Party Intellectuals is the debut recording from Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, a post-everything band combining the energies of two masters of downtown New York mayhem: guitarist/vocalist Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, John Zorn, Robert Plant, T-Bone Burnett, Marianne Faithful, Lounge Lizards, Elvis Costello) and bassist Shahzad Ismaily (Laurie Anderson, Will Oldham, Jolie Holland, Secret Chiefs 3). Also features West Coast indie/experimental genius drummer Ches Smith (Xiu Xiu, Secret Chiefs 3, Trevor Dunn’s Trio Convulsant). Ribot is a widely recognized original on the guitar, with influence across multiple genres of music including rock, jazz, punk, Latin, soul, ’80s no-wave, avant-garde, and noise. Ceramic Dog draws all of this, along with Ismaily and Smith’s indie/electronica experimentation, into the power-packed Party Intellectuals.
“A blast of sound that [is] variously ominous, crude, and sly. There were handclaps and Cuban montunos; there was numbskull punk and roadhouse blues; there was the odd doom-metal drone … Prickly but popular, with a mood both breezy and intense.” — New York Times
“Marc Ribot’s new power trio, filled out by the remarkable versatile rhythm team of bassist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Ches Smith, is his rawest band in ages.” — Time Out New York |