Calexico had its origins in 1990 when Burns, who was studying music at the University of California, Irvine, met up with Convertino, who was playing drums with Howe Gelb in Giant Sand. Burns joined them, after first playing upright bass on a European tour.
Giant Sand moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1994. John and Joey formed the Friends of Dean Martin (later the Friends of Dean Martinez) which scored a record deal with Sub Pop. However, the pair split up with Bill Elm, the co-founder of The Friends of Dean Martinez in 1996. The band subsequently became a kind of indie rhythm section for hire, working with the likes of Victoria Williams, Barbara Manning and Richard Buckner before forming Calexico.
Calexico first recorded Spoke in 1995 for German independent label Hausmusik with a limited edition of 2,000 copies. At that point the band was still called Spoke and the album was technically self-titled. After the band signed with Quarterstick Records (a subsidiary of Touch and Go Records) and changed their name to Calexico, Spoke was reissued by that label in 1997. Burns and Convertino also collaborated with Gelb and Lisa Germano on the album Slush released under the name OP8 that same year.
Their second album The Black Light was released in 1998. This was a concept album about the desert of Arizona and northern Mexico and received excellent reviews, with the critic from the Wall Street Journal rating it as one of the best records of the year.
The band built their profile by touring as support acts for bands such as Pavement, the Dirty Three and Lambchop. Calexico has regularly played festivals such as the Bonnaroo Music Festival, the Hurricane Festival and All Tomorrow's Parties. The Road Map album was a limited recording released in 1999 for sale only at Calexico's live shows.
Calexico released its third album Hot Rail in May 2000 featuring the addition of horns and violin to their sound. The duo was busy in 2000 as they also appeared on a Giant Sand record called Chore of Enchantment as well as a tour only record Travelall.
At the end of 2000, Burns and Convertino joined with two French friends Naïm Amor and Thomas Belhôm to record "Tête A Tête" (Wabana Records, 2001) released under moniker ABBC (Amor/Belhom/Burns/Convertino). Calexico released two collections of rarities during 2001. Even My Sure Things Fall Through collected outtakes from previous albums, B-sides, remixes and material previously unreleased in the US. The album also featured Mariachi Luz de Luna who frequently played live with the duo. The Aerocalexico album was sold exclusively at their gigs in 2001.
The Scraping live album was released in 2002. Their next studio recording Feast of Wire was released in 2003 and made the charts for the first time appearing on Billboard's Heatseekers and Independent album chart. They made their first video for "Quattro (World Drifts In)" which was a single from Feast of Wire. They released a live DVD in 2004 called World Drifts In: Live at the Barbican. The song "Güero Canelo", from Feast of Wire, was featured in Michael Mann's Film, Collateral, starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx, in which the band appears.
Calexico contributed the song "Burnin' Down the Spark" to Nancy Sinatra's self-titled album in late 2004. The album featured artists who cited Sinatra as a musical influence. The song was released in the UK as the second single from the album in early 2005.
In 2005, Calexico joined up with Miami-based band Iron & Wine. Howard Greynolds of Overcoat Records was responsible for bringing the two bands together having previously been responsible for Tortoise and Will Oldham recording together. The In the Reins EP was released in September 2005 and received a positive reception with an MSNBC review giving it honorable mention. It also made an appearance in the Billboard 200 album charts, becoming their first recording to make the album charts, and No. 12 on the independent charts. In October 2005, they commenced a US tour with Iron & Wine to promote the record.
Released in 2006, Garden Ruin is Calexico's fifth studio album and was produced by JD Foster. The sound strays slightly from earlier works, focusing less on the horn section, and placing more emphasis on guitar and vocal tracks, giving the whole album a more mainstream sound.
In 2007, Calexico was invited by Arcade Fire to record a cover of their "Ocean of Noise." This recording was used as the B-side for Arcade Fire's "Intervention" single, originally released on vinyl on May 21, 2007. Also in 2007, Calexico recorded a revamped version of the Bob Dylan song "Goin' to Acapulco" for the Dylan biopic "I'm Not There". The song featured Jim James of My Morning Jacket on vocals and was featured on the soundtrack of the film.
Several of Calexico's songs, usually their shorter instrumental pieces, have been used as interstitial and background music on Public Radio International's This American Life. Their songs "Ballad Of Cable Hogue" and "Service And Repair" were featured in the 2001 German comedy movie Lammbock.
Their sixth studio LP is called 'Carried to Dust', featuring Sam Beam of Iron & Wine, Douglas McCombs of Tortoise and Pieta Brown. It was released in the USA via Touch & Go Records on September 9, 2008. The album enjoyed solid reviews, with hometown paper the Arizona Daily Star praising the band's "ability to sweep you into its world, taking listeners to the American Southwest. This is one of the reasons Europeans love Calexico and others in this country are beginning to come around."
On October 16, 2008, a three-song live acoustic video performance premiered on LiveDaily Sessions, featuring Joey Burns performing the songs "Two Silver Trees," "Writer's Minor Holiday" and "Man Made Lake".
In 2009, the song Banderilla was featured in an episode of AMC's Breaking Bad.
In 2010, a new album of Calexico was released: the soundtrack of the documentary "Circo". The band also spent part of 2010 touring with Arcade Fire along the west US coast.
In May 2011, their song "Slowness" was dedicated by Gabrielle Giffords to her husband astronaut Mark Kelly as the wake up song aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on its final flight.
Algiers was released 11 September 2012 on ANTI Records and CITY SLANG (Europe).
In April 2014, the band began referring to a new album on Twitter in posts from Mexico City, Coyoacan, Mexico, and Athens, Greece. Edge of the Sun was announced on 27 January 2015, and released on April 14, 2015. The album features guest appearances by various artists such as Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses), Gaby Moreno, Carla Morrison and members of the Greek instrumental group Takim.
The current members of Calexico are:
Joey Burns – vocals, guitars, bass, cello, piano, keyboards, accordion, percussion, vibraphone
John Convertino – drums, percussion, piano, keyboards, vibraphone, marimba, accordion
Paul Niehaus – steel guitar, guitars
Jacob Valenzuela – trumpet, keyboards, vibraphone, vocals
Martin Wenk – trumpet, guitar, keyboards, accordion, glockenspiel, vibraphone, theremin (occasionally harmonica & French horn)
Volker Zander – standup bass, electric bass
Live tour 2013:
Joey Burns - vocals, guitars
John Convertino - drums, percussion
Sergio Mendoza - Keyboards
Jairo Zavala - bazouki, baritone guitar, vocals
Jacob Valenzuela – trumpet, keyboards, vibraphone, vocals
Martin Wenk – trumpet, guitar, keyboards, accordion, glockenspiel, vibraphone (occasionally harmonica & French horn)
Ryan Alfred - bass, vocals
House Of Valparaiso
Calexico Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
(coming in like waves rolling off the coast)
Sweeping through illegal ports
(rising from the depths falling off the tongue)
Ships drifting out of tune
(coming in like waves rolling off the coast)
Many, many more, sculpting the shoreline
Who've stayed afloat
(coming in like waves rolling off the coast)
Dialing in a forgotten voice
(rising from the depths falling off the tongue)
Sweeping through illegal ports
(coming in like waves rolling off the coast)
Ships drifting out of tune
(can't stop the waves coming like a ghost)
Is that your shape in the foam of the sea
After all these years coming home to me
La Chascona (hearts to ocean) vows unbroken
Lying in the bath fully clothed
Ready for the ocean's wake
The tears won't wash away
What her eyes can't erase
Not safe to say in her native tongue
A radio voice drowning out
The general's song lingering on
A raft made of books from a driftwood house
Returns to the waves
The lyrics of House of Valparaiso by Calexico indicate a sense of nostalgia and longing, with references to forgotten voices, illegal ports, and ships drifting out of tune. The song captures the essence of the beautiful seaport city of Valparaiso in Chile, which has been shaped and sculpted by the waves of the Pacific Ocean. The lyrics paint a picture of the harbor and the people who have stayed afloat through the port's many changes.
The song's main theme is the ocean's transformative power and how it connects people separated by distance and time. The singer questions if a forgotten voice he hears on the radio is someone he knows, and if the shape in the sea's foam is a long-lost love returning home. The line "La Chascona (hearts to ocean) vows unbroken" is a reference to the home of famed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who had a house in Valparaiso named La Chascona.
The lyrics describe how the ocean's waves can soothe and heal, but they can't wash away the pain and sorrow that haunt us. The last stanza of the song refers to a raft made of books from a driftwood house returning to the waves, symbolizing the way past traditions and stories become a part of the sea's mythology.
Line by Line Meaning
Dialing in a forgotten voice
Recalling a voice that has been ignored, overlooked, or silenced
(coming in like waves rolling off the coast)
Bringing back memories all at once, like waves hitting the shore
Sweeping through illegal ports
Passing through ports that are not allowed, with hidden motives
(rising from the depths falling off the tongue)
Emerging from the depths of the unconscious, slipping from the artist's mouth
Ships drifting out of tune
Boats losing their direction, falling out of harmony with their surroundings
(coming in like waves rolling off the coast)
As described before, bringing back memories, but specifically likened to waves
Many, many more, sculpting the shoreline
Countless boats forming and shaping the coastline
Etching the harbor and the people
Leaving a permanent mark on both the port and its inhabitants
Who've stayed afloat
The people who have endured and survived despite the hardships and dangers
Is that your shape in the foam of the sea
Could that be an image of you in the sea's foam?
After all these years coming home to me
Returning to me after so much time has passed
La Chascona (hearts to ocean) vows unbroken
The promise made by La Chascona to keep the ocean in her heart remains intact
Lying in the bath fully clothed
Relaxing in the tub without undressing
Ready for the ocean's wake
Looking forward to the ocean's movement and response
The tears won't wash away
Crying will not erase the pain or sadness
What her eyes can't erase
Whatever the eyes cannot remove or eliminate
Not safe to say in her native tongue
Unable to speak in her own language for fear of consequences
A radio voice drowning out
A voice on the radio overpowering all other sounds
The general's song lingering on
The lingering effect of a song about a military leader
A raft made of books from a driftwood house
Building a raft out of books salvaged from a driftwood establishment
Returns to the waves
Sending the raft and books back to the water
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: JOEY BURNS, JOHN BURNS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Gabriel Reyes
I live in Valparaiso and its a magical city...like this song. The hills, the sea, the wind in your face, the colorful houses
Alberto MUFC
what a wonderful song!
Valparaiso is an amazing city.
Silvana Santillan
No existen palabras para describir la belleza de esta cancion
Knight1805
Great song!!!
Knight1805
Great song!
Aphrodite7stars
Puts ya in tha MOOD <3 Thx Calexico
Knight1805
It's been a fun 10 years. Looking forward to the next 10.
Daniyal Amed
listening to this right now.... in Valparaiso!
Siul Ô Fortune
Recuerdos... del puerto.
Knight1805
Does anyone know how to play this song on guitar??? If so please post a video!