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Calexico offers post-rock indie spice at Union Transfer

If Calexico were a movie instead of a band, it would be Orson Welles' Touch of Evil – a taut, arty thriller set in a Southwestern border town, full of long shadows and obtuse angles, where evil wears a badge, good men die like dogs, and everyone gets what

If Calexico were a movie instead of a band, it would be Orson Welles' Touch of Evil – a taut, arty thriller set in a Southwestern border town, full of long shadows and obtuse angles, where evil wears a badge, good men die like dogs, and everyone gets what's coming to him or her in the end. For going on 16 years, Calexico has been trafficking a brand of indie rock aptly described as desert noir - a distinctive blend of spicy mariachi flourishes, campfire cowboy folk, midcentury modern jazz, and panoramic post-rock.

Calexico is piloted by the duo of singer/guitarist Joey Burns - who narrates the songs' pulp-fiction plotlines with a shivery whisper of a voice - and drummer John Covertino, quite possibly the fleetest beatmaker in modern indie rock. If their albums never quite rise above three-star ratings, the live show - where Calexico bulks up to to a seven-piece of gifted multi-instrumentalists outfitted with horns, lap steel, vibes, accordion, piano, and upright bass - is always a five-star affair. That was again the case Friday when Calexico's current tour in support of the just-released Algiers stopped at Union Transfer.

Burns, lacquer-haired and boyishly handsome as usual, was in fine voice, and Covertino, bespectacled and flashing a cat-that-swallowed-the-canary grin, delivered a master class in precision, vibe, and economy from behind the drum kit. Performing before a backdrop emblazoned with the new album's Van Goghesque seascape cover art, Calexico ran down about 20 selections from their nine extant albums with typical elan. There were the gorgeous, set-opening "Epic," the lilting mariachi waltz of "Across the Wire," the faintly menacing "El Picador," the moody shimmer of "Dead Moon," and the set-closing "Vanishing Mind." The highlight of the night, however, was a crowd-pleasing cover of "Alone Again Or," from Love's landmark  1967 album, Forever Changes.

It's a worrying sign when your best song is a cover. And that brings us to my only complaint about these guys: Despite the impeccable pedigree and the faultless execution, Calexico's songs manage to hold the moment, but not much beyond that. But if it's any consolation, there was ample evidence Friday night that Calexico's version of "Alone Again Or" actually improved on the original, Exhibit A being the way Jacob Valenzuela and Martin Wenk utterly nailed the song's signature horn charts.