Three Imaginary Girls - Calexico

Sasquatch Day 2: Check-in

Imaginary Shrie — Sun, 24 May 2009 23:10:17 +0000

The heat and the glaring sun has been getting to me, so I ended up missing Calexico to stay longer at camp under the sweet shade.

Big bad Sasquatch 2009 preview

Imaginary Shrie — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:25:56 +0000

Sasquatch 2009 is a mere two days away. Go see bands all three days, cheer your head off, drink some beer and/or smoke a joint. Get dirty campin' toes and sweat through your forehead bandanna (or brave kilt-lifting style winds like in 2007). Come back harried and skip out on work Tuesday. Recount every last moment, with positive embellishments, to anyone fool enough not to attend. Buy the tshirt and flaunt the shit out of it.

Here is your big bad SASQUATCH 2009 PREVIEW.

Best of 2008: Top 10 Albums from Pete Greenberg of Chop Suey

ChrisB — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 20:18:16 +0000

The top 10 albums "that made my head spin (in a good way)" from Chop Suey booker Pete Greenberg.

I'm Not There Soundtrack

imaginary stella — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:38:22 +0000

yes

http://www.amazon.com/Im-Not-There-Original-Soundtrack/dp/B000VS6P9Q/wwwthreeimagi-20/

imnotthereimage.jpg

It's been quite a couple of weeks for I'm Not There. First, Cate Blanchett earned a nomination for best supporting actress for her rendition of a young Dylan. And then later that day we learned of the untimely death of one the film’s amazingly talented stars, Heath Ledger.

I’d love to write about the whole record, which is almost exclusively a cover album — but the thing is, it's absolutely massive at more than 2.5 hours long. That’s a lotta Dylan covers, even for a serious fan. Only at the end, on the concluding track of disc two, do we ever hear the film's muse in a rendition of the album and film’s namesake, “I’m Not There.”

The album covers the gamut of veteran rockers: Sonic Youth, John Doe, Los Lobos, Willie Nelson, and many more populate the 30+ tracks. There are some voices just suited for Dylan: Stephen Malkmus (perfect on bluesy ballads like “Ballad of a Thin Man”), Mark Lanegan (has there ever been a more haunted voice in rock? On “Man in the Long Black Coat”), Chan Marshal (so embodying a female Dylan, it’s almost eerie on “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again”).

Others, however, sound off somehow. Karen O can hang with a bluesy riff, but she sounds too impassioned for Dylan’s monotonous delivery. And while Sufjan Stevens’ take on “Ring Them Bells” is beautiful, it’s almost too pretty for Dylan’s grittier, unpolished style. For lead track “All Along the Watchtower,” I was conflicted: The Hendrix version has always been one of my favorite covers, so it’s tough to hear yet another rendition — even when it has one of my favorite artists (Eddie Vedder) on vox.

All in all, the soundtrack feels a bit excessive, but I’ve got to see this movie to see how the film and soundtrack weave together. I suspect that’ll be in the next few weeks, to see what all the Oscar hype is about, and to catch one of the late Ledger's last performances on this earth.

At more than 2.5 hours long, that’s a lotta Dylan covers, even for a serious fan.

Garden Ruin

Erik Gonzalez — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 07:00:00 +0000

6.4

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000EOTUY4/wwwthreeimagi-20

calexico06jun.jpg

Calexico is a tough act to define. On one hand, these seem to be in the hard Alt-country clan such as the Old 97's or Wilco. On the other hand, they throw enough Latin rhythms into their songs that you could get away with calling them the indie rock equivalent of the Gypsy Kings. You can sit down to a given Calexico album and wonder if you've wandered into a folk music festival and then suddenly find yourself on the hot and sweaty streets of the town that gave the band its name. Garden Ruin seems to list heavily towards the aforementioned alt-country posse much more than their previous albums, and in that regard, Calexico seems to lose a bit of the charm that set them apart from their musical brethren.

The last two outings by Calexico, last year's brilliant collaboration with Iron & Wine, In the Reins and 2004's Convict Pool, were unique in their own rights, creating a dusty western atmosphere and cross-cultural musical pastiche. Whether intentional or not, Garden Ruin tones a lot of this experimentation down; instead Calexico opt for a more straight-forward rock and country sound that at first listen is disappointing. Gone are the Mexican guitars and horns that made Convict Pool such a treat. Instead, on tracks like the opener "Cruel," Calexico morphs into an indie rock version of the Eagles or James Taylor, with a quaint folksy feel that is pleasant enough. This continues into "Yours & Mine," where the quiet guitar strumming and hushed vocals are straight-down-the-barrel folk rock akin to Mark Erelli's Compass & Companion. Nothing can really grab your attention and keep in the early goings, or, even worse, you begin to feel uncomfortable that the Tucson boys have been listening to too much Don McLean or Rhett Miller for their own good. "Letter to Bowie Knife" might be their most obvious snatch at stardom with a feel-good hummer that rocks in the appropriate places and rolls in the appropriate places but lacks any clear personality.

However, all is not lost. "Roka" is a beautiful song that returns to the Latin roots of early Calexico. The song is rich with musical textures that weave an apprehensive mood that dances between Joey Burns' and guest Amparo Sanchez's intertwined vocals. "Nom De Plume" has a gypsy feel that creeps along seductively; the vocals are barely whispered over the guitar and accordion, creating an oddly Leonard Cohen or Tom Waits mood. "All Systems Red" might be the best attempt at changing Calexico's sound to a more straight-up rock and roll. The guitars wail and the drums crash, and it almost feels like this might be a misplaced U2 song as Burns sings, "I want to tear it all down/and build up it up again."

Sadly, the misses are much more prominent than the hits on Garden Ruin. Whether the newfound notoriety Calexico garnered from In the Reins has translated into a desire to "make it big," or this is just a natural attempt at something different, the band has lost some of the hallmarks that made them one of the rogue children of indie rock. At best, Garden Ruin can be seen as a stepping-stone or slight excursion for the band, at worst it could be the beginning of the naturalization of Calexico. Maybe the band was worried about becoming a one-trick pony in their Mexi-indie-rock sound — kind of like a musical version of immigration control (you know, too much Mexican influence!)

Garden Ruin just seems to leave you feeling like you went down to your favorite tacqueria only to have it replaced by a Subway.

Letter to Bowie Knife might be their most obvious snatch at stardom with a feel-good hummer that rocks in the appropriate places and rolls in the...