by Sean CooperAlthough 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.