Requiem for What's His Name

I have to agree with the reviewer that said that this album is one of those that after a couple of listens suddenly clicks and you're hooked. If you fail to recognize the true brilliance of this album on first listen then you're in for a moment of revelation, and it is a great feeling. This album is of lighthearted spirit(though a little tongue in cheek light-heartedness) -even with all the irony and cynicism- as it is very enjoyable. All the pieces have this puzzle-like feeling, that is to say, each musician brings to the mix a single element -a certain sound fragment-, quirky and interesting on its own, but when put together with all the other elements of all the musicians you have as a result this quirky and adventurous sound that is relatively simple but at the same time complex. It is somehow borderline between fake and real music. That is, if you focus on it through and avantgarde perspective, the quirky, playful elements somehow undermine its seriousness -though as part of the concept itself-. If you approach it from a rock perspective, for example, the quirkiness undermines it as well as the music seems to stray into more abstract territories. But the avantgarde perspective has the advantage. The difference and redemption being that an avantgarde perspective has come to expect this postmodern playfulness and undermining in some of its music. Marc delivers lirics with a similar tone to John Lurie's sense of humor -that touch of the absurd and cynicism that has come to define newer generations attitude toward life-. "Clever white youths" -with attitudes- is a good example, as is the song "Pony". For some reason Ribot has been generally focused on by critics as a great sideman for the big names in good music. Don't get me wrong, he is one of the best musicians you could hope to have playing for you, but his work as frontman is just as impresive. Ribot's work might be a little too subtle and at the same time a little too rough for it to be spotted right away as brilliant work, equal to that of other luminaries in the avant-garde scene, but that is just why it might take a couple of listens to realize the depth in the music. And depth in a light-hearted sense that is not by any means easy listening. On the disc you have Roy Nathanson and Anthony Coleman, Brad Jones and a couple other -all amazing- musicians.

Odd, to me, that, despite having worked with so many people (John Zorn, Tom Waits, you know the list) the influence that is most visible on this CD is that of John Lurie... Maybe its just that some of the other players on this disc also were Lounge Lizards (Roy Nathanson was, wasn't he? And Brad Jones, and Ralph Carney, and maybe some of these other guys... I don't think Anthony Coleman ever was -- his "Lamonte's Nightmare" appears here, which I BELIEVE he recorded elsewhere, with Roy Nathanson). Lurie has nothing to do with this disc per se, but there are some moments here where I feel like I'm listening to VOICE OF CHUNK. There are other, Shrekkier tunes, too, though -- "Commit a Crime" (the Chester Burnett blues tune) and "Yo I killed your God" are discordant and very guitarsy, for example. Ribot's ventures into writing "song"-songs have sharp edged witty lyrics, as before ("Clever White Youths," f'rinstance). The whole thing (the jazzier moments and the almost guitar-shred rockish moments and those other moments I won't describe for the sake of brevity) all coalesce into a pleasing whole. Good disc!