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
Roka
Calexico Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Waking cross the river, river of delusion
Full moon lures the waves, waves of desperation
Empty hearts and mouths wither away
So close your eyes
Slow your breath
Dream of northern lights
No abandones, no llores, busca tu rio
No te sientas perdido
Gira, vuelta y vuelta gira
Danza de la muerte
Que viene a verte
Bailala
Cup your hands to her parched heart, parched and
Broken heart
No water here to drink way downstream
One goes where the water flows and water's running dry
So don't give up no don't cry, don't cry
Just close our eyes
Pretend we forget
North country dreams
Twist this dance of death
Danza de la muerte
Si viene a verte
Que bailando te encuentre
Bailando, girando
Danza de la muerte
Spin round, spin round, spin round
Vuelta, vuelta, muerte
Bailala
The lyrics to Calexico's song Roka are a poetic exploration of themes of desperation, loss, and death. The song begins with an image of sleeping in the valley of ill fortune and waking up to cross the river of delusion. The scene is set with the lure of the full moon and the waves of desperation as empty hearts and mouths wither away. The imagery here is vivid and haunting, conveying a sense of hopelessness and despair.
The chorus of the song offers a glimmer of hope as the singer urges us to close our eyes, slow our breath, and dream of the northern lights. This dreamlike image is a contrast to the harsh reality of the verses, and suggests that there is still beauty and wonder to be found in the world. The line "around this dance of death" is particularly striking, reminding us that even in the face of death there can be a kind of grace and beauty.
The song continues with the refrain "no abandones, no llores, busca tu rio" (don't give up, don't cry, seek your river). This advice is offered to those who might feel lost or hopeless, urging them to keep moving forward and searching for their own path. The final lines of the song reinforce this message, as the singer encourages us to dance and spin around in the dance of death, finding joy and meaning even in the face of darkness.
Overall, Roka is a powerful and moving song that explores complex themes of loss, despair, and hope. Its lyrics are rich with imagery and meaning, offering a poetic meditation on the human experience.
Line by Line Meaning
Sleeping in the valley, valley of ill fortune
We are in a unfortunate situation, resting in a valley that reflects our bad luck.
Waking cross the river, river of delusion
We are crossing a river that is a metaphor for our delusional and confused state of mind.
Full moon lures the waves, waves of desperation
The full moon symbolizes desperation that rises like waves in the ocean.
Empty hearts and mouths wither away
When our hearts and mouths are empty, we lose hope and become weak and powerless.
So close your eyes
We are advised to close our eyes to block out negativity and find a moment of peace.
Slow your breath
We should pay attention to our breathing, slow it down and relieve tension.
Dream of northern lights
Our imagination lifts our spirit by dreaming of beauty beyond our current circumstances, like the northern lights.
Around this dance of death
We are in the midst of a frightening situation like a dance of death, but we can find hope through our dreams.
No abandones, no llores, busca tu rio
Don't abandon hope or cry, instead seek your own river, your own path toward recovery and happiness.
No te sientas perdido
Don't feel like you are lost or without direction.
Gira, vuelta y vuelta gira
Make turns and spins, physically or metaphorically, to change the way you see things and gain new perspectives.
Danza de la muerte
Our lives are like a dance of death, where we confront the possibility of death but also the beauty of life.
Que viene a verte
The dance of death is coming to visit us.
Bailala
We are encouraged to dance, to celebrate life, and to keep moving forward.
Cup your hands to her parched heart, parched and broken heart
We should try to heal our own or another person's parched and broken heart by offering support and care.
No water here to drink way downstream
Our current situation is bleak and we are running out of resources to sustain ourselves.
One goes where the water flows and water's running dry
We have to follow the flow of life and find new sources of hope, even when things seem dire.
So don't give up no don't cry, don't cry
In the face of adversity, we are encouraged not to give up hope or lose heart.
Just close our eyes
Again, we should try to block out negativity and find inner peace by closing our eyes.
Pretend we forget
We can try to escape our problems by pretending that they don't exist.
North country dreams
We can dream of a better life that exists beyond our current reality.
Twist this dance of death
We can triumph over adversity by changing our perspectives and finding new ways to navigate the dance of death.
Danza de la muerte
Once again, our lives are likened to a dance of death.
Si viene a verte
The dance of death is coming to visit us again.
Que bailando te encuentre
We should rise to the challenge and face the dance of death with courage and resilience.
Bailando, girando
We should dance and spin, symbolically or literally, to mark our journey through life.
Vuelta, vuelta, muerte
The cycles of life include death, but also rebirth and renewal.
Bailala
Once again, we celebrate life and the power of the dance to move us forward.
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: JOSEPH BURNS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@user-fj7fw7lm6q
Beautiful!!!
@christinacunha9837
So beautiful... Thank you <3
@anicetodaza
Danza de la muerte si viene a verte q te encuentre bailando y girando <3
@chasedanforth4037
mint
@skamransom
Was this written in Cafe Roka in Bisbee?