Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog

Ars Nova Workshop is pleased to present the return of Ceramic Dog, the abrasive and eclectic funk-punk-jazz-whatever trio led by veteran guitarist/provocateur Marc Ribot.

Hope is hardly the sentiment one would expect from the most audacious of Marc Ribot’s many projects, his scorching trio Ceramic Dog with bassist/multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Ches Smith. Yet that’s the title of the group’s explosive new album, one that looks beyond the traumas of this tumultuous period without forgiving the misdeeds that brought us here. Recorded during the panic, it came as the result of Ribot beginning to “find being depressed depressing,” and the results are as infectious as they are defiant, as invigorating as they are confrontational.

In its 2018 Year in Review, Aquarium Drunkard stated that “when it comes to Ceramic Dog, his agit punk trio with Shahzad Ismaily and Ches Smith, Ribot mostly eschews nuance in favor of aggressive funk, deconstructed flamenco, and scathing punk.”

Ceramic Dog is a free punk, funk, and experimental collective featuring Marc Ribot – who has collaborated with Tom Waits, John Zorn, T-Bone Burnett, Marianne Faithful, the Lounge Lizards, and Elvis Costello – plus two of the best young players on the New York and California underground improv/experimental rock scene, Shahzad Ismaily (who has performed with Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Burnt Sugar, and the Secret Chiefs 3) and Ches Smith (who has performed with Xiu Xiu, Good for Cows, and Tim Berne’s Snakeoil).