Customer Reviews

Party Intellectuals

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Marc Ribot has been one of my favorite guitarists over the last few years. Wherever he turns up you can pretty much count on a quality musical project. His eclecticism is impressive, everything from Tom Wait's gutter blues to Robert Plant and Alison Krause's ethereal country blues to John Zorn's Electric Masada and their electric chaos has benefited from Ribot's remarkable guitar stylings. His own faux Cuban project, Y Los Cubanos Prostizos was stylish good fun as well, featuring an organic Downtown answer to the Buena Vista Social Club.

On PARTY INTELLECTUALS Ribot comes out flaunting his rock side, teaming with Ceramic Dog-mates Shahzad Ismaily on bass and Ches Smith on drums. Maybe I should say "rock", as this is some pretty outré stuff. It kicks off with a fried version of the Doors warhorse BREAK ON THROUGH that sets the tone musically for the whole project. The rhythm section is in pummel mode, while Ribot sets his guitar tone on stun. The vocals are more shouted than sung. DIGITAL HANDSHAKE attempts to see how much compressed guitar noise a person can stand and still enjoy the song, meanwhile Midost rides a Heavy Metal riff until the tune breaks into a million shards of aural chaos. Other songs like FOR MALENA, SSHH SSHH and TODO EL MUNDO EN KITSCH are less harsh and often approach tender in the case of MALENA. To me the only misstep is the post-Beat poetry over skronk WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND WE WERE FREAKS.

Fans of Ribot's past projects are well advised to check this out, though neophytes may wish to check the samples out before purchasing. PARTY INTELECTUAL delivers some pretty engaging music, but you may wish to think twice before playing it at party. The results could be a little polarizing.

NYC guitar wizard Marc Ribot has made a straight-up hard rock record, one that boasts conceptual smarts and rock 'n roll passion. Some of this is not for the faint-hearted, but fans of Ribot's signature sound and artistic daring will love it.

This is a forward-thinking album. High energy. Esoteric. A departure (or sorts) for Ribot - but a hot album none the less. Not quite as inaccessible as some of his other efforts. Listen to the sound clips - you'll be convinced...

Marc Ribot is an all-over-the-place kinda guy. So it came as a pleasant surprise that he made one of my favorite albums of 2008.

In theory, this is to be Marc Ribot's rock band album. But it wouldn't be a Ribot album if that was the end of the story. He just can't help himself, he has to be weird and noisy and playing music that doesn't neatly categorize itself as "rock."

For example, from tracks 4 to 8 you get meterless ambient feedback tied to spoken-word nonsense, a 10-minute jam from some other planet, a sad rubato of electric guitar, followed by Latin and then something that sounds like Ribot's take on disco. And I really like the tooth-rattler that is "Midost."

The fact that this music exists outweighs any lack of convenient categories. It's one of those releases, you know. The ones that just make you glad someone stuck their neck out and just did it. Highly recommended.

First of all, i love marc ribot! Knew him as session man in tom waits, john zorn and first gavin friday records, i had some solo album and i was a little disappointed by him as a composer, but this one my last purchase is really a good album with two unforgettable songs: "todo el mundo es kitchs" and "girlfriend". I can't take them off my ears and brain. Thank you so much, mr. Ribot and go on and on for out pleasure. Bye bye Daniele.

this is not ceramic dog, it's sick dog! Every time i think marc ribot can't out-do himself or go anywhere new he reinvents himslef and awes me. He always manages to write or interpret music in a way that is sufficiently familiar that you can follow and groove but sufficiently off-center to be unique and creative and (ok I won't say it)... AVANTGARD! (there I said it, so sue me). Highly recommended, especially if you are already a Ribot fan, you won't be disappointed.