Pitchfork

For those suffering mariachi withdrawal or the fado-less flu after hearing the new directions Calexico opted for on its latest, Garden Ruin, tough tympanis-- the band has moved on, so should you. Evolve or die, baby.

But there is musical methadone to help with your transition, and it's probably coming to a town near you: live dates featuring the new sounds mixed in with the trumpet blasts, eerie vibes, and spaghetti-surf sounds spanning Calexico's decade-long career.

"The new stuff has a really good contrast with the old stuff," Calexico drummer John Convertino said after the band returned from a European tour in March. "So it's not like we're burned out playing 'El Picador' from Hot Rail. It's still a lot of fun to have the mariachi sound going on and then contrast it with 'Letter to Bowie Knife' from the new record. It keeps the crowd pretty interested, and us on our toes. I think that's probably why we're still enjoying touring so much and playing so much. There's enough diversity going on there."

The material from Garden Ruin has resulted in different on-stage roles for many of the six-member Calexico core. The lineup changes will just make your scorecard a mess, so suffice it to say that keyboards, electric bass, and lots more guitars have been added to recreate the Garden Ruin sound. Convertino said "Bisbee Blue", "Cruel", "Smash", "All Systems Red", "Yours and Mine", and the aforementioned "Letter to Bowie Knife" are in the regular rotation.

"We're still finding our feet a little bit on some of these songs, but that's the fun of it, too," he said. "The way they were recorded was a very controlled environment, and that's harder to pull off live. Some of those songs you just have to re-think completely."

Convertino said last year's tour with Iron & Wine's Sam Beam-- backing up their successful collaboration In the Reins-- and some bigger dates with Wilco increased their profile Stateside to the point that it's almost equal to what it's been in Europe ever since 1998's The Black Light.

"It's been good and it's steadily getting better and better, but we did a few legs in the South a couple summers ago, Florida and Alabama, and man, it was pretty rough down there for us," Convertino laughed. "So hopefully things will get better; we're going to dedicate more time this year to touring in the States anyway."

Looks like they've got the summer mapped out, with a bit of Stateside touring sandwiched between European treks.

Remember, all tour dates are subject to change, because even my sure things fall through:

05-01 Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller *
05-02 Gothenburg, Sweden - Tradgarn *
05-04 Berlin, Germany - Columbiahalle *
05-05 Munich, Germany - Tonhalle *
05-06 Graz, Austria - Orpheum *
05-07 Vienna, Austria - Arena *
05-09 Zagreb, Croatia - Pauk *
05-10 Treviso, Italy - New Age *
05-11 Milan, Italy - Rolling Stone *
05-12 Lucerne, Switzerland - BOA *
05-13 Zurich, Switzerland - Volkshaus *
05-14 Haarlem, Netherlands - Patronaat *
05-15 Krefeld, Germany - Kulturfabrik *
05-16 Eindhoven, Netherlands - Effenaar *
06-12 Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern
06-13 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater ^
06-15 Santa Cruz, CA - The Rio Theater ^
06-16 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore ^
06-17 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore ^
06-19 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom %
06-20 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom %
06-21 Seattle, WA - Showbox %
06-23 Chicago, IL - Metro &
06-24 Pittsburgh, PA - Rex Theater &
06-25 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero &
06-26 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club &
06-28 Boston, MA - The Roxy &
07-02 Ulm, Germany - Umer Zelt
07-05 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix Concert Theatre
08-03 New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage @
08-05 Chicago, IL - Grant Park (Lollapalooza) *@$
08-11 Saint Malo, France - La Route du Rock +
08-12 Leicester, England - Summer Sundae #
08-15 Feldkirch, Austria - Poolbar Festival
08-16 Nuremberg, Germany - Open Air
08-20 Crickhowell, England - Green Man Festival #
08-23 Dresden, Germany - Schlachthof
08-24 Leipzig, Germany - Parkbuhne
08-25 Paris, France - Rock en Seine !
08-26 Losheim, Germany - Ein Tag am See Festival

* with Iron & Wine
^ with the Black Heart Procession
% with Eric Bachmann
& with Jason Collett
@ with the New Pornographers, the Frames
$ with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kanye West, Wilco, Manu Chao, Death Cab for Cutie, the Raconteurs, the Flaming Lips, Ween, Queens of the Stone Age, the Shins, Common, Matisyahu, Ryan Adams, Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney, Broken Social Scene, Built to Spill, the Dresden Dolls, the Smoking Popes, Andrew Bird, Gnarls Barkley, Stars, Cursive, Lady Sovereign, Feist, the Hold Steady, the Go! Team, Mates of State, the Rapture, the M's, more
+ with Franz Ferdinand, Belle & Sebastian, TV on the Radio, Mogwai, Islands, more
# with Jose Gonzalez, Vashti Bunyan, Adem, Martha Wainwright, Isobel Campbell, Tunng, A Hawk and A Hacksaw, more
! with Radiohead, Morrissey, Richard Ashcroft, DJ Shadow, Nada Surf, Calexico, Wolfmother, the Rakes, TV on the Radio, Broken Social Scene, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, more