Review: Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog at Lily Pad 11.14.11

Words // Sarah V

When I heard Marc Ribot was bringing his Ceramic Dog band to the Boston area, I was beyond thrilled. When I found out it was going to be three blocks from my house at the tiny little Lilypad venue in Inman Square, I figured life just doesn't get any better. My favorite live rock band - right here in the neighborhood! Although calling them a rock band doesn't quite convey the right mood - they are a wild, funk- and punk-influenced noise-rock band with a talent for developing killer grooves. Mr. Ribot is known primarily for his guitar-playing (you've almost certainly heard his work on one of the hundreds of albums he's played on) and as a natural extension of that, Ceramic Dog is a primarily instrumental band with a focus on the electric guitar.

Ceramic Dog has one studio album on Pi Recordings, Party Intellectuals, but since it was recorded nearly four years ago fairly soon after the band formed, it doesn't reflect their current live concerts all that well. The band's personnel have stayed the same: Marc Ribot on electric guitar, Ches Smith on drums, and Shahzad Ismaily on electric bass, Moog, and occasional percussion. Mr. Ribot informed us that the show had been originally planned as a CD release party, but they hadn't actually gotten around to finishing the CD. Maybe next year!

They barely touched on any of their studio material during the show, instead preferring to focus mainly on their newer instrumental material and a few covers. They've always been a band heavy on the covers, doing inventive versions of anything from the Jimi Hendrix to Serge Gainsbourg. This time we were treated to the best version of Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" you will ever hear - all punked up and rocked out - as well as the classic country tune "That's Why I'm Walking" and, perhaps in a nod to the current political climate, the protest anthem "Bread and Roses."

One standout song in the middle of the show was described as "what would happen if you combined the writings of the Brothers Grimm and Kim Il-Sung," which was an intense and surreal spoken word piece, apparently created by stitching together sentences from a Grimm fairy tale and the writings of a brutal North Korean leader who was responsible for the deaths of millions. I'd heard the band perform this before, on NPR's recording from ATP and I have to say it makes a lot more sense now. Without the explanation, it makes you worry for the lyricist's sanity; with the explanation, it's really quite brilliant.

Mr. Ribot also revisited some of his own material, taking the elegant "Fat Man Blues" from his gorgeous solo acoustic guitar album, "Silent Movies," and adapting it for this noisy electric trio. Unfortunately, his  guitar abruptly stopped working during this track, and it culminated (by necessity) in an over-the-top drum and bass solo while he tried to figure out which connection had failed among the many pedals and cables he had in his setup.

When normal operation had resumed, they played an extended version of "Digital Handshake," and segued into some more high-powered rock instrumental before chilling out with a peaceful ballad... which eventually devolved into a bit of a noise-fest, courtesy of Ismaily and Smith.

After playing a thoroughly kick-ass version of "Take Five," the band came out for what might be a record-breakingly short encore of about 100 seconds of music. Presumably they were getting dirty looks from the venue staff for playing too long, because the lights came up immediately in spite of a big standing ovation.

The good news: In spite of the show being almost entirely unpublicized, Lilypad was packed to the gills. Hopefully we'll be seeing more visits from Ceramic Dog, at larger venues, in the future.

Upcoming Ceramic Dog concerts to check out:

November 16, 2011
Wind Up Space - Baltimore, MD
www.creativedifferences.us

November 17, 2011
Johnny Brenda's - Philadelphia, PA
http://arsnovaworkshop.org

November 18, 2011
Union Pool - Brooklyn, NY
http://www.union-pool.com/

December 13, 2011
Brooklyn Bowl - Brooklyn, NY
http://www.brooklynbowl.com/calendar