Marc Ribot has established himself as one of the most versatile and compelling guitarists concertizing and recording today. Ribot’s sublime guitar playing runs through the 11 tracks on his new album, Songs of Resistance 1942-2018 (Anti- Records), which feature guest artists including Steve Earle, Meshell Ndegeocello, Tift Merritt and Fay Victor. The Italian partisan song, “Bella Ciao,” proceeds at a stately pace, with an evocative vocal by Tom Waits. “There’s a lot of contradiction in doing any kind of political music,” Ribot says about this collection, which speaks to our precarious political moment in the reign of the “orange-comb-over dictator wannabe.” Songs of Resistance is up to the knocker both for aesthetic accomplishment and providing hope in these dark times. — Mordecai Specktor
