Hey readers: I think we can all agree that everybody hates winter, right? And I think we can further agree that nothing says “I’m the opposite of what winter seems like” than mile after shamble-y mile of adorable, cartoon-tumbleweed-and-cactus-strewn American desert.
And hey, what better band to bring such imagery to glorious musical fruition than desert-rock mainstays Calexico! Well, don’t look now, but THAT VERY SAME BAND THAT I JUST MENTIONED IS COINCIDENTALLY coming back around to save you from the grips of your crippling vitamin D deficiency by releasing a new album of sun-soaked, south-of-the-border-tinged rock! Isn’t that just… THE COOLEST?
Okay, now that the set-up is out of the way, Calexico’s steamin’ hot new album, the proper follow-up to 2012’s Algiers, is called Edge of the Sun, and it’s coming out via Anti-/City Slang on April 14 (just go ahead and ignore how it won’t be winter by then, please… thanks!). The record seems to be a bit of a party affair, featuring a garish, hip-hop piñata’s worth of guest spots and “collabs,” including the likes of Neko Case, Sam Beam (Iron and Wine dude), Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses dude), Nick Urata (DeVotchka dude), Gaby Moreno, Mexican artist Carla Morrison, and more. Wow. This is hot, hot, hot!
Speaking of things that are hot, the whole album was recorded in Mexico City, and it was probably hot there. But don’t take my word for it. Let’s ask the band’s Joey Burns:
Going to another city to jumpstart the creative writing process helped us to know what this record is about and where we are as a band, like an open canvas with few ties to normal routines when recording and writing. Of course, we have been influenced by Mexican music and culture since the beginning, and you would imagine that a trip to Mexico City would have happened on past projects, but it hadn’t. So going to the center of Mexico and seeing an artistic community with such an impressive history as well as notable current musicians really inspired us.
Man! That didn’t seem to set the record straight about the heat in Mexico City at the time of recording AT ALL. Never mind. Just check out the album track “Cumbia de Donde” right down here and hang in there during the last half of this winter shit storm. It’s got some horns in it, and horns are definitely pretty hot.
Edge of the Sun tracklisting:
01. Falling from the Sky
02. Bullets & Rocks
03. When the Angels Played
04. Tapping on the Line
05. Cumbia de Donde
06. Miles from the Sea
07. Coyoacán
08. Beneath the City of Dreams
09. Woodshed Waltz
10. Moon Never Rises
11. World Undone
12. Follow the River
• Calexico: http://www.casadecalexico.com
• Anti-: http://www.anti.com