Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos
Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos
Atlantic
I’ve known about Ribot for some time, usually associating him with longtime fellow NYC avant noisemakers like Arto Lindsay and John Zorn. On this record, Ribot does an about-face, chucking his salty dissonance for a batch of tropically-scented Cuban pastiche. Working from the music of Cuban composer and big-bandleader Arseñio Rodriguez, Ribot assembles a four-piece combo and distills the brassy Afro-Cuban sound into something suitable for guitar, bass, drums, and congas, with the occasional keyboard flourishes (courtesy of John Medeski). The results maintain the exuberance of the original genre but strip down the multitudinous complex arrangements into something more subtle and streamlined – like Japanese brush paintings that are able to imply an entire countryside scene with four swaths of ink. A fascinating excursion, both for fans of the original genre and followers of Ribot and the No Wave/Knitting Factory scene. Atlantic Records, 75 Rockefeller Plaza, Second Floor, New York, NY 10019
