Ani Difranco - Knuckle Down
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Free Music Notes for Knuckle Down
Free Music Review: New to Ani DiFranco
Hit: 5 Stars
My friend saw Ani DiFranco at JazzFest in New Orleans and recommended the CD. I liked it so much I bought Not a Pretty GirlFree Music Review: Thumbs up for Knuckle Down
Hit: 4 Stars
To release 16 albums of original material in as many years is a rare accomplishment for any musician. Still, Ani DiFranco continues to evolve artistically and offer her loyal fans new and challenging material.
With her newest release, Ms. DiFranco steps up from the sparse instrumentation and confused introversion of her last record (Educated Guess), with a tight group of studio musicians and careful thematic approach to songwriting and arranging. What results is a bold, moody record as listenable as it is ambitious.
Knuckle Down finds DiFranco amidst a transitional period in life. The angst of Educated Guess, produced in the shadow of a divorce and the death of a parent, has given way to a period of reflection. The title track, which teases fans of Out of Range-era Ani with its percussive slap-guitar sound, attests to her new self-awareness: "I think I'm done gunnin' to get closer to some imagined bliss/ I gotta knuckle down and just be okay with this."
The bulk of the songwriting appears in a confessional style, emphasizing the personal over the political. The radical, feminist, crap-kicker Ani DiFranco is largely absent from Knuckle Down, though her lyrics are as strong as ever.
Lyrics of the excellent closer "Recoil" reinforce DiFranco's struggle with depression: "I'm just sittin here in this sty/ Strewn with half-written songs/ Taking one breath at a time/ Nothin much going on." She smartly turns the words around at the song's climax declaring: "I'm going outside to watch the house burn down across the street."
Several of DiFranco's new songs mark a return to a lush style of musical arranging from the middle-period of her career, though without the pop sensibilities of those recordings. The fluid bass guitar of DiFranco's stage partner Todd Sickafoose, the understated piano and softly distorted guitar layers create a darker sonic atmosphere.
As DiFranco's shifts effortlessly from breathy crooning to soft growls her band follows her at every turn. Edgy compositions like "Manhole" and "Modulated" (The latter, a fierce inversion of Ani's minor 1994 hit "Falling Is Like This") show her in control of a formidable musical force.
DiFranco brings along sometime touring partner Joe Henry to produce the record and as well as Righteous Babe Records label-mate Andrew Bird, who adds some minor string arrangements. Henry's touch marks the beautiful "Sunday Morning" and the quirky "Seeing Eye Dog," an odd love song of sorts, complete with Tom Waits ghost-dog clanginess, and idiosyncratic lyrics like: "I love the way your stories seem to fall from your lips/ With just enough slobber so it sparkles and drips/ The way you hang the whole room on a word/ Like a little stick in the beak of a bird."
In a now signature Ani DiFranco move, she includes one spoken word piece: the chilling "Parameters" which stands far above her previous pieces of verse.
Knuckle Down's big weakness comes from the two or three songs that don't really go anywhere. With a running time of almost one hour, DiFranco might have cut it down to a 45-minute masterpiece. Still, the record is a treasure; a fine offering from a distinguished artist.
Free Music Review: Revelling/recovering
Hit: 4 Stars
The last time we saw Ani DiFranco was in the indulgent, scattered "Educated Guess," which sounded like the aftermath of her divorce and the loss of her dad. But she's tightened things up with "Knuckle Down," adding some guest musicians and smoothing out the discordant kinks in her music.
There's a bluesy note to her folky-punky-poppy music this time around, as if she's almost recovered from her emotional woes, but not quite there yet. The title track is an example of this, with a "cowgirl alter-ego" who laments that, "I think I'm done gunnin' to get closer/To some imagined bliss/I gotta knuckle down/And just be ok with this..." She finishes up wistfully with the self-examinating, "'Course that star struck girl/Is already someone I miss."
For the rest of the album, DiFranco runs the gamut from scathing observations about men in "Manhole" to the aftermath of rape in "Parameters." Most of the songs seem to reflect the stages of recovery, from looking back on her life to trying to move forward, older and wiser.
Expect a fairly mellow sound here. Even in the twangy or strummy songs, there's a newly laid-back feel to her voice and instrumentation, as if reflecting the resignation in the first song. While DiFranco has been criticized for a lack of political songs on "Knuckle Down," it doesn't weaken the album. She's just as good when she's reflecting on relationships, or even just taking a hard look at herself. The odd duck is "Seeing Eye Dog," which is a nice love song, but it frankly doesn't fit in with the others.
DiFranco sticks to what works musically -- she finger-picks acoustic guitar in the middle of each song, whether playing fast poppy melodies or eerie slow strums. The creepy "Minerva" is enough to give you goosebumps. And the songs are blanketed in strings, piano and bass, adding a melodic quality to the softly flowing "Studying Stones."
Without being whiny, these songs give you a look into folk-punk icon Ani DiFranco's mind. Her last album was the pain itself, but "Knuckle Down" is the road to recovery.
Free Music Review: Very Cool, if not fun
Hit: 4 Stars
One of the records that made me a fan of Ani's was "Puddle Dive". That album is just so fun and powerful at the same time, like many of her earlier work. This record while brilliant with songs like "Studying Stones", "Sunday Morning" and "Recoil" which is my favorite of any song she's ever done. As a whole though the CD is kind of a buzz-kill. The songs are kind of depressing and sometimes creepy such as "Parameters" in which she uses a home invasion as a metaphor for how life's thoughts and belifs can change as you grow older. The CD is great, no doubt about that and it will be in my car for quite sometime but listen to Ani sing "What If No One's Watching" on the "Imperfectly" CD and the title track, she was having fun just flowing with the song, made me feel it! I swear I never envied being female in my life before Ani! This CD as well as her last seem to catch her in sort of a blue period. Understandable with the year or so she's had. I'm not saying she should sell out her emotions, just making an observation. My one bit of real criticism, the title track; she says, "...Just have to knucle down/and be okay with this." I never thought I'd hear her say those words about anything. I love her anyway. So until all races unite as one and all WMD's anywhere are destroyed, make mine Ani DiFranco.Free Music Review: Ani's still great, and that Kevin guy who gave her 1 star?
Hit: 4 Stars
This isn't my favorite Ani album, but, like all of her albums, each song has it's moment and application to my own life. I shaved my head once (although, sadly, it I don't have the head for it), found myself wanting to angrily lash out at unrequited love (which is why I absolutely love Dilate), and am now growing a bit older and wiser, which I see happening in her work. And I love the fact that she's still giving the man the finger; it reminds me that I need to give up a bit of comfort for honesty, too.
And, as for Kevin, the fellow who gave the album 1 star. Well, I'm sure he didn't even listen to it as, if you check out his record of reviews, all he does is write reviews with one star. This indicates to me that he is either a bitter, lonely man sitting in his basement blindly raging against some unknown enemy (could it be his own stunning inadequacy?) or he's just a hack who thinks he's being witty by trashing other people. Either way, I do feel sorry for him and hope that he finds some joy in life, before he bites the big one and the only thing proving his pitiful existence will be some pithy amazon.com reviews. So, Kevin, if you're reading this, take a shower, get dressed, and go meet some people. Or take up a hobby. Do something. You need to find some joy in life.