Pitchfork

Front page photo by Aubrey Edwards

Joey Burns and John Convertino's Calexico have crafted their follow-up to 2006's Garden Ruin. Titled Carried to Dust, the 15 track affair was created with the band that graced Calexico's excellent 2003 offering Feast of Wire, with an extra hand or two lent from the likes of In the Reins buddy and Iron and Wine mastermind Sam Beam, Tortoise/Brokeback/ Eleventh Dream Day player Doug McCombs, and singer/songwriter Pieta Brown. The disc is due September 9 from Touch and Go sister imprint Quarterstick.

Calexico have lined up quite an extensive international tour both before and after the release of Carried to Dust. Their next date is an appearance at Germany's Southside Festival later this month.

However, here's a place Calexico probably never guessed they'd wind up: the friggin' cosmos! Turns out, when the space shuttle Discovery took flight at the end of May en route to the International Space Station, friends and family of the astronauts got to make a few musical selections and beam them skyward to wake the pilots from their deep space sleep. Commander Mark Kelly's wife, U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona's 8th Congressional District, saw fit to include "Crystal Frontier" by her state's favorite sons, Calexico. A far more appropriate choice than "Attack El Robot! Attack!", considering the circumstances.

Carried to Dust:

01 Victor Jara's Hands
02 Two Silver Trees
03 The News About William
04 Sarabande in Pencil Form
05 Writer's Minor Holiday
06 Man Made Lake
07 Inspiración
08 House of Valparaiso
09 Slowness
10 Bend to the Road
11 El Gatillo (Trigger Revisited)
12 Fractured Air (Tornado Watch)
13 Falling From Sleeves
14 Red Blooms
15 Contention City

Calexico:

06-20 Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany - Southside Festival
06-22 Scheeßel, Germany - Hurricane Festival
07-05 Detroit, MI - Comerica City Fest
07-06 Toronto, Ontario - The Mod Club *
07-07 Montreal, Quebec - Le National *
07-09 Ottawa, Ontario - Ottawa Blues Festival
07-11 Winnipeg, Manitoba - Winnipeg Folk Festival
07-27 Reno, NV - Robert Hawkins Amphitheatre
08-03 Newport, RI - Newport Folk Festival
09-10 Dublin, Ireland - Tripod *
09-11 Edinburgh, Scotland - Queens Hall *
09-12 Oxford, England- Carling Academy *
09-13 Sheffield, England - Leadmill *
09-14 Salisbury, England - End of the Road Festival
09-24 New York, NY - Webster Hall ^
09-25 Chicago, IL - Millennium Park (World Music Festival)
09-26 Seattle, WA - The Moore Theatre !
09-27 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom !
09-28 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore !
09-29 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater !
10-09 Berlin, Germany - Columbiahalle $
10-10 Cologne, Germany - E-Werk
10-11 London, England - Forum
10-13 Brussels, Belgium - AB
10-14 Paris, France - La Cigale
10-15 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
10-16 Munich, Germany - Muffathalle
10-17 Zurich, Switzerland - Volkshaus
10-18 Milan, Italy - Rolling Stone
10-19 Frankfurt, Germany - Mousonturm
10-21 Vienna, Austria - Gasometer %
10-22 Dresden, Germany - Alter Schlachthof
10-24 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
10-25 Stockholm, Sweden - Nalen
10-26 Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller

* with Woodpigeon
^ with Oakley Hall
! with the Cave Singers
$ with the Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar
% with Lambchop