with the work of Douglas McCombs (Tortoise) and Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), who contribute to their sixth long-player, this isn't such a bad thing (the duo previously collaborated with Beam on 2005’s In the Reins). What they lack in edge or, God forbid, trendiness, the band makes up for in beauty and creativity. Note, for instance, the cascading keyboard figures of "Two Silver Trees" or the way toy piano and chimes entwine on lovely closer "Contention City." Calexico don't make music to get the party started, but to bring it to a warm and satisfying conclusion. --Kathleen C. Fennessy


It's probable that many still think of Tucson, Arizona's Calexico as an indie-rock band dabbling in the fields of country and mariachi music, but so skilfully played and richly textured is Carried to Dust, the sixth album from Joey Burns and John Convertino's long-running collective, that it feels churlish to think of them as anything less than the real deal. Uniting players including Iron and Wine's Sam Beam, Tortoise's Doug McCombs, Spanish singer-guitarist Amparo Sanchez and Iowa songwriter Pieta Brown, Carried to Dust forsakes the rockier, somewhat conventional tones of previous album Garden Ruin, harking back instead to 2003's career high watermark Feast of Wire. While diverse in genre, crucially it doesn't feel so, Calexico lassoing myriad styles and making them their own. So whether drifting the plains in true mariachi style (“Insparacion"), playing serene, lap-steel country (“Hole in Your Hand (Bend in the Road)"), or whipping up a political storm on “Victor Jara's Hand"--tribute to an activist unjustly killed by the Chilean state police in the '70s––Carried to Dust feels both adventurous and comfortable on whatever turf it chooses to walk. ––Louis Pattison

Product Description

There's always been intrigue and adventure at the heart of Calexico. Joey Burns and John Convertino have constantly imbued their music with an unparalleled sense of drama, calling upon the myths and iconography of the American West and its Spanish speaking neighbor Mexico. "Carried To Dust" represents the pinnacle of their achievement, a thrilling and moving journey through a landscape that draws upon the modern world as much as it does the decayed reminders of times past, stumbling upon unexpected delights whilst always moving forward with a pioneering sense of purpose.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Calexico's Finest Album To Date September 20, 2008

By Trillian

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'll admit I have been a huge Calexico fan for awhile, but each of their albums have had a few songs that just didn't do it for me. Not so with this album, which could alternately be titled "The Best Elements Of Calexico From Start To Finish." If you're looking for Calexico's trademark mariachi-style trumpets married to a modern techno beat, you'll find it in "Inspiracion" and the guitar-heavy "El Gatillo". "Two Silver Trees" is a superb effort that combines some seriously seductive hooks with the softer side of Joey Burns' amazing vocals. Like many people, I'm eagerly waiting for another Iron & Wine/Calexico collaboration, so I was delighted to listen to Sam Beam's guest contribution on the exquisitely gorgeous "House of Valparaiso". As a whole I think Calexico take a step or two toward the pop side of things, but let me stress that this is not a bad thing in the least. ALL of the classic elements of the band are here in spades - the creative instrumentation, thoughtful lyrics, and wonderful vocal arrangements. This makes for one heck of a fine album, and an extremely enjoyable one at that.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Frankenstein folk September 13, 2008

By Luke Rounda

Format:Audio CD

The heart of Calexico, Arizonians Joey Burns and John Convertino, have always played music which is difficult to nail down into one category or another. Like the border town from which their name originates, Calexico's music is a mish-mash blend of California and Mexico, Western and spaghetti western, good and evil, grounded and uprooted.

Some might get the idea that the "Mexican" influence means Calexico's music sounds like a failed Taco Bell ad campaign, colorful tacos and sombreros mandatory. They'd be dead wrong. It's more like the self-assured, world-wise output of Chile's storied and excellent Inti-Illimani---based upon certain elements, but ever steering the ship into uncharted waters---or the alternative soundtrack to Tarantino's awful Kill Bill movies (no offense to Morricone intended).

Perhaps the defining Calexican moment was singing and dancing along with their "Sunken Waltz" (from 2003's near-flawless Feast of Wire), a modern folk-pop fairytale about a maverick who builds a machine to sink California into the Pacific Ocean. Carried to Dust's opening cut, "Victor Jara's Hands," crackles with the same experimental folk energy. Expert Latin horns and drumwork infuse it with an elusive mystique uncommon to folk Americana. Elsewhere, slower cuts like "Falling From Sleeves" or the closing "Contention City" deliver more pastoral vibes.

The album is a "return to non-form" of sorts, as Feast of Wire was the biggest step outside of a comfort zone evident on other Calexico records, with tracks like the introductory subsonic rumbling of "Pepita," or the truly unique "Quattro (World Drifts In)." Nothing on Carried to Dust quite matches up to these moments in terms of strangeness, but it is certainly a more varied and gratifying effort than the lackluster Garden Ruin (2006).

Fans of this intoxicating blend of playing Frankenstein with American folk rock may also enjoy the oddity of Slim Cessna's Auto Club or Munly & The Lee Lewis Harlots, purveyors of a rollicking new "Denver sound"---a heady mixture of spooky Americana and psychopunk/rockabilly.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Band in America September 12, 2008

By William P. Spicer

Format:Audio CD

Easily in the top 10 of '08. Burns and Convertino are at the top of their collective game with this batch of tunes. As another reviewer stated- seeing this band perform live is quite the musical treat. Next to the word "eclectic" in the dictionary stands a picture of the band Calexico. You spaghetti western? You got it. You want southern rock? Sure. You want pop? No problem.