CDOFTD 12/31/2022

 Marc Ribot and the Rootless Cosmopolitans: Requiem for What's-His-Name (Les Disques du Crépescule)

Purchased directly from Marc

What made me pick out this particular disc? I haven't listened to this in decades and wasn't even sure I still had a copy. 

I saw Chris Parker play at Kingfly Spirits on Thursday. Chris is one of the best musicians I've worked with, a great guitarist with a self-effacing humor.

There's a song on this disc, "Clever White Youths," that I think Chris could pull off effectively. In a sing-songy spoken delivery, Marc's voice EQed like an AM radio, he says lines such as, "More clever white youths with attitudes, that's what the world needs today/Singing songs about their alienation, hey hey hey."

I saw Marc play at least twice in the years after this recording (1992), opening for him one of those times as loft space in Brooklyn. That song stuck out for me, reinforced by listening to this disc.

1992, seems like an optimistic time. Projects such as this could get their music released by labels of varying sizes. I bought this from Marc when he said it really wasn't distributed in the US and he was selling the copies he was provided.

I suppose this was the period after his time with Lounge Lizards. While missing the singular voice of John Lurie on alto saxophone, much of the music has a similar feel to Lurie's compositions. There are several vocal tunes ("Pony,", "Yo I Killed Your God, "Commit a Crime") none of which Marc really sings. He's joined here by Ralph Carney, Anthony Coleman, Roy Nathanson, Simeon Cain, and Wilbo Wright, plus a few others. They make a great band. Unsurprisingly, he was already on to another playing group when I saw him in that 93-94 era. The group at the time was named Old Baby. (Not a great choice in my opinion, that's long gone now.)

The star throughout is Marc's guitar. He's in turn melodic, aggressive, noisy, sweet. He always sounds relaxed even as he's pounding out intense lines.

With fifteen tracks on this disc, occasionally I find myself wanting a piece to linger a little longer. I also accept that maybe everything doesn't need to be stretched in  Coltrane or Pharoah manner, right? I would sometimes defend my own super-short compositions, everything doesn't need to be hyper-extended.