Resistance Songs with Marc Ribot, Tom Waits & Steve Earle.
September 15, 2018 5:51 AM Subscribe
Ace guitarist Marc Ribot has a new album out collecting resistance songs both old and new - and it's terrific. Guest vocalists on the disc include Tom Waits (in his first new recording for two years) and Steve Earle. And here's Ribot himself performing one of the songs live.
Thanks so much for the heads up!
posted by kneecapped at 7:41 AM on September 15, 2018
posted by kneecapped at 7:41 AM on September 15, 2018
Ooooh. I’m going to spend some time with this. Marc Ribot is the best. I love how he can pivot between atonal john zorn skronky madness and 1930s charlie christian riffs in an instant.
posted by umbú at 8:35 AM on September 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by umbú at 8:35 AM on September 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
Bella Ciao is a wonderful song and Ribot and Waits more than do it justice.
posted by entropone at 9:14 AM on September 15, 2018
posted by entropone at 9:14 AM on September 15, 2018
Steve Earle's album Jerusalem about the evils of the Bush Administration was great. Waits's anti war song "Hell Broke Luce" was great. Glad they're back and this album sounds great (Syd Straw is a particular favorite of mine)
posted by edheil at 11:26 AM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by edheil at 11:26 AM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
I should have said earlier that the CD carries a remarkable footnote in the track listing on its rear cover. The name of the vocalist on Track 5, Rata de Dos Patas, is replaced with a couple of asterixes directing you to this paragraph beneath:
"Due to fears that Trump regime retaliation would threaten her visa status, the vocalist on this recording of Rata de Dos Patas has requested that we delete all reference to her identity. We believe her fears are entirely justified, and have complied with her wishes."
That a precaution like that should be thought necessary in 21st Century America is the saddest thing on Earth.
Rata de Dos Patas translates as Rat with Two Legs, and the song has many inventive insults to cast at the toxic dimwit currently occupying the White House. Enjoy them for yourself here.
posted by Paul Slade at 11:48 AM on September 15, 2018 [3 favorites]
"Due to fears that Trump regime retaliation would threaten her visa status, the vocalist on this recording of Rata de Dos Patas has requested that we delete all reference to her identity. We believe her fears are entirely justified, and have complied with her wishes."
That a precaution like that should be thought necessary in 21st Century America is the saddest thing on Earth.
Rata de Dos Patas translates as Rat with Two Legs, and the song has many inventive insults to cast at the toxic dimwit currently occupying the White House. Enjoy them for yourself here.
posted by Paul Slade at 11:48 AM on September 15, 2018 [3 favorites]
I love how he can pivot between atonal john zorn skronky madness and 1930s charlie christian riffs in an instant.
Ribot did a residency at Georgetown last year, and played a show in the basement of a neighbor who is one of the musicology profs there. Over the course of something like two hours, he moved effortlessly from standards, to blues, to songs from his back catalog, to an improvised, atonal number where he accompanied himself by stomping on balloons that he took out of his guitar case (and inflated while pausing to tell some stories). He's a national treasure.
posted by ryanshepard at 12:49 PM on September 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
Ribot did a residency at Georgetown last year, and played a show in the basement of a neighbor who is one of the musicology profs there. Over the course of something like two hours, he moved effortlessly from standards, to blues, to songs from his back catalog, to an improvised, atonal number where he accompanied himself by stomping on balloons that he took out of his guitar case (and inflated while pausing to tell some stories). He's a national treasure.
posted by ryanshepard at 12:49 PM on September 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
@Paul Slade, these insults are very obscene and verbose: "filthy rat, creeping animal, scum of life, deformed monstrosity... how much damage you've done? - Donald Trump, i'm talking to you"
here's an interview with Ribot about it
posted by avi111 at 1:20 PM on September 15, 2018
here's an interview with Ribot about it
posted by avi111 at 1:20 PM on September 15, 2018
The song Rata de Dos Patas is very well-known in Mexico. It is sung by Paquita la del Barrio and here she is performing it in 2013.
It is primarily a song against male machismo and the lyrics are very explicit. She doesn't hold back on the insults. It is essentially a song that represents female empowerment - Paquito la del Barrio famously rails against sexism in her act and her music - and it all plays well in Mexico.
Also, it was good to hear Tom Waits sing again. Thanks for that.
posted by vacapinta at 1:10 AM on September 16, 2018
It is primarily a song against male machismo and the lyrics are very explicit. She doesn't hold back on the insults. It is essentially a song that represents female empowerment - Paquito la del Barrio famously rails against sexism in her act and her music - and it all plays well in Mexico.
Also, it was good to hear Tom Waits sing again. Thanks for that.
posted by vacapinta at 1:10 AM on September 16, 2018
I should have said earlier that the CD carries a remarkable footnote in the track listing on its rear cover. The name of the vocalist on Track 5, Rata de Dos Patas, is replaced with a couple of asterixes …
If they're serious about that, they might want to update the bandcamp page for the album.
posted by kenko at 10:09 AM on September 16, 2018
If they're serious about that, they might want to update the bandcamp page for the album.
posted by kenko at 10:09 AM on September 16, 2018
Ohene Cornelius, the name mentioned on Bandcamp, provides only the track's rap verse, not its main vocal. The track's singer - who's the one they're concerned about - isn't mentioned there.
posted by Paul Slade at 3:11 PM on September 16, 2018
posted by Paul Slade at 3:11 PM on September 16, 2018
My goodness, Tom waits singing Bella Ciao. Fantastic. If you haven't seen it, check out the wonderful Spanish TV show The House of Paper, where I first heard Bella Ciao.
posted by Major Tom at 1:08 AM on September 17, 2018
posted by Major Tom at 1:08 AM on September 17, 2018
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