Shoe String Symphonettes

Shoe String Symphonettes is a 1997 album of film music by Marc Ribot released on Tzadik Records.^[1]

The album contains soundtracks for five short films; the earliest being Landlord Blues directed by Jacob Burkardt (1987), followed by Death by Unnatural Causes directed by Karen Bellone and Lisa Rinzler (1991); one track for Summer Salt directed By Charles Levi (1993); Ribot's music for the silent filmAelita Queen of Mars directed by Yakov Protazanov (1928) was a mixture of live recordings from the 1995 Meltdown Festival mixed with backing tracks recorded in London and a live recording from The Knitting Factory; and Pieces from an Incomplete Project directed by Joe Brewster (1996).

Ribot stated "A lot of what I wrote was source music. In films, you write the score, but there's also source music. For example, if a scene takes place in a disco and the filmmaker doesn't want to shell out for rights to a disco hit, you write some disco. “Montuno” is a salsa tune. Jacob Burkhardt, the director, needed something that established a backyard on the Lower East Side. ... I gave it to the producer, J.D. Foster, to sequence, but I'm happy with the way he did it. I think it made the record as a whole more listenable. “Aelita” is pretty rough going; I chopped up the score into three suites. I don't mind mixing things up in that way. It's like making a salad, things rub off on each other".^[2]

Allmusic awarded the album 3 stars with reviewer Sean Cooper stating, "Symphonettes features some of Ribot's most compelling work to date, both creatively augmenting the originals and sketching out cinematic spaces more or less autonomous from the films they were inspired by".^[3]

All compositions are by Marc Ribot except where noted.

1. "Looks Like Hell" – 2:17
2. "Hitman" – 2:07
3. "Aelita Suite I: Martian/Lost in Space/More Martians/Harping and Burning/Prepare for Landing" – 6:46
4. "Montuno" – 3:28
5. "Bells" (Albert Ayler) – 1:07
6. "Aelita Suite II: Martian Telescope/Men of Science" – 3:05
7. "Before the Prison Riot" – 3:28
8. "You Kill Him" – 5:01
9. "Surf's Down" – 1:27
10. "Paul's There" – 2:22
11. "Did You?" – 2:05
12. "Aelita Suite III: A Message from Mars/Martian Battle/Avante Popolo" – 6:54
13. "Créditos finales (Tristeza del casero)" – 2:12
14. Créditos finales (Muerte por causas no naturales) – 2:54

• Las pistas 1, 5 y 14 fueron grabadas en Bear Track, Nueva York, para el cortometraje Death By Unnatural Causes (1991).
• Las pistas 2, 4 y 13 fueron grabadas en Studio Crisp, en la ciudad de Nueva York, para la película Landlord Blues .
• Las pistas 3, 6 y 12 fueron grabadas en directo en el Meltdown Festival , en el Royal Festival Hall de Londres, en 1995, y se utilizaron en la película Aelita, Reina de Marte . El final de la pista 12 fue grabado en directo en el Knitting Factory de Nueva York.
• Las pistas 7, 8, 10 y 11 fueron grabadas en el Studio 900 de la ciudad de Nueva York en 1996 para la película Pieces from an Incomplete Project .
• La pista 9 se grabó en los estudios Splash de la ciudad de Nueva York en 1993 para la película Summer Salt .

• Marc Ribot – guitarras, sampler, trompeta, banjo, trompa en mi bemol
• Greg Cohen (1, 14) – bajo
• Jill Jaffe (1, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14) – violín, viola
• Brad Jones (2, 4, 13) – bajo
• Bill Ware (2, 4, 13) – vibráfono
• Curtis Fowlkes (2, 4, 13) – trombón
• Jim Nolet (2, 4, 13) - violín
• Roy Nathanson (2, 4, 13) – saxofón
• EJ Rodríguez (2, 4, 13) – batería, percusión
• Gregory Ribot (2, 4, 13) - flauta
• Paul Clarvis (3, 6, 12) - batería, percusión
• Dave Maric (3, 6, 12) – teclados
• Phil Boyden (3, 6, 12) – violín
• Helen Thomas (3, 6, 12) – violonchelo
• Mike Kearsey (3, 6, 12) – trombón
• Anthony Coleman (12b) – órgano
• Ikue Mori (12b) - percusión
• Jim Staley (12b) – trombón
• Dave Douglas (7, 8, 10, 11) – trompeta
• Vicki Bodner (7, 8, 10, 11) - oboe
• Charlie Giordano (7, 8, 10, 11) – piano, teclados
• Mauro Refosco (7, 8, 10, 11) – percusión
• Maxine Neuman (7, 8, 10, 11) – violonchelo
• Tony Garnier (7, 8, 10, 11) – bajo
• John Zorn (9) – saxofón
• Andy Haas (9) – saxofón
• Cyro Baptista (9) – batería