Although
Marc Ribot has lent his incomparable six-string idiosyncracy to any number of studio ensemble projects,
Shrek is his first attempt to assemble a solid group of his own.
Shrek's more or less stable lineup includes guitarist
Chris Wood (of
Medeski, Martin, and Wood), bassist
Sebastian Steinberg, drummer
Jim Pugliese, and percussionist
Christine Bard. The group's debut shifts restlessly among animated jazz, rock, punk, and warped blues themes, filling the inevitable cracks with instrumental textures, minimal vignettes, and formless noise, similar in some respects to
John Zorn's Naked City (though with considerably more focus...hell, with focus
period!). The group is joined on three tracks by sampler collage artist
David Shea. ~ Sean Cooper, All Music Guide