Ani DiFranco Knuckledown
Ani’s newest album, Knuckledown, feels like a long-lost friend. Someone you haven’t seen in a long time, but you soon recall mannerisms, jokes, memories.
Her last album, Educated Guess, was all Ani, in the way Ani has never been, or at least, not in a long time.
Pared down, produced, mixed, written, performed, all by the little folksinger. Mixed in her home studio, recorded by herself. A little raw, a little unpolished. But worth the listen.
Knuckledown goes back to playing with other musicians, and for the first time, co-producing with another person. It still feels like Ani, but I haven’t listened long enough to have a good grip on the words. But like an old friend, we’ll be friends again.
Features a trademark, long, spoken word track set to music. Beautiful. Haunting. Still sinking in.
Ani is sometimes hard to figure out. So much is her writing about things she cares about. But the writing gets more veiled with time. I can no longer tell who the story is about, whether it is a story or a metaphor.
She’s a prolific woman, the folk singer who has expanded far beyond folk. Whatever she does, she keeps me guessing.
And I like that.
Why do you think some people say that she’s sold out? I remember a young(er) anarchist person syaing this to me last May. Is it generational? Is she of ‘our time’ and not soon-to-be-20s crowd?
I think it just must be generational.
I don’t think she’s sold out at all. I think she has a larger following these days. Partly because you can buy her albums more easily because they’re distributed by a bigger company.
She runs hot and cold sometimes with her work, but she hasn’t sold out. She’s still got her independent label, and she still puts out albums at her record speed. She’s not worried about polish or success, but what is real to her at the time.
I think if I heard Ani on the radio all the time (and I can’t even think of the last time I did), I would start to worry.
Her shows can sell out. She’s a popular lass. But she’s not mainstream. And hopefully never will be.
She’s been so vocal about not selling herself in the past that I can’t see why that would change. I hope not.
I do see her focus changing. As in Living in Clip, where she talks about people at Righteous Babe saying she was losing her political focus, talking about love and stuff…she can be political, but not most of the time. She’s introspecting.
Sometimes she makes songs that grip me, either musically or lyrically. This album, I’m still grasping for one of those. Like I said, I think she runs hot and cold. Though the spoken word one, parameters, is haunting.
I wish I could find other singers like Ani, actually, who speak to me so strongly. Did the younger anarchist person have any suggestions as to who is taking on a new voice in the indie world? I always need suggestions for other things to be listening to.
I had never heard of Ani DiFranco. I like your new site design, by the way. I’m too lazy to do anything like this. And I’m a verbal person anyway, so I tend to privilege words over imagery…which is why my PhotoBlog is so damn lame.
I’ve heard of Ani but never listened to her. But I’m growing an interest. I may have to give her a listen. Which album would you recommend starting with?
And, I too, like your new site design. I need to figure out how you can do this. I haven’t explored it too much yet…being new and all.
Matt, you should check out Ani. She’s known for staying with the independent label she started, Righteous Babe Records. Known for speaking her mind. Apparently had a spot on Leno within the last week, but I missed it, bc I was working and can’t stand Leno anyway.
Has a widely different range. Sometimes she’s a little jazzy. Sometimes a little folky. Sometimes a little rocky. Never can tell.
Recommendations to you both: my favorite album, the one I first listened to Ani on was Little Plastic Castle. Some of my other favorites are Evolve, Dilate and Not a Pretty Girl. Has a lot of stuff to say. If either of you are interested, I can eh, hem, hook you up. I actually have a couple of mix cds I’ve made for archival use, of course, that I’d be happy to share.
And thanks for the design thing. Todd helped with uploading and sizing the banner. But I obviously have to tweak a little more on my side, or size the banner down more, and have Todd upload it for me again.
But I’ve been messing with the skin a little bit. … Basically used the custom skin, and then have been going in and changing colors so far. Obviously haven’t gotten to all of them, since there are still blue things here and there. I’ve also messed up something on the main page, that I’m not sure what I did. Ah well.
I love words and I love images. And somehow never seem to be very good with either. Just thought as someone who allegedly should be more visual in her job should create her own banner.
Sorry, no suggestions from the activist. But he once kidded me for being of the bohemian-touchy-feely sort in contrast with the red-and-black-fist sort.
Never can fit into any one person’s mold, I guess. But we are who we are. If that’s touchy feely, so be it. We can’t all be angry all the time.
While I like the theory of anarchy, it’s not something I trust. Because people can devolve into being pretty evil. There needs to be some order everywhere. Maybe not the sort of staid, upper-class white male rule we have now, but there’s gotta be some kind of rules.
Just like we have to agree on what language to use, what language is, what words mean.
So I bought “Knuckledown” the other night. I’m still haven’t gotten through the entire thing. But so far, I like it quite a bit.
I also picked up (on impulse) Green Day’s “American Idiot.” The Grammy’s can’t lie, can they?
Awesome, Shel! Just give the album some time. Even as a devout Ani fan, it took me a little time to truly let it sink in. But I do love it. I think I like it better than the last one.
Green Day… There’s something I have mixed feelings on. I used to like them, but I wonder how relevant they are all these years later. Because punk is all about energy and youth to me…
But what do I know? I do like the title song, so I guess I’d be willing to take a chance on them too.