Skronky guitar nerds taking sides: Marc Ribot or Nels Cline

what you said

Yeah, I did. Sorry, been way too busy to reply.

Cline is outstanding on the new Scott Amendola, too, which, as long as we're talking skronky guitar nerds, includes Jeff Parker, too.

seriously, y los cubanos postizos owns pretty hard, like as hard as nels cline "cause for concern" on the instrumentals album, but harder

i'm kind of a contemporary jazz guitar expert too, not to brag or anything, so my opinion really ought to be held in fairly high esteem, just sayin

Tell me more about Nels Cline. Assume I know nothing, but that I am quite familiar with Marc Ribot

Damn- this is a tough one. Both have their moments. I am a devotee of Nels Cline circa Chest -though I rarely play the album.

mike watt's contemplating the engine room is excellent, partly because of nels cline.

http://www.songsillinois.net/2010/09/marc-ribot-silent-movies/

marc ribot's new soundtrack & score compilation silent movies is very nice, you should listen to "the kid" from it ^

I've still never heard that Mike Watt record!

I've always been more impressed by Cline but I haven't heard much of Ribot's Cuban material, which seems to be highly rated here. I've seen both live, actually. (Definitely preferred Cline in that context.)

If I'm currently obsessing over Ribot's work with Waits, what's the best entry point into his large discography as a solo (or top-billed collaborative) artist? Intrigued by Ceramic Dogs (lover the personnel but put off by descriptions of it as a 'power trio'). Help?

Search: about a million John Zorn records

Hmmm, see I hate Zorn (Arto too). Can't hang with downtown wank.

::shrug:: Have fun with your research.

I’m not sure when I last listened to Ribot’s Saints but it’s likely been 20 years and it is great. Solo guitar, from a pawn shop find if I recall. When it came out, the Raindoggy “St James Infirmary” was where it was at for me, but the opening take of Alber Ayler’s “Saints” has the feel of a central Asian lute, both in twang and microtones. Which is where I am now.

Way more skronky but reminds me in spirit of Richard Bishop’s Tangier Sessions. Falling in love and exploring a newly found instrument.

Is Bill Laswell sort of in this category, too?

I forgot about this thread but I really dug hearing Cline on Elvis Costello's Hey Clockface in part because he's one of the only people besides Ribot to play lead guitar on a Costello album.

Bill Frisell, right?

Frisell, right. Damn it

Is there a “thread for recent great guitarist session work”?

I don't suppose anyone has Saints album in decent quality? Not streaming and I'm not finding a legit download anywhere.

Also, any other recs for skronky solo electric guitar albums?

bill orcutt's recent run (some of which is solo and electric) has been great
i feel like sonny sharrock fits into this group too though i don't know his work at all

Yeah, Guitar for sure. It's a Conversations With Myself type thing, Sharrock duetting with himself.

And if you want something a little more raw, there are two live albums of Sharrock duetting with saxophonist Peter Brötzmann:

WHATTHEFUCKDOYOUWANT

Fragments

donald miller's "a little treatise on morals" still sounds grand.
any tetuzi akiyama you can find is worth a listen
i think sandy nassan's "just guitar" is electric - sometimes hard to tell with those big bodied jazzers
always surprised how rough / skronky mclaughlin sounds on the tony williams records

gotta be a bunch of terrie ex / andy moor reckids outthere too, but i can't keep up with those guys. everything i have of theirs outside the ex is worthwhile but usually some from of duo / trio improv

oh fudge,man, how am i forgetting the joe morris solo discs? "singularity" & "no vertigo" absolute must hears!

Jordan I've got a good rip of Saints if you are still searching

Terrie's album with Han Bennink from last year was great and Andy Moor's new one with Amsterdam pianist Marta Warelis is great. She does a lot of inside and prepared piano which fits very nicely with Moor's guitar.

the solo arto "bonus" tracks on the "encylopaedia of arto" compendium are kinda fun cos he sings his smooth MPB songs without his smooth MPB band but only with his trusty untuned danelectro.
derek bailey & keiji haino we already know are good for this, right? take your pick
brandon seabrook's "sylphid vitalizers" someone sent me as a freebie, and i initially wrote it off as an octis-u-like, but it is enough of it's own thing & really very good if you're into shredding over drum machines.
the guys from portal should do some solo gtr stuff

There's a new Seabrook solo coming out on Pyroclastic in October: banjo, 12 & 6 string, cassette stuff apparently. His trio with Cooper Moore on diddly bow and Gerald Cleaver on drums is great and his contributions to Ingrid Laubrock's The Last Quiet Place are superb.

Seconded on solo Portal - that would be wild.

Not sure if Sandy Ewen has been mentioned in this thread, but I'm a big fan of her playing. The album with Roscoe Mitchell, Damon Smith and Weasel Walter is great, but some damn fine solo stuff on Scatter and other labels. Does that post-Keith Rowe lap style, with various preparations and deft use of a stereo pedal, but has a crackly language of her own and great sense of space.

One Eye, I would take it! I'll ILX email you if that works.

xxxp sandy nassan 'just guitar' is utterly fantastic. one of the few 'lost classics' i knew nothing of, bought cheap out of used bin at secondhand shop, and was blown away by. really felt like i discovered him on my own and i hadn't ever experienced that before (or since?) having missed out on crate-digging before vinyl 'came back' and largely formed my music taste online. and compared to other weirdos of his era there isn't much further info online about him

dude feels like he's exorcising something deep. you can hear the vocabulary of 70s folk rock throughout his playing but it's like he's trying to escape it. in my headcanon he took a stab at a career in more conventional music before saying fuck it and doing whatever

not a solo guitar recording, but both lps by robert johnson & the browns (robert johnson not being "that" robert johnson, the browns being todd rittman of us maple & dead rider etc) are interesting documents of post-rock dudes incorporating morton feldman moves etc, kinda like "crookt, crackt or fly" but with less tunes and the twang tuned up to 11, or link wray doing glenn branca numbers. of the two LPs "company no company" would be my pick

Another underrated guitar skronkist is Leonid Soybelman of Kletka Red and Ne Zhdali.

no problem Jordan, my ilxmail should still work

how'd i forget dan stearns? i wish weasel walter, corsano, or someone would give him a call:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb3hp-N7WPs

MARC RIBOT TO EMBARK ON FALL ‘SONGS OF RESISTANCE’ TOUR DATES FEAT. SHAHZAD ISMAILY

ADDITIONAL SOLO DATES ALSO ANNOUNCED

In 2018, renowned guitarist Marc Ribot released ‘Songs of Resistance’, an eleven-song album featuring performances of tracks drawn from the World War II anti-Fascist Italian partisans, the U.S. civil rights movement, Mexican protest ballads and original compositions, with a wide range of guest vocalists including Tom Waits, Steve Earle, Meshell Ndegeocello, Justin Vivian Bond, Fay Victor, Sam Amidon, and Ohene Cornelius. Released at the time in defiance of a Trump presidency, the album is unfortunately more vital than ever in 2024.

This fall, Ribot will perform ‘Songs of Resistance’ in duo with multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily in select markets with radical rearrangements of the songs plus new material, improvisation and whatever else reaps urgency. Similar to what these performances will feature, watch Ribot perform a solo live version of the renowned Italian resistance track “Bella Ciao” HERE.

The album's version of “Bella Ciao” features vocals from Tom Waits, the first song he contributed vocals to in many years. Last week, Mitski recorded her own version of the song and encouraged others to do the same. Watch it here:

Said No Depression upon the album’s initial release: “Ribot and the rest do not mince words on these blatant anti-Trump/GOP anthems that are meant to rally anti-fascist forces and disturb the complacent. This is a necessary record for the quagmire we find ourselves in.”
In addition to the ‘Songs of Resistance’ shows, Ribot will also embark on additional tour dates throughout the fall including performances with the Marc Ribot Quartet, live guitar score set to film and more. All upcoming dates are listed below.

TOUR DATES

9/7 - Tulsa, OK @ The Dylan Center – Music & Poetry Influenced & Inspired by Bob Dylan Feat. Shahzad Ismaily

Marc Ribot: Songs of Resistance (feat. Shahzad Ismaily)
9/8 - Nashville, TN @ Riverside Revival w/ Special Guest Buddy Miller
9/10 - Knoxville, TN @ Big Ears Festival Presents at Regas Square Events
10/23 - Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room

Marc Ribot Quartet feat. Mary Halvorson, Hiliard Greene & Chad Taylor
9/20 - Denver, CO @ Mercury Cafe
9/21 - Portland, OR @ Jack London Revue (Early & Late Shows)
9/22 - San Francisco, CA @ SFJAZZ – Miner (w/ Special Guest James Brandon Lewis)
9/23 - Santa Cruz, CA @ Kuumbwa
9/24 - Kirkland, WA @ Kirkland Center
9/25 - Albuquerque, NM @ Outpost - NM Jazz Festival
9/26 - Austin, TX @ Nothing Is Sacred

Live Solo Guitar Score to Chaplin’s THE KID
8/22 - Rochester, NY @ Little Theatre
9/28 - Saratoga Springs, NY @ Skidmore College
9/29 - Redbank, NJ @ The Vogel

Live Solo Guitar Score to AELITA: QUEEN OF MARS
Celebrating the centennial of the first sci-fi film by Yakov Protazanov
10/19 - Iowa City, IA @ ReFocus Festival: Hancher & FilmScene
10/20 - Chicago, IL @ Studebaker Theater
10/21 - Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts

Marc Ribot y LOS CUBANOS POSTIZOS
10/26 - New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
11/16 - Hamburg, DE @ Elbphilharmonie
11/18 - London, UK @ London Jazz Festival at Cadogan Hall
11/19 - Oslo, Norway @ Nasjonal Jazzscene, Victoria
11/20 - Zagreb, Croatia @ Lisinski Srijedom

https://www.marcribot.com/
Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

For More Info on Marc Ribot, Contact:
Kelly Kettering | ANTI- Records Publicity | kelly at epitaph.com

Sorry, couldn't access Ribot's own video.