“I got a right to say FUCK YOU!!!” is how the new album from guitarist Marc Ribot’s trio Ceramic Dog starts off, with Ribot howling in anger at corruption, tyranny, life in general, and nothing in particular. YRU Still Here? just in time to remind us that now is a moment when anger is necessary and unavoidable. Musically it continues the lineage of his earlier experimental no-wave/punk/noise groups Rootless Cosmopolitans and Shrek:

Beside Ribot you can find Shahzad Ismaily (Secret Chiefs 3, Will Oldham, Ben Frost) on bass and drummer Ches Smith (Xiu Xiu, Secret Chiefs 3, Trevor Dunn’s Trio Convulsant).

And Ribot? For me he is known about his works with John Zorn, The Lounge Lizard and Tom Waits, but he played together such musicians as Solomon Burke, Beth Orton, Marianne Faithful, Caetano Veloso, Laurie Anderson, Cibo Matto, Vinicio Capposella, Auktyon (Russia), Alain Bashung, Madeleine Peyroux, Sam Phillips, Norah Jones, The Black Keys, Robert Plant, Elvis Costello and many others. And of course he has released lots of album under his own name. He has also worked for decades as a tenant union and artist rights activist, where he mastered the agit-prop skills used to such dazzling effect on hits such as “Fuck La Migra” and “Muslim/Jewish Resistance”.

The album „YRU Still Here?” will release soon on Northern-Spy (US), Yellowbird (Europe) and P-Vine Records (Japan). It’s my favorite album since I’ve got it.