Using bold strokes of light and sound, Tucson, AZ's Calexico [ tickets ] transformed a Los Angeles theater into a painted desert on Thursday night (9/18).

The El Rey, standing since 1936, proved a fitting venue for this six-piece band, so rooted in the sounds of the long-forgotten Southwest. Their 90-minute set evoked images of desert rattlesnakes, old cars kicking up dust on sun-baked highways, and cacti bowing in the fiery afternoon. Inspired by the music of old Sergio Leone westerns, Calexico fuses folk and blues with salsa-flavored horns, heady psychedelic effects and emotional swells of pedal steel.

The bulk of the show's set was culled from this year's excellent "Feast of Wire," starting with album opener "Sunken Waltz." As old cowboy movies flitted across a screen behind the band, Calexico frontman Joey Burns eased into the song's opening lines, "Washed my face in the rivers of empire / Made my bed from a cardboard crate / Down in the city of quartz."

Burns then dedicated the following song, "Across the Wire," to its inspiration, poet Luis Alberto Urrea. Burns even honored Johnny Cash and Nina Simone in the song's final verse. A rousing "Quattro (World Drifts In)" was awash in lush waves of sound all bleeding into one another. Between the echoey pedal steel, booming stand-up bass, and vibraphones and percussion, every molecule in the room seemed to become one.

Beautiful desert-inspired lighting colored the stage throughout the performance. On the cosmic epic "Woven Birds" the theater looked like a Martian desert, all fiery orange and sunset purple. Calexico didn't shy away from playing up the visuals, either. As the group bellowed through the atmospheric "Sonic Wind," highlighted by a jazzy interlude that showcased Jacob Valenzuela's flamboyant trumpet, Chicano-inspired slides projected onto the screen behind them.

Though not a packed house, the El Rey was loud and responsive, nonetheless, especially on songs like "Close Behind" when Burns and the band seemed possessed of immortal powers. Calexico's dual horns are the band's secret weapon. Live, they are powerful instruments wailing and weaving soulful melodies into Calexico's darkest arrangements. On "Close Behind" they could do no wrong.

Calexico's spiritual instrumentals came off like cinematic epics, an array of sounds pouring in from all sides. The final song of the set was "The Crystal Frontier," driven by drummer John Convertino's relentless disco-inflected high hat. Burns even tossed in some lyrics from The Specials' "Ghost Town," making it nearly unrecognizable.

After a brief respite enlivened with plenty of catcalls and applause, the band returned to the stage with "Not Even Stevie Nicks," the closest thing to pop music they will ever produce. Calexico wrapped up with a block-party ready version of "G�ero Canelo," with Valenzuela providing the chorus.

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