Tucson Weekly

Calexico is an alt-country band formed in Tucson, Arizona in 1996, known for playing an eclectic variety of music.

They call New Orleans a melting pot. When one thinks about it like that, it’s hardly surprising that this is where CALEXICO reconvened to record their seventh full-length album, ALGIERS. Joey Burns and John Convertino have long called upon an extended range of musical influences, blending them together so distinctly that the results have almost become a genre of their own. Nonetheless, the choice of New Orleans may still come as a surprise to many. CALEXICO are, after all, associated with a style that their name – borrowed from a small town of less than 40,000 inhabitants on the border between the US and Mexico – has always defined with an unusual precision. Their work has spoken of dusty deserts and the loners that inhabit them, mixing America’s country music heritage with that of a Latin persuasion. In other words, it isn’t obviously affiliated with the sounds that have made New Orleans one of the premiere tourist destinations in the US. What’s emerged as a result of this decision, however, is arguably the most exciting and accessible record CALEXICO have made. It’s a fact emphasised by the band’s decision to name the album in tribute to the neighbourhood where they worked: Algiers.

The feel of ALGIERS is recognisably classic CALEXICO, but their style been revitalised and reborn by the experience of recording in the city. Its influence isn't necessarily sonically evident, but there’s a strange, powerful connection to the sounds that have always coloured their own, influences Burns has previously identified as including “Portugese fado, 50’s jazz, gypsy or romani music and its offshoots, 60’s surf and twang from Link Wray to country’s Duane Eddy, the spaghetti western epics of Ennio Morricone and dark indie rock singer songwriters.”

So, some 22 years since they first met, Joey Burns and John Convertino – joined as ever by a cast of musicians from across the globe – add yet another successful musical adventure to their list. You might think that, after six studio albums and a suitcase of tour CDs, collaborations with the likes of Victoria Williams, Iron & Wine, Willie Nelson, Roger McGuinn and Nancy Sinatra, and soundtrack work to boot, there wasn’t much more they could achieve. But you’d be wrong. New Orleans clearly inspired them to make an album that sees them stretch out more effortlessly than ever but, while you can take the men out of CALEXICO, but you can’t take CALEXICO out of the men…

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Whether seen on HBO’s Treme or at their legendary Tuesday night gig at The Maple Leaf, Grammy-winning Rebirth Brass Band is a true New Orleans institution. Formed in 1983 by the Frazier brothers, the band has evolved from playing the streets of the French Quarter to playing festivals and stages all over the world. While committed to upholding the tradition of brass bands, they’ve also extended themselves into the realms of funk and hip-hop to create their signature sound. “Rebirth can be precise whenever it wants to,” says The New York Times, “but it’s more like a party than a machine. It’s a working model of the New Orleans musical ethos: as long as everybody knows what they’re doing, anyone can cut loose.” In the wake of the sometimes- stringent competition amongst New Orleans brass bands, Rebirth is the undisputed leader of the pack, and they show no signs of slowing down.

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Indie-Mambo is a great characterization for the twelve plus members band Y La Orkesta. Originally from Tucson, Arizona Y La Orkesta's members are primarily from two local bands The Jons and Seven to Blue. Y La Orkesta slam dunk the resurrection of Perez Prado's sound, Sergio's greatest influence that fearlessly created Mambo by combining traditional Cuban rhythms with the swing of American Jazz, and Big Band harmonic sophistications. Unlike revival Mambo from the 1990's, Y La Orkesta maintains their influence from 1940's and 1950's Jazz by utilizing tight percussion and high register trumpets.

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The Heartless Bastards' story starts in Dayton, Ohio, where Wennerstrom found the name on a multiple choice video trivia game at a bar. As a songwriting teenager during a time when GBV and Brainiac were packing local bars and three of the Breeders were still in town, Wennerstrom used to sneak into clubs to check out the scene. "I would just see those people—my music heroes—hanging out at the bar like everyone else," she remembers. "I could see myself in them. It gave me inspiration to do my own thing." After doing the usual business of playing local shows, the trio set out the following year on a regional tour. One of the first gigs of the trip took them to a bar in Akron, where Black Keys' drummer Patrick Carney just happened to be one of only a handful of people in the audience. This chance encounter led Wennerstrom and the Heartless Bastards to Fat Possum Records, with whom they released their debut, Stairs and Elevators, in early 2005. The band moved on with critical praise in their back pocket, including a four-and-a-half star review from Rolling Stone, which took note that, when Wennerstrom “opens her throat on Stairs and Elevators … she sounds like she’s wailing on the shoulders of giants; her sad and angry vocals channeling all the swagger and spit of a young Robert Plant” By whatever yardstick you care to measure, it was high time for Erika to get out of Dayton. In true ascetic discipline, she moved to Austin, Texas in 2007 for a change of inspirational scenery and a new recording project. With the help of producer Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Trail of Dead), she assembled a group of musicians with whom she gave the songs life and uncovered yet another layer of Wennerstrom and the Heartless Bastards. Two of the new Bastards aren’t Texas ringers, but fellow Dayton brethren Dave Colvin on drums, and Jesse Ebaugh on bass, who actually played on the original demo that hooked Fat Possum, throw in one Austin native on guitar, Mark Nathan and you’ve got a new unstoppable force that “Take the stage and literally knock everybody down” – NY Times review of the Bastards SxSW record release performance. The Decemberists’ guitarist Chris Funk said, "It's been a few years since I've had a voice on repeat in my mind. This voice seems to arrive in my ears while sound checking, often before the shows on a pre-show play list and after shows too -- the songs are just perfect and the band has found their spots behind this incredible woman. A unique and enduring artist arrived into our world once again." The album, entitled The Mountain, (released February 2009) delivers the powerful howl that fans expect from the Heartless Bastards, but also weaves in adventure with mandolins, banjos, strings and Erika’s transcendent voice.

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The B*Side Players are a 10 piece power house of bilingual reggae, funk and cumbia. With fierce political lyrics and an overwhelming positive vibration of love, culture and unity, their live shows have raised them to legendary status. The Players have been igniting and uplifting dance floors for 15 years and have been blessed to share the stage with, The Wailers, Toots and the Maytals, Ben Harper, War, James Brown, Cultura Profetica, Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker and many more.

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The Cordials' brand of sloppy rock was borne from a need to depart from all things organized and tidy. As children, the members resented constant parental appeals for quiet and organization. This band is their revenge.The Cordials have opened for such locally famous acts as the Modeens and Saint Maybe. They plan on releasing an album some time in the next decade.

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Sun Bones, formerly Boreas, is a classically-trained rock band with lush vocal harmonies, a fierce DIY streak and a willingness to plunge into a wide range of musical styles. Described by local radio station KXCI as "baroque pop,"their music resounds with echoes of the Beach Boys, Animal Collective, Paul Simon, Radiohead and Steve Reich. Their live show, using stripped-down drums and no effects, is in turns intimate and explosive. Sun Bones has self-recorded and -produced two albums, using the spaces of their native Tucson to create a sound that is versatile, intricate and alive.

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Mariachi Aztlan de Pueblo High School was founded in the fall of 1992 by Mr. Richard Carranza, as a curricular component within the Pueblo High Magnet School Performing Arts department. Comprised entirely of Pueblo High Magnet School students ranging in age from 14 to 18 years old, the mariachi program has grown from eleven students in its first year to well over one hundred and twenty students currently. Students are offered three levels of mariachi music: Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced/ Performing group Mariachi Aztlan. Students entering the performing group must, after audition and acceptance, maintain a high level of academic achievement in order to remain on the first team. Their extensive practice and performance schedule also demands most of their free time. The sixteen-piece Mariachi Aztlan is motivated by pride and dedication to their cultural heritage of Mexico.

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A duo made up of Ryan Alfred and Katherine Byrnes.

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Sounds like: The Cowboy Junkies + Leonard Cohen. Intimate story-songs; blanket-fort music; a new favorite record. Best listened to on long drives or walking in the woods with a good set of headphones, Wolf Larsen's debut album Quiet at the Kitchen Door is intimate, intelligent, transporting and rather soothing. Known for her arresting live performances, Wolf is famous for bringing any noisy barroom to a standstill. With total focus, stillness and a gentle approach to playing her nylon string guitar, Larsen invites an audience to lean in closer and to feel the Quiet as a part of the fabric of her songs.

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