Albums by this artist

Hot Rail (2000)

Descamino (1999)

Concerts

June 16, 2001
Old Towne School of Folk Music, Chicago

Calexico

Descamino

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» MARK T.R. DONOHUE | STAFF WRITER

Calexico Descamino Quarterstick, 1999 RiYL: Bundy K. Brown, Calexico

One of the advantages to being well-connected in the indie community is it affords the chance to put out releases like Aerial M's Post Global Music, The Sea And Cake's Two Gentlemen, or Tortoise's Remixed, where very cool underground figures do interesting things to your original very cool music. Calexico's John Convertino and Joey Burns are extremely well-connected, having toured with Pavement and played with Giant Sand, OP8, and Friends Of Dean Martinez. Descamino makes use of the band's connections with some evocative reworkings of songs from the band's most recent LP, The Black Light.

Superstar DJ Bundy K. Brown (Tortoise, Directions In Music, Pullman, you name it) provides all of the 12-inch's first side with the excellent "Dia De Los Muertos," which takes a echoey Convertino drumbeat and several snatches of Burns' round upright bass and adds cornet musings by Isotope 217's Rob Mazurek and some fluid six-stringed bass from Tortoise's Doug McCombs. It's pleasantly organic for remix work, capturing Calexico's unique desert-music feel and recalling the best moments of the record it is drawn from.

Side two features two shorter remixes by frequent collaborator Tasha Bundy and Kassel Krew. "Chach" and "Still Missing" focus on the use of horns on The Black Light, using trumpets both sampled and live to add a jazz/mariachi feel. The record closes with a new Calexico song, "Triple T Truckstop," which is an eerie drone instrumental with guest pedal steel player Paul Niehaus and Convertino providing "bowed vibes."

Although it goes without saying that indie rock fans should eat up this release, DJs should check it out as well. The spare beats of the Brown remix and especially the quiet storm of "Truckstop" could be excellent additions to any chillout/ambient set.

MARK T.R. DONOHUE | Mark T.R. Donohue is a prolific freelance writer whose areas of expertise include Rockies baseball, video games, genre television, English soccer, and pub rock. He lives in Colorado, where he cultivates the largest and creepiest private collection of Alyson Hannigan memorabilia in the Mountain West.