Feast of Wire is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band Calexico. The album was released on June 18, 2003, through Quarterstick Records. The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Joe Tangari of Pitchfork called Feast of Wire Calexico's "first genuinely masterful full-length, crammed with immediate songcraft, shifting moods and open-ended exploration," and "the album we always knew they had in them but feared they would never make."
Somewhere between Wilco, a Mariachi Band, and a soundtrack to a western. I. Was. Here. For. It.
Now THIS is why I signed up for this. Music I've never heard from a band I was only vaguely aware of, and I'm absolutely loving it.
Bluesy, folksy, country, latin infused indie rock. This shit rocks. Its just exactly what i needed. Its not a 5 as in its perfect but its a 5 as in where has this been all my life
Calexico always made me wonder why there wasn't more mariachi-infused indie rock. But then if that were a subgenre, none of the other bands would have been as great as Calexico.
Wow this is fun and unique! I think my lips began to chap halfway through this album from the desert heat. I love the vivid landscapes this album paints in my mind. I love it!
This album is a very consistent and engaging mix of indie rock, mariachi, jazz, alt county, and just about everything else. The guitar work in particular stood out to me, especially the jazz guitar in the penultimate track. The album feels spacious and has enough room to let melodies linger and for musical ideas to slowly and fully develop. This music truly inhabits the feel of the southwest in a way that captures the expansiveness and occasional tumultuousness of that region.
This is really good. I'd not even heard of the band and expected to dislike but the variety and catchiness of the songs are undeniable. I found myself playing this through 3 times. There are a number of styles here but it's assured and professional. Impressive.
I love the mood this album sets, like an indie mariachi road trip.
Goddam, I love this album. Bought it the day it came out after a rave Guardian review, then moved to Tucson 2 weeks later (Hume might object to the structure of that sentence). What an incredible, atmospheric soundtrack to a pivotal time in my life. Even used to eat at El Guero Canelo on occasion! Their best individual album by far, so dramatic and tuneful, vocal and instumental alike. Mariachi-indie rules.
What is this? Post-alt-country!? It's wonderful, I love it! đ» I'm a huge fan of albums that go out of their way to be cinematic, or dabble with multiple genres, and this album does both of those things well. I haven't really listened to Calexico before so this is a great discovery for me - that's what this project is all about! Fave track - "Black Heart" - those strings are positively trip-hop! "Close Behind" sounds like a spaghetti western soundtrack, "The Book and the Canal" sounds like a revisionist western soundtrack, "Attack el Robot! Attack" sounds like Tom Waits, and let's say "Corona" for that mariachi feel....
Calexico was a group I was only slightly familiar with and was not expecting what I ended up hearing. I really enjoyed how varied this is and was struck by how well written and recorded each song was with each track offering something special. I was also surprised by the amount of instrumentals ranging from really fun to really weird. I wouldn't mind going back to their previous albums to capture a bigger picture of this one.
Brilliant.
An unexpected treat. I was unfamiliar with Calexico and went into the album pretty blind. What a delight it turned out to be! The mariachi infused indie/jazz/folk offerings here are splendid. I found myself listening to not only this, but a whole number of Calexico albums as I got lost in their pretty unique sound. This album was awesome and has turned me onto a band that I apparently really love.
Me listening to Feast of Wire for the 5th time in a row: "God damn that is good. Shit, that's fresh." But in all seriousness, hadn't listened to this in many years and I'd forgotten how freaking good it is. Glad it made it onto the list too, most of the stuff I was obsessed with in 2005 did not lol. It has "filler", but even those are hella good tbh. A jewel of the 00s, straight back into the rotation. 5/5
8/10 dang that was so cool and creative! super neat!
Interesting album to say the least. A much different take on indie rock, with country, Tejano, and jazz thrown in. It definitely SOUNDS southwestern and desert-y, which makes sense considering that this group was apparently formed in Tuscon, Arizona. There seems to be an even mix of vocal and instrumental tunes as well, really bringing the spotlight to this interesting fusion of western genres. Just shy of a 3.5/5 for creativity, as there weren't really any specific tracks that I was pining to go back and listen to, but the body of work was certainly interesting.
Nice surprise. Very diverse and has some original sounds.
Maybe itâs the horns or maybe itâs the damaged woman on the cover I want to make my wife but I loved this album
I enjoyed this album enough to listen to it all afternoon! Iâd describe it as breezy, sometimes haunting, sometimes sexy, sometimes sweeping, and sometimes⊠mariachi? It made for an interesting listen by mixing indie rock with such a Latin flavor, and, well⊠I LOVED it.
Went into this blind, and wasnât too sold on seeing the album art. Boy, was I wrong. I loved the sad, solemn feel; western noir was a good way of putting it. Really wish I would have found this band when I was going through my angsty indie teens. Reminds me a lot of Bright Eyes, Neutral Milk Hotel, etc. Very cool lesson about not judging a book by its cover.
First track had me thinking, another dang country album, which really didn't fit the cover art. As the tracks progressed I was hooked. What is this album? I had no idea Indy rock Mariachi was a thing. I listened thrice and told a few people about the discovery. By my well defined scoring system, that's a five. Great find.
Really didn't know what to expect but enjoyed this a lot. Kind of a west coast Iron and Wine with some Latin flair in the instrumentation. Would absolutely put this on again and hope to see more from these guys.
Well, okay, that was pretty great.
Outstanding! Eclectic mix of great songs. I am quite well-taken with this one.
Never heard of Calexico before and was very impressed by this. Lots of fun, a great blend of genres that kept things interesting without seeming too scattered, and a well-paced mix of songs and instrumentals. Will definitely be revisiting this and checking out some of their other records. I feel like after a couple of listens this would probably drop to a 4 but just from a first impression Iâm going high
Never heard of them before. Will really enjoy listening to this multiple times I think, was just a very pleasant experience!
Highly surprised by this. Loved the Latino feel to it. Super interesting and unique!
Wow what an interesting album this was. Had a bit of everything! Felt like an indie rock band with a lot of mariachi flavour mixed in. Wikipedia has it listed under the genre "Tex-mex" and yeah, couldn't put it better myself. A bit of folk and country, a bit of mariachi, a bit of jazz - A highly interesting album. Some of the songs here were a little too slow for me to really get into, but I liked this album a lot regardless. Favourite: Quattro - World Drifts In
I had never heard of this album before this, and while the vocals were just really standard early 2000âs indie vocals, the album absolutely nailed it in the instrumentals.
Really enjoyed this one. Some mariachi, county and folk influences. Indie folk was in a good place here, before it evolved into the stomp clap of 2010s. Enjoyed the mixing, the horns are great. It hits the spot and changes itself up so it never really gets boring. Strong album through and through. Favourite song is maybe "Quattro" but many are good.
Kinda groovy, kinda fun. I had no expectations and I found this to be an enjoyable (though forgetable) listen.
Initially a quite interesting album, but it felt like it diverged a bit from its own formula after a while and got a bit too incoherent for my taste. Donât remember any particularly song that stood out, though most were decent, mixed with a handful ones as well that didnât work for me.
This was on the border between a 3 and 4. I hadn't listened to them, but I enjoyed. I don't know how often I would return to this one.
Really lovely strings and acoustic guitar to start off. Not always the biggest fan of the quite whiny sounding singer but this works on here. Quattro is a very good song that I will have to revisit. The instrumentals on this are incredibly well done. I love me some strings and horns combo. String n' Horn > Drum n' Bass. That was such a cool album with all of the different instruments and Latin American influenced sounding songs. Had me jamming the whole time and will want to be listening to this again in the future. It also gets bonus points for being a refreshingly unique album which is always great to have come up on this list.
This album feels like a desert road trip with the radio picking up ghost signals from every direction. It fuses alt-country, mariachi, jazz, and indie rock into something thatâs cinematic without being showy. Two favourites are âSunken Waltzâ ; a dusty, accordion-laced opener that hits with quiet poetry, and âBlack Heartâ which crawls under your skin like a slow-burning western noir. The album is a slow-grower due to the blend of styles, but once it clicked, itâs marvellous.
I always liked Calexico for their atmospheric songs. But I never listened to this album - it's great. One could say an eclectic mix of tex/mex/country/rock but it really works for me. The music is very filmic which I love, perfect for relaxing and dreaming away.
I loved the mix of Spanish music and rock. It was something different to hear and enjoyable. I never heard of anything like it.
I had never even heard of this group before today, but I've listened to the album 3 times now and it's a masterpiece. Feast of Wire is a gorgeous fusion of latin instruments (classical guitar, trumpet, accordion) and musical figures with a variety of genres--indie rock ("Not Even Stevie Nicks"), jazz ("Crumble"), and country ("Sunken Waltz") to name a few. Each song on the album feels different, but they all come together to form a cohesive whole. Several instrumentals and short interludes break up the vocal tracks, giving the album a sense of different acts or chapters. I wholeheartedly recommend this album and I'm only sad that I didn't discover it sooner. Favorite track: Quattro - World Drifts In
I really enjoyed this album, it reminded me of home and drinking tequila outside.
This is why Iâm doing this list. I had never heard of Calexico, but this was a great listen. I was engaged the whole time, and I was a little sad when it was over. It might have four stars, but Iâm giving it an extra star for being new and reinforcing why I am doing this.
A really great album, just a unique sound mixing different styles and genres perfectly.
Really, really cool sounds. Feels like the desert. Completely new to me, but love it. I really like the format of a bunch of short songs with varied sounds, it was an exciting listen. Honestly think I prefer the songs without vocals. Might be the worst album cover I've ever seen though
Daydreaming about the family meeting up at Sunday dinner in grandma and grandpa's backyard -- Marty Robbins is the grandpa and Calexico is the dad (I guess I'm the kid? lol) but Calexico is on the grill, Marty is in his chair next to the picnic table, they're both enjoying Pacificos just shootin the breeze. The lineage feels so obvious and so right. Also I can't help but feel bad for bands like Lord Huron and Django Django. I don't mean to throw shade, no one asked, haha, but just by comparison Calexico just pulls it off. I guess when I say "it", it almost feels like this fiction, like a Cohen brothers movie about the grandson of a cowboy who lives in the desert. Or a white kid who grew up with Mexican ranch hands in arid south south California or Arizona. The same way Marty Robbins was a fiction about a gunslinger, the culture of Calexico feels like a caricature. In a great way. The way I used to daydream about train jumping.
A fun mix of a variety of styles, but with a consistent theme and feeling throughout. It is an album that gets deeper and better with more listens.
Nice
This album is an experience, an adventure. It's jazz, it's mariachi, it's Spanish style guitar, and it's fantastic. I can literally see myself one a journey and each song is another stop on the itinerary. It is so different and exactly the kind of thing I hoped to find!
564 albums and finally, FINALLY one that I'd never heard of and absolutely love. The latin influence, the country undertones, the surprising burst of Cumbia like the quenceñera you didn't know you were invited to?!?! 437 more like this, please!
I'm honestly not sure if I've ever heard more range on a single album in my life
Entre 1998 y 2003 Calexico publicaron 3 discos extraordinarios. The Black Light (1998) Hot Rail (2000) Feast of Wire (2003 No es que lo que hicieran despuĂ©s tuviera menor calidad, pero es que esta trilogĂa tuvo un impacto inigualable. Sonaban diferentes, con referencias a muchas cosas, todas buenas, y sobre todo sonaban fenomenal. El adjetivo fronterizo o mestizaje son los mejores calificativos. Una obra imprescindible. A mi me gusta mĂĄs Hot rail, pero es cuestiĂłn de matices, cualquiera de estos 3 justifica una trayectoria. Y no hemos mencionado a Giant Sand o Friends of Dean Martinez...
THIS is the type of thing that I thought there would be so much more of in this project, a very good and worthy band/album that I had never heard of. Unfortunately selections like this one are few and far between. My hopes weren't high looking at the HORRIBLE cover art which has nothing at all to do with the music contained therein. I loved the Latin flavors, the instrumentation, the stylistic variety, the cohesive vibe and the songs were interesting throughout. "Black Heart" sounds like it could easily have been a James Bond theme. This was a surprising and very enjoyable listen.
Wow. Loved this, it was so varied, but all of it works, and all of it works together
Truly one of the best albums Iâve ever listened to
Feast of Wire feels like it knows what it is and what it isn't, providing a great experience of being *somewhere*. And that somewhere is probably close to Mexico, by the sound of it. Great album to put into background. I've listened to it a few times already, but I'm not sure if there was anything out there. It's not like The Car or Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino - great background music, but they snap out of it, to deliver you an extra hook, to grab the strings of your heart. Feast of Wire usually stays in the background, even if some tracks go for that extra epic feel. Very, very strong 4, and I'm risking willing to give it a 5 for being something else, something solid. It's held back only by the fact that I'm not sure if it has any hooks for me to return to it.
Great indie album. Extremely varied tracks, but still a unique cohesive sound.
Really good chill music
Holy shit this is what I'm hear for. I had to look up the genre and the best description I saw for it was tex mex. It's sort of lofi kinda jazz kinda light rock with mexican influences and it's fucking brilliant
Completely new to me. Loved it.
I was surprised by how much I liked this. Latin jazz-folk fusion with an indie inflection. Had some really nice moments. Particularly enjoyed Pepita and Close Behind
Very nice surprise to see this album on the list: it's gorgeous.
GroĂartig :-) Typischer Calexico-Sound, direkt beim ersten hören nimmt mich die Stimmung mit. 5/5
Pues me ha encantau.
After three consecutive days of terrible albums, my hopes were not high for something I'd never heard of by a band I didn't know. But this is so good. Other reviews have come close enough to describing the excellent range and quality of music, and I'm giving it 5 stars so I don't forget to come back to it down the road. It'd a 4.5 anyway.
Pues me ha encantau.
Pues me ha encantau.
That was surprisingly good
Really good and chill
I think I've heard of this band but never listened to them. That was a mistake on my part. I really enjoyed this album. The horns, the Latin influences, all of it. I spent most of the day listening to this and a lot of their other catalog. The generator gave me a solid today.
This is such a funky album so far. I really love it. I feel like most of the albums that have been generated for me recently have songs that all sound the same, but this is not the case with this album so far. 10 songs in. 5/5! That doesn't happen too often.
I loved this.
Enjoyed this, something a bit different than normal.
Love this album, love its predecessor a tiny bit more. Still... As the predecessor isn't on this list, this gets the 5/5 from me that Hot Rail should get. Not to belittle this one at, all, it's a very solid 4.5 in any case for me. Both are outstanding albums that whenever I listen to them make me wonder why there isn't more music out there in a similar style.
Newest fan right here
Good album! International world sound with roots rough voice. Heard of this band but never really explored, glad I did!
Pues me ha encantau.
Magnificent.
Allow me to jump on the metaphorical BANDWAGON here, and agree this is exactly why I came to this list - to discover and hopefully enjoy NEW music and unexplored styles. and sure, also be reminded the music I love but forgot to listen to because the CD case isn't sitting in front of me .... I read a few other reviews is which helped me grasp this is a mix of Mariachi (?) and post something. Ok. But I still like it for what it is. Interesting interstitial atmospheric - and it's music: I would paint to or write to... Feast on
Really fantastic, unique indie album. Great acoustic tracks too.
This is a great find. I have a new artist to follow!
4.5/5
Good album that I liked
This is what Iâm here for. A band Iâve never heard of with an album thatâs so easy to spin over and over again. Iâll grab a Sonora dog next time I listen to this one
Zydeco, bluesy, folksy, with a dash of Ennio Morricone thrown in for good measure. I loved the hell out of this album.
I LIKE this! Pepita is where it really grabbed me attention after listening off and on and letting myself get distracted and whatnot. I would like to listen more intentionally. Especially after the transition from Pepita into the next track.. And the"heart full of hornets" line.
An unexpected treat!
Pues me ha encantau.
I like this band a lot! Love the gentle fusion and the instrumentation blend with experimental. Wish I'd thought of it.
viel besser als ich dachte!
Mexican waltz-influenced desert blues rock reaches American singer songwriter pop stylings to brilliant effect. I love this album. Has one of my all time favorite songs, Across the Wire. Mixing musical borders infuses the sound along with the physical border. Calexico uncovers the riches to be found there.
IncreĂbles instrumentales
Great album.
A brilliant, brilliant album. I am sad to say I had never heard of this album or even the band Calexico before, but I've seen and heard of them now. And I can't wait to hear more from them. Music like this can only be made by a group from the American southwest, and sure enough Calexico took their name from a town on the Mexican-American border. Just listening to these songs can transport you to the desert. I can almost hear the crinkle of cowboy boots against sand. My mind continuously conjured images of tumbleweed rolling across a vast landscape. That vastness contains a unique solitude which in my view can also be found in the music. Clearly, this record was heavily influenced by Mexican artists, which greatly enhances the music. The album is consistent, both in content and quality, but never feels repetitive. It is difficult to isolate any particular highlights or lowlights because there really aren't dips in quality. Overall, this is probably my favorite album I've heard so far from this list.
9/10
Laid back rock from the high desert, Calexico has a ecclectic relation to genre, incorporating accordian waltzes, mariachi choruses, atmospheric post-rock psychadelia, jazz drumming and horns, emo melodies, dub melodica, trip hop ambience, some cumbia rhythms, folksy alt-country acoustic and high-lonesome slide guitars to create a sound that encapsulates the borderlands. It coheres perflectly into a spacious cinematic album that winds its way slowly around, settling into the songs gently, quickening the pulse with new instrumental layers, and calming back down with its whispered lullaby vocals. Without being a concept album, it takes you on a journey, like driving through the sprawling outskirts of South Western city, cruising through the strip malls feeling a saturday afternoon evolve into saturday night evolve, catching snippets of what's playing out the car windows, the weddings and bbqs and parties, the bars filling up and spilling out - there's a bit of filler in the in-between moments, but they're taking you to the next place.
This album really surprised me. Judging the cover alone, this is an album I'd pass on 10 out of 10 times. I expected either a female singer or something more latino, if not both. What I got was something that blends of many bands I like such as Death Cab, Flaming Lips, and Beck. Where the postal service went more electronic in 2003, here was this band pulling out cellos, accordians, and an array of other horns. Had I known about this band back 20 years ago I think this would have been right up there with Give Up for my tops. The volume of tracks and variety also make this album special. It's a mix tape of so many different styles, going from a dramatic bond-theme type song, to Mexican, and instrumentals, and then some alternative/indie tracks and more. All are solid tracks and may not be the best individually, but this is an album that is made better because of the collection of tracks here. Favorite track "Black Heart" 5/5
Cool fucking jazz with some latin
Really cool and cinematic and western-y
This is exactly what I signed up for. A band that I've never heard of, with album art that I wouldn't look at twice, yet it's an amazing listen. I'm not even sure how to describe this - western indie folk? The songs are given space to breathe and grow. It's atmospheric and even cinematic. You can't help envisioning scenarios while listening. I love this.
arvoisa neitos ruovas ja herravÀki... nÀin tehdÀÀn albumi..
It's been a while since I gave a 5 and I really like this music. Not going to look up why the bands name and cover is terrible just going to be in a good mood today.
A beautiful and sumptuous album that follows many musical threads and weaves them together masterfully. Areas rarely explored in Indie popular music. It feels cinematic and gritty at times. I canât think of many other albums like it.