Ani Difranco - Knuckle Down
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Free Music Notes for Knuckle Down
Free Music Review: Instantly palatable
Hit: 5 Stars
I saw Ani two nights in a row in SF and both sets were pretty mellow. I've since had "Knuckle Down" in a constant loop in the home and in our car. (i have a very tolerant husband and a 3 year old who adores ani's music) A huge difference for me with this record is that it was instantly palatable. I have nearly all of her records and when a new one is released I spend much time hating it since one is always so different from the last, with which, I am usually having an intense love affair. Andrew Bird and Noe Venable lend and ethereal, dreamy sound to her songs and I tend to be somewhat transported yon when listen to "Studying Stones," "Sunday Morning," and "Lag Time." Paradigm is a wonderful song that resonates deeply with me in the first few lines being that I drag my daughter to letter writing campaigns, me writing letters while she vacuums up all the brownies (good mind-altering substance for a 3 year old), and peace rallies.
Todd Sickafoose, while really annoying with that giant bass at Luther Burbank in Santa Rosa was incredible at The Warfield, And, on the album, the upright base is just right. Julie Wolf makes a guest appearance as melodica which I always find refreshing - the two of them have some incredible chemistry and it's always a joy to see/hear them making noise together.
The biggest sign of success for Ani, in my mind, became clear upon seeing the *very* VERY eclectic group of folk who had gathered to see her those two nights. it's clear she has reached far into the corners of musicfanworld and has drawn out some folks who one wouldn't necessarily expect to see at her shows. There was a guy in a 3 piece suit dancing, rather stiffly to her tunes, to the right of me in the pit and to the left a pot smoking 20 something cowgirl-ish punk who jabbed me in the ribs more than I would have liked. Get the album, you'll enjoy it and so will about everyone around you. My husband, while he respects her as an artist, a political voice etc etc is really annoyed by her sound. Funny thing is that he's been walking around the house whistling her tunes...really, get it, you'll not regret it.
Free Music Review: Back To the Fold
Hit: 5 Stars
I've read several of the reviews below, and some are very good. My review of this album won't be quite as technical and thorough as those I've read, but I'll give you my honest opinion. This is a great cd. I've been listening to Ani for about 11 years now....I came in around the "Out of Range" and "Not a Pretty Girl" days. I was a very "devoted" fan (read crazed) for much of my late teens and into my early twenties...sometimes driving as long as 10 hours for a concert. I've loved several of her cd's along the way....Dilate, Little Plastic Castle, To the Teeth, Revelling/Reckoning, Evolve. But as life kept on going, and I got older, I became less and less crazed. Not because of her music, but because I had more going on.....more important things to worry about. I didn't even buy Educated Guess (I didn't even *gasp* realize that she had released it!) But after seeing her perform "Studying Stones" on, of all places, the CBS Saturday Early Show, I was intrigued about "Knuckle Down." So I got the cd, and expected to go through my usual Ani routine. Listen to it, think "hmmmm this isn't anything like Little Plastic Castle or To the Teeth or Evolve....I'm not sure I like it," and then a few weeks or months later listen to it and think "OH! I get it, this is awesome!" But I haven't been able to stop listening to it since it arrived in the mail. This cd has snapped me back to that old place. I'm not sure how, and I'm not sure why....but that's what's happened. I absolutely love this disc. It's really hard pick a favorite song (okay, maybe I like "Studying Stones", "Paradigm", and "Sunday Morning" a little more than the rest.) I'm not saying everyone will love this as much as I do. But if you've kept listening to Ani through the years, through all the different bands and styles and personal experiences, I think you'll dig this cd.Free Music Review: One of her best albums of all time.
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm not sure exactly where I would rank Educated Guess among Difranco's work. While intimate and emotional, the album is so self indulgent and dissonant that it renders a hard record to listen to over and over again. Knuckle Down, however, is by far, one of Difranco's best to date. From the gorgeous "Studying Stones," to the rocking "Manhole," to the melancholic "Recoil," this album includes something for all Difranco fans, old and new. Unlike last year's Guess, which left many fans feeling cold, Knuckle Down is a grab bag LP filled with many songs everyone will enjoy. Those looking for spoken word will be plesantly suprised with "Parameters," an invoking and spooky tale about an obsessed fan who invades Difranco's home, stealng her false sense of security. The poem segues masterfully into the best song on the album, "Callous," a bittersweet track in which Difranco states, "You can't will yourself happy/You can't will your c**t wet/You can't keep staring at the train station/Pretending you're being met." And although this album is devoid of much political material, there is the reflective "Paradigm." The song, about her immigrant parents learning about democracy in its most accoustic form you can hear live is great in its own right, but the added guitars and background vocals breathe new life into a new-old gem.
There is barely a weak track on the album, besides the odd man out "Seeing Eye Dog," which loses itself in the tempo change. But even that song, though misguided, is not completely horrible, and the other strong eleven tracks more than make up for that mis-step. Knuckle Down proves than Ani Difranco can share some of her creativity with a peer (In this case Joey Henry) and yet come with a rejuvinated style that seems to have brought all eras of her music into one. Knuckle Down is a true return to form.
Free Music Review: "a lesson must be lived/in order to be learned"
Hit: 5 Stars
I know that everyone who takes the time to write or read these reviews is probably already a huge ani follower, and I won't take up too much space with the many positive applicable adjectives that flood my head when Ani is mentioned. I will only say that after "evolve" and "educated guess" I felt like Ani's work was at odds with itself. It seemed to strain towards total honesty yet, for fear of rebuttal or overexposure, stayed very much wrapped in mystery, a turtle recluctant to leave the shell. This worried me greatly, because ani had helped me survive my early and mid twenties with her empathetic world view. Now that thirty was looming, and life was reshaping itself into a newer, grittier yet strangely more digestible form, who was going to sing the songs? What wonderful music was going to live in my car? After the last two ani records, I was afraid I it wasn't going to be ani.
But divorce and death of a parent are such monster epics that Ani probably couldn't stay veiled and I'm grateful. "Knuckle Down" is the kind of record you howl along to. There are many quotable moments on this record, but since no one mentioned this one yet, allow me:
"But after my dreaded beheading, I tied that sucker back on with string. And i guess I'm pretty different now, considering."
That's the Ani I love, right there. I'm so happy to have her back.
Free Music Review: The bee and the butterfly
Hit: 5 Stars
Ani happens to be a righteous poet who happens to play righteous music, or a righteous musician who happens write righteous poetry. Both. She's the best at what she does. This is probably her most accessible album since any of her live ones.
I think what Mr. Henry brings to her music is a sense of control. If there were only minor quibbles about her last two albums, it would be the excessive flourishes of improvisations. They tended to drown out her brilliance. These songs are polished and more smooth and thus, more haunting around the edges.
I even like the strings instead of horns. Less obtrusive. I once saw Van Morrison in Chicago and it hit me what an incredible voice as an instrument he has. This doesn't come through on many of his studio arrangements, but there at the Concert his voice sizzled the air.
This lower key, controlled musical landscape Ani creates on Knuckle Down allow her lyrics and the power of said lyrics to sizzle the ears and soul. Her mind and poetics are an even more powerful instrument than her musical forays.
Mr. Henry hasn't captured the bee or the butterfly but instead put forth a tiny rock and flower that either of them can alight upon for a brief moment in time for all of us to see both with a bit more clarity and appreciation.
And all for 10 bucks. Yes!