Pages tagged “ani difranco”

Ani DiFranco is happy and she's not afraid to sing about it. The media may have long ago labeled her a sad, depressing feminist poet, but that's not stopping her from writing what her label is calling her "most joyous record to date." Guess that's what happens when you fall in love and have a baby.

Paste caught up with DiFranco as she was kicking off her fall tour. Red Letter Year hit record store shelves Sept. 30.

Another red-letter album

On first blush, Ani DiFranco’s 20th album is a surprisingly sunny celebration of domestic bliss. “Smiling Underneath” and “Way Tight” chronicle the restorative powers of love in the midst of a soul-sucking world, and “Present/Infant” and “Landing Gear” ruminate on the disruptive but joyful challenges of DiFranco’s new baby daughter. But because this is an Ani DiFranco album, the motor-mouth invocations of Grrrl Power and exhibitions of disarming vulnerability aren’t far behind. Looser and funkier than 2006’s Reprieve, Red Letter Year is a dazzling folk/punk/jazz hybrid. Only bizarre paean “The Atom”—a song that tries to be a secular hymn and protest song, and ultimately fails at both—mars the otherwise fantastic track sequence, which concludes with a reprise of the title track as a joyous New Orleans-brass-band stomp.

Listen to Ani DiFranco's "Smiling Underneath" from Red Letter Year:

WXPN, everyone's favorite non-commercial radio station out of the University of Pennsylvania, has announced plans to start a new radio and web-based series called "Power of Song." Launching exclusively for September, the series hopes to bring attention to the importance of music in culture by exploring "the intersection between music and politics, tracing the history of music rich in social commentary."

Day 2 in Philadelphia near the campus of the University of Pennsylvania saw Music Directors, Program Directors and record label reps, radio promoters (the guys that cajole, plead and otherwise beg the radio stations to play the latest "single" by their clients) checking out new and upcoming artists like Astrid Williamson and Ingrid Michaelson, as well as Ryan Bingham and Hayes Carll (a former Paste 4 To Watch artist).  But let's tell the story of the stellar evening showcase featuring Englishman Newton Faulkner and his red dreadlocks, new mommy Ani DiFranco, Paste cover kids The Hold Steady and New Orleans legend Dr. John in pictures....

Ani DiFranco plans to continue her tour across the U.S. in support of her first compilation album Canon (2007). As reported at LiveDaily, The self-described “Little Folksinger” will be joined by her regular ensemble of Todd Sickafoose on upright bass and Allison Miller on drums.

Another free-spirited band plans to contribute its sound to some of her powerhouse shows as well. Over the Rhine will join DiFranco at 11 venues next month, culminating in a show at the original House of Blues. Afterwards, DiFranco will trek through the west coast all the way up to Canada:

February
28 - Concord, N.H. @ Capitol Center

March
1 - Rochester, N.Y. @ Auditorium Theatre
2 - Pittsburgh, Pa. @ Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead
3 - Athens, Ohio @ Mountain Stage
5 - Columbus, Ohio @ Lifestyle Communities Pavilion
6 - Knoxville, Tenn. @ Bijou Theatre
7 - Athens, Ga. @ 40 Watt Club
9 - Big Cypress Seminole Reservation, Fla. @ Langerado Music Festival
11 - Tampa, Fla. @ Tampa Theatre
12 - Jacksonville, Fla. @ Freebird Live
14 - Nashville, Tenn. @ Ryman Auditorium
15 - Birmingham, Ala. @ Workplay Soundstage
16 - New Orleans, La. @ House of Blues

April
4-5 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ Orpheum Theatre
6 - Santa Barbara, Calif. @ Lobero Theatre
10 - Reno, Nev. @ Lawlor Events Center
11 - Santa Rosa, Calif. @ Wells Fargo Center for the Arts
12 - Chico, Ca. @ Manzanita Place
13 - Redding, Ca. @ Cascade Theatre
15 - Medford, Ore. @ Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater
16 - Eugene, Ore. @ McDonald Theatre
18 - Portland, Ore. @ Crystal Ballroom
19 - Spokane, Wash. @ Service Station
21 - Vancouver, B.C. @ Chan Shun Concert Hall
22 - Victoria, B.C. @ The University Centre Auditorium
23 - Seattle, Wash. @ Moore Theatre

June
20 - Telluride, Colo. @ Telluride Bluegrass Festival

July
15 - Asbury Park, N.J. @ Paramount Theatre

Related links:
Ani DiFranco on MySpace
Over the Rhine on MySpace
RighteousBabe.com

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A sweeping snapshot of a musical institution

With two full discs diligently chronicling over 17 years of Ani DiFranco’s dense output, Canon at first feels like a lot to swallow, particularly since DiFranco is inevitably intimidating to the unfamiliar. People talk about her as though you have to be either with her or against her, and so those not yet among the rabid fanbase or enamored with her countercultural heft kind of shudder outside the door, wondering how or if to enter. Canon is a gift to this exact audience. Wading into this collection, DiFranco’s voice rings rich and inviting, and even if the clever twists and barbs of her lyrics wield an edge, she welcomes you into the gritty irony with an arresting smirk.

Ani DiFranco is as well-known for her politics as her candid emotions, and her latest, Knuckledown, dwells more on the latter as she delivers fervent lyrics with her trademark half-whisper, half-gargle. Her focus on the trance-inducing (“Modulation”) and the mellow (“Callous”) culminates in the spoken-word “Parameters,” which winds through DiFranco’s philosophy before returning to her concrete narrative. DiFranco always throws her heart into her songs, and Knuckledown gives her a chance to reflect on it.

A theme of sorts for DiFranco’s latest is laid out in “Origami,” when she declares, “I am an all-powerful Amazon warrior / Not just some sniveling girl / So, no matter what I think I need / You know I can’t possibly have a need in this world.” Hear her roar. And hear her do it alone. Educated Guess is DiFranco’s first true solo record in 13 years. She produces, plays all the instruments, sings all lead and backing vocals and handles all recording and mixing. She’s the living embodiment of the independent woman Beyoncé and her crew sang about a few years ago. Only not as danceable. Or as funky. Or, frankly, as interesting. Spotted with spoken-word tracks—like the rambling “Grand Canyon,” which veers from a patriotic rumination to a treatise on feminism—and the usual moments of confessional clarity, Educated Guess is the restless DiFranco being the folkiest she’s been in a decade. She’s aggressive on “Bubble,” both musically and lyrically. And in “Swim,” she once again declares independence—literally, figuratively, does it really matter at this point? What matters is that she’s good at it. Then again, she’s been working on it for 14 years.