Falling firmly in the Chan Marshall school of quiet, powerful covers of classic rock songs, Calexico’s take on the Clash’s “Guns of Brixton” (fun trivia: the only song written by bassist Paul Simonon to ever land on a Clash record) manages to simultaneously lower the volume and increase the menace of the original. While not totally abandoning the dub-step vibe of the song, Calexico do get rid of the big drums and goofy sound effects in favor of a quiet, reflective guitar line and gentle horn swell. It’s nice to hear the band really making the song their own; their last cover of Love’s “Alone Again Or” (from the Convict Pool EP) was a bit too rote to make it noteworthy. Here, however, even if the Spanish section of the song is a bit superfluous, there’s no denying this is a Calexico song. More importantly, Joey Burns’ hushed vocals have that quiet intensity of the best of Feast of Wire, reminding us again that these guys are still about as good as it gets these days for that outlaw country spirit.

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