| Ani DiFranco |
| Allergic to Water |
Ani DiFranco — Allergic to Water
≡• Newnew album Ani DiFranco oplývá jemnou hudbou. Je oděné v krásném, bílém, reliéfním balení. V průběhu nahrávání DiFranco s kapelou a několika hudebními hosty vytvořila zpěvné a funky melodie, typicky nápadité a osobní: tak osobní, že to vše produkovala a mixovala vše na vlastní pěst. DiFranco skrývá svět hudebních překvapení do 12 low–key písní. Vibes, tóny a rytmus se stále mění, zatímco její kapela čerpá z vlastní rozsáhlé palety.
Birth name: Angela Maria DiFranco
Born: September 23, 1970, Buffalo, New York, United States
Genres: Folk rock, indie, alternative
Occupations: Musician, singer–songwriter, poet
Instruments: Guitar, bass guitar, tenor guitar, vocals, percussion, piano
Location: NYC
Album release: November 4, 2014
Recorded: 2012–2014
Record Label: Righteous Babe
Duration: 49:57
Tracks:
01 Dithering 5:04
02 See See See See 3:43
03 Woe Be Gone 4:01
04 Careless Words 5:10
05 Allergic to Water 3:45
06 Harder Than It Needs to Be 4:57
07 Genie 5:17
08 Happy All the Time 3:65
09 Yeah Yr Right 4:07
10 TR'W 2:46
11 Still My Heart 3:49
12 Rainy Parade 3:13
≡• All songs written and composed by Ani DiFranco.
Players:
≡• Ani DiFranco
≡• Todd Sickafoose
≡• Terence Higgins
≡• Ivan Neville
≡• Mike Dillon
≡• Jenny Scheinman
≡• Matt Perrine
Personnel:
≡• Ani DiFranco — guitar, tamburitza, wurli, harpsichord, xylophone, vocals
≡• Todd Sickafoose — bass, piano, bilhorn organ, synthesizer, wurli, bells, orchestron
≡• Terence Higgins — drums, percussion
≡• Ivan Neville — wurli, clavinet, piano
≡• Jenny Scheinman — violins, backing vocals
≡• Mike Dillon — triangle
≡• Matt Perrine — sousaphone
Personnel Credits:
≡• Recorded by Mike Napolitano and Andy Taub at The Dugout and at Esplanade Studios, New Orleans, LA
≡• Additional Recording by Todd Sickafoose and Ani DiFranco
≡• Produced and Mixed by Ani DiFranco
≡• Mastered by Brent Lambert at Kitchen Mastering
≡• Art Direction by Brian Grunert at White Bicycle
≡• Portraits by Charles Waldorf
Description:
≡• Ani’s new album, Allergic to Water, features some of the most subtle music to date wrapped up in lovely white embossed packaging. Throughout the record, DiFranco, her band and a few music guests, create melodies that are lilting and funky, imaginative and personal: so personal that she produced and mixed the record all on her own . DiFranco packs a world of musical surprises into the 12 low-key songs on Allergic To Water. Vibes, tones and rhythms constantly change while her band draws on its own expansive palette.
≡• Ani says, “the recordings are documents of my current touring band just laying down the songs. It was empowering but terrifying to have the buck stop with me again in terms of the mixes i hope you enjoy this record. thank you for listening.”
Style:
≡• DiFranco's guitar playing is often characterized by a signature staccato style, rapid fingerpicking and many alternate tunings. She delivers many of her lines in a speaking style notable for its rhythmic variation. Her lyrics, which often include alliteration, metaphor, word play and a more or less gentle irony, have also received praise for their sophistication. Although DiFranco's music has been classified as both folk rock and alternative rock, she has reached across genres since her earliest albums incorporating first punk, then funk, hiphop, and jazz influences.
≡• While primarlly an acoustic guitarist she has used a variety of instruments and styles: brass instrumentation was prevalent in 1998's Little Plastic Castle; a simple walking bass in her 1997 cover of Hal David and Burt Bacharach's "Wishin' and Hopin'"; strings on the 1997 live album Living in Clip and 2004's Knuckle Down; and electronics and synthesisers in 1999's To the Teeth and 2006's Reprieve.
≡• DiFranco herself noted that "folk music is not an acoustic guitar — that's not where the heart of it is. I use the word 'folk' in reference to punk music and rap music. It’s an attitude, it's an awareness of one's heritage, and it's a community. It's subcorporate music that gives voice to different communities and their struggle against authority.”
REVIEW
Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY 12:59 p.m. EDT August 19, 2014
≡• "Hello world. Ani here. Got a new wreckord and I don't hate it."
≡• That's how Ani DiFranco begins her description of Allergic to Water, to be released Oct. 14 on her Righteous Babe label.
≡• It's the 20th full-length studio album since 1990 for the prolific indie singer/songwriter, who's explored genres from punk and hip-hop to jazz and folk.
≡• The 12-track Allergic was recorded at her Victorian house in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans, where DiFranco has lived for more than a decade, and at a larger studio in an old church.
≡• She relates the making of Allergic in a written note to fans:
"We recorded it in two four-day sessions, one while I was six and a half months pregnant (I swear i can hear how my voice sounds different in those tracks), and one a year later while I was nursing a six month old. The songs come very much up out of that inward cocoon that a new baby creates and reflect the gifts and the strains of the journey. Because the new babe is so high-maintenance (Welcome to parenting a boy! say my knowing friends) I pretty much mixed and produced this one myself, after years of working very closely with my ace record-producing husband, Mike Napolitano.
"Mostly I worked alone in headphones, in the wee hours, while my family slept.
≡• It was empowering but terrifying to have the buck stop with me again in terms of the mixes. The recordings are documents of my current touring band (recorded by Mike in our old Victorian house and also by Andy Taub at a nearby church in the Treme) just laying down the songs. Many also feature a couple of very choice special guests.
≡• "My killer band these days consists of bassist and composer Todd Sickafoose, who not only brings an always wonderful and unexpected counterpoint to my guitar with his bass playing, but is also my secret weapon in terms of production — overdubbing atmospherics and embellishments that add depth and color to the stories I tell.
≡• "My drummer is Terence Higgins, a New Orleans native, who brings that deeply funky pocket that makes me smile so wide, yet all-the-while listening through to the whole picture and really making music with his instrument, not just rhythms. Though most of Terence's musical incarnations have him playing drum kit, this record really features his hand-percussion prowess — like the congas on See See See See, the Mardi Gras Indian style tambourine on Genie — he nailed it every time.
≡• "And speaking of New Orleans, the incredible Ivan Neville joins the band on a good number of these tunes and, like Todd, has a way of elevating and deepening (does that make sense?) the proceedings every time. Ivan sunk his funky footprint into the mud of Dithering and brought a steamy shimmer to Tr‘w. he provides the perfect soulful response in Happy All the Time and rides shotgun to my guitar in the drag race of Careless Words. I'm also quite psyched and fortunate that Ivan is going to join my band on tour this fall and help bring these songs to life on stage.
≡• “The other prominent and very special guest is violinist Jenny Scheinman, a long–time cohort of Todd‘s and a more recent friend of mine. Jenny opened a bunch of shows for me last spring and we had such a blast hanging out and jamming together that I just had to get her on this new record. She joins the Greek chorus of my bullet–mic choir and also steps out and takes the lead in a few songs with her vivid and magical playing.
≡• “Beyond them, there is really just my friend and sometimes band member Mike Dillon playing triangle on one track, and Matt Perrine, a New Orleans sousaphonist at~large, plays a dang tuba solo on Harder Than It Needs To Be, cuz every country song needs a tuba (technically sousaphone) solo! Am I right?” :: http://www.usatoday.com/
≡• Ani DiFranco is certainly unique. A singer~songwriter whose lyrics are more startling than her melodies, she is also an impressive acoustic guitarist, influenced by American folk, jazz and punk. She is married to a man, but has a cult following in the gay scene, has staunchly radical and feminist views, and started her own record label, Righteous Babe, when she was just 20.
≡• Her last album included angry political songs, but Allergic to Water, her 20th full-length studio album, is different. “There are lot of ‘married with kids’ songs,” she explained, adding: “I tried to raise my daughter gay, but it’s not working.” The new material included the cool, drifting Careless Words, “on how marriage is hard sometimes”, and a more conventional and cheerful love song See See See See.
≡• The 12~track Allergic was recorded at her Victorian house in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans, where DiFranco has lived for more than a decade, and at a larger studio in an old church.
≡• She relates the making of Allergic in a written note to fans: “We recorded it in two four~day sessions, one while I was six and a half months pregnant (I swear i can hear how my voice sounds different in those tracks), and one a year later while I was nursing a six month old. The songs come very much up out of that inward cocoon that a new baby creates and reflect the gifts and the strains of the journey. Because the new babe is so high~maintenance (Welcome to parenting a boy! say my knowing friends) I pretty much mixed and produced this one myself, after years of working very closely with my ace record~producing husband, Mike Napolitano.”
Label: http://www.righteousbabe.com/
Biography:
≡• As a singer, songwriter, activist and independent entrepreneur, Ani DiFranco has been setting her own pace — and encouraging countless admirers to do the same — for more than 20 years. But while she has been known as the “Little Folksinger,” her music has grown far beyond her acoustic solo roots in cozy venues to embrace jazz, soul, electronica and even more distant sounds. All of which are featured in DiFranco’s new Righteous Babe release, Allergic To Water, where she also blends abstract imagery and deceptively understated melodies with personal reflections on her life in New Orleans where she is now raising her two children with her partner, producer Mike Napolitano.
≡• “It’s such a humbling, and grueling, thing to raise children,” DiFranco said. “And that makes playing music more precious and makes me more grateful. It’s a real balancing act, but it also has a balancing effect.”
≡• DiFranco adds that becoming a mother has brought her closer to listeners who have followed her music since she began performing in New York City during the early 1990s. But widespread attention never prevented her from holding on to her integrity, and independence. A strong belief in human rights has run throughout her work, including when she played at numerous benefit concerts around the world. At a time when record labels still held an oversized influence, DiFranco stood ahead of the curve in launching her own Righteous Babe Records. The company has released more than 20 of her albums to date, ranging from the popular two-disc live album, Living In Clip (1997), to the expansive To The Teeth (1999), which included such guests as legendary R&B saxophonist Maceo Parker and Prince. Journalist Sylvie Simmons wrote in the British music magazine MOJO in 1998, “Even if her overt politicism and her 200~shows~per~year tours with an acoustic guitar place her in the Woody Guthrie tradition, her music — which has boldly plundered funk or punk, hip hop, rock — doesn’t.”
≡• Some stellar traditional New Orleans musicians and jazz players contributed to her 2012 disc, Which Side Are You On?, and the Crescent City also informs Allergic To Water, which is one of her most intimate and musically expansive recordings. This autumn, DiFranco will tour internationally behind Allergic To Water and the disc’s high-profile guests will accompany her stellar trio of bassist Todd Sickafoose and drummer Terence Higgins on several stops. Violinist Jenny Scheinman will open and sit in at some points. DiFranco has also marked other career milestones this past year. This summer she returned to the Winnipeg Folk Festival, where she received their prestigious Artistic Achievement award, coupled with her first ever honorary doctorate, which was given to her by the University of Winnipeg. She also marked the passing of one of her own mentors, Pete Seeger, through writing a moving essay about the man and his legacy in the Wall Street Journal.
≡• “I think that my one grain of wisdom in my life, which serves me well, is that when I meet a great teacher, I follow them,” DiFranco said. “I invent excuses to be near them. Whether it’s Pete, Utah Phillips, or Sekou Sundiata, it’s made my life pretty great along the way.”
Studio albums:
1990 Ani DiFranco
1991 Not So Soft
1992 Imperfectly
1993 Puddle Dive
1994 Out of Range
1995 Not a Pretty Girl
1996 Dilate
1998 Little Plastic Castle
1999 Up Up Up Up Up Up
1999 To the Teeth
2001 Revelling/Reckoning
2003 Evolve
2004 Educated Guess
2005 Knuckle Down
2006 Reprieve
2008 Red Letter Year
2012 ¿Which Side Are You On?
2014 Allergic To Water
____________________________________________________________
| Ani DiFranco |
| Allergic to Water |
≡• Newnew album Ani DiFranco oplývá jemnou hudbou. Je oděné v krásném, bílém, reliéfním balení. V průběhu nahrávání DiFranco s kapelou a několika hudebními hosty vytvořila zpěvné a funky melodie, typicky nápadité a osobní: tak osobní, že to vše produkovala a mixovala vše na vlastní pěst. DiFranco skrývá svět hudebních překvapení do 12 low–key písní. Vibes, tóny a rytmus se stále mění, zatímco její kapela čerpá z vlastní rozsáhlé palety.
Birth name: Angela Maria DiFranco
Born: September 23, 1970, Buffalo, New York, United States
Genres: Folk rock, indie, alternative
Occupations: Musician, singer–songwriter, poet
Instruments: Guitar, bass guitar, tenor guitar, vocals, percussion, piano
Location: NYC
Album release: November 4, 2014
Recorded: 2012–2014
Record Label: Righteous Babe
Duration: 49:57
Tracks:
01 Dithering 5:04
02 See See See See 3:43
03 Woe Be Gone 4:01
04 Careless Words 5:10
05 Allergic to Water 3:45
06 Harder Than It Needs to Be 4:57
07 Genie 5:17
08 Happy All the Time 3:65
09 Yeah Yr Right 4:07
10 TR'W 2:46
11 Still My Heart 3:49
12 Rainy Parade 3:13
≡• All songs written and composed by Ani DiFranco.
Players:
≡• Ani DiFranco
≡• Todd Sickafoose
≡• Terence Higgins
≡• Ivan Neville
≡• Mike Dillon
≡• Jenny Scheinman
≡• Matt Perrine
Personnel:
≡• Ani DiFranco — guitar, tamburitza, wurli, harpsichord, xylophone, vocals
≡• Todd Sickafoose — bass, piano, bilhorn organ, synthesizer, wurli, bells, orchestron
≡• Terence Higgins — drums, percussion
≡• Ivan Neville — wurli, clavinet, piano
≡• Jenny Scheinman — violins, backing vocals
≡• Mike Dillon — triangle
≡• Matt Perrine — sousaphone
Personnel Credits:
≡• Recorded by Mike Napolitano and Andy Taub at The Dugout and at Esplanade Studios, New Orleans, LA
≡• Additional Recording by Todd Sickafoose and Ani DiFranco
≡• Produced and Mixed by Ani DiFranco
≡• Mastered by Brent Lambert at Kitchen Mastering
≡• Art Direction by Brian Grunert at White Bicycle
≡• Portraits by Charles Waldorf
Description:
≡• Ani’s new album, Allergic to Water, features some of the most subtle music to date wrapped up in lovely white embossed packaging. Throughout the record, DiFranco, her band and a few music guests, create melodies that are lilting and funky, imaginative and personal: so personal that she produced and mixed the record all on her own . DiFranco packs a world of musical surprises into the 12 low-key songs on Allergic To Water. Vibes, tones and rhythms constantly change while her band draws on its own expansive palette.
≡• Ani says, “the recordings are documents of my current touring band just laying down the songs. It was empowering but terrifying to have the buck stop with me again in terms of the mixes i hope you enjoy this record. thank you for listening.”
Style:
≡• DiFranco's guitar playing is often characterized by a signature staccato style, rapid fingerpicking and many alternate tunings. She delivers many of her lines in a speaking style notable for its rhythmic variation. Her lyrics, which often include alliteration, metaphor, word play and a more or less gentle irony, have also received praise for their sophistication. Although DiFranco's music has been classified as both folk rock and alternative rock, she has reached across genres since her earliest albums incorporating first punk, then funk, hiphop, and jazz influences.
≡• While primarlly an acoustic guitarist she has used a variety of instruments and styles: brass instrumentation was prevalent in 1998's Little Plastic Castle; a simple walking bass in her 1997 cover of Hal David and Burt Bacharach's "Wishin' and Hopin'"; strings on the 1997 live album Living in Clip and 2004's Knuckle Down; and electronics and synthesisers in 1999's To the Teeth and 2006's Reprieve.
≡• DiFranco herself noted that "folk music is not an acoustic guitar — that's not where the heart of it is. I use the word 'folk' in reference to punk music and rap music. It’s an attitude, it's an awareness of one's heritage, and it's a community. It's subcorporate music that gives voice to different communities and their struggle against authority.”
REVIEW
Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY 12:59 p.m. EDT August 19, 2014
≡• "Hello world. Ani here. Got a new wreckord and I don't hate it."
≡• That's how Ani DiFranco begins her description of Allergic to Water, to be released Oct. 14 on her Righteous Babe label.
≡• It's the 20th full-length studio album since 1990 for the prolific indie singer/songwriter, who's explored genres from punk and hip-hop to jazz and folk.
≡• The 12-track Allergic was recorded at her Victorian house in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans, where DiFranco has lived for more than a decade, and at a larger studio in an old church.
≡• She relates the making of Allergic in a written note to fans:
"We recorded it in two four-day sessions, one while I was six and a half months pregnant (I swear i can hear how my voice sounds different in those tracks), and one a year later while I was nursing a six month old. The songs come very much up out of that inward cocoon that a new baby creates and reflect the gifts and the strains of the journey. Because the new babe is so high-maintenance (Welcome to parenting a boy! say my knowing friends) I pretty much mixed and produced this one myself, after years of working very closely with my ace record-producing husband, Mike Napolitano.
"Mostly I worked alone in headphones, in the wee hours, while my family slept.
≡• It was empowering but terrifying to have the buck stop with me again in terms of the mixes. The recordings are documents of my current touring band (recorded by Mike in our old Victorian house and also by Andy Taub at a nearby church in the Treme) just laying down the songs. Many also feature a couple of very choice special guests.
≡• "My killer band these days consists of bassist and composer Todd Sickafoose, who not only brings an always wonderful and unexpected counterpoint to my guitar with his bass playing, but is also my secret weapon in terms of production — overdubbing atmospherics and embellishments that add depth and color to the stories I tell.
≡• "My drummer is Terence Higgins, a New Orleans native, who brings that deeply funky pocket that makes me smile so wide, yet all-the-while listening through to the whole picture and really making music with his instrument, not just rhythms. Though most of Terence's musical incarnations have him playing drum kit, this record really features his hand-percussion prowess — like the congas on See See See See, the Mardi Gras Indian style tambourine on Genie — he nailed it every time.
≡• "And speaking of New Orleans, the incredible Ivan Neville joins the band on a good number of these tunes and, like Todd, has a way of elevating and deepening (does that make sense?) the proceedings every time. Ivan sunk his funky footprint into the mud of Dithering and brought a steamy shimmer to Tr‘w. he provides the perfect soulful response in Happy All the Time and rides shotgun to my guitar in the drag race of Careless Words. I'm also quite psyched and fortunate that Ivan is going to join my band on tour this fall and help bring these songs to life on stage.
≡• “The other prominent and very special guest is violinist Jenny Scheinman, a long–time cohort of Todd‘s and a more recent friend of mine. Jenny opened a bunch of shows for me last spring and we had such a blast hanging out and jamming together that I just had to get her on this new record. She joins the Greek chorus of my bullet–mic choir and also steps out and takes the lead in a few songs with her vivid and magical playing.
≡• “Beyond them, there is really just my friend and sometimes band member Mike Dillon playing triangle on one track, and Matt Perrine, a New Orleans sousaphonist at~large, plays a dang tuba solo on Harder Than It Needs To Be, cuz every country song needs a tuba (technically sousaphone) solo! Am I right?” :: http://www.usatoday.com/
≡• Ani DiFranco is certainly unique. A singer~songwriter whose lyrics are more startling than her melodies, she is also an impressive acoustic guitarist, influenced by American folk, jazz and punk. She is married to a man, but has a cult following in the gay scene, has staunchly radical and feminist views, and started her own record label, Righteous Babe, when she was just 20.
≡• Her last album included angry political songs, but Allergic to Water, her 20th full-length studio album, is different. “There are lot of ‘married with kids’ songs,” she explained, adding: “I tried to raise my daughter gay, but it’s not working.” The new material included the cool, drifting Careless Words, “on how marriage is hard sometimes”, and a more conventional and cheerful love song See See See See.
≡• The 12~track Allergic was recorded at her Victorian house in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans, where DiFranco has lived for more than a decade, and at a larger studio in an old church.
≡• She relates the making of Allergic in a written note to fans: “We recorded it in two four~day sessions, one while I was six and a half months pregnant (I swear i can hear how my voice sounds different in those tracks), and one a year later while I was nursing a six month old. The songs come very much up out of that inward cocoon that a new baby creates and reflect the gifts and the strains of the journey. Because the new babe is so high~maintenance (Welcome to parenting a boy! say my knowing friends) I pretty much mixed and produced this one myself, after years of working very closely with my ace record~producing husband, Mike Napolitano.”
Label: http://www.righteousbabe.com/
Biography:
≡• As a singer, songwriter, activist and independent entrepreneur, Ani DiFranco has been setting her own pace — and encouraging countless admirers to do the same — for more than 20 years. But while she has been known as the “Little Folksinger,” her music has grown far beyond her acoustic solo roots in cozy venues to embrace jazz, soul, electronica and even more distant sounds. All of which are featured in DiFranco’s new Righteous Babe release, Allergic To Water, where she also blends abstract imagery and deceptively understated melodies with personal reflections on her life in New Orleans where she is now raising her two children with her partner, producer Mike Napolitano.
≡• “It’s such a humbling, and grueling, thing to raise children,” DiFranco said. “And that makes playing music more precious and makes me more grateful. It’s a real balancing act, but it also has a balancing effect.”
≡• DiFranco adds that becoming a mother has brought her closer to listeners who have followed her music since she began performing in New York City during the early 1990s. But widespread attention never prevented her from holding on to her integrity, and independence. A strong belief in human rights has run throughout her work, including when she played at numerous benefit concerts around the world. At a time when record labels still held an oversized influence, DiFranco stood ahead of the curve in launching her own Righteous Babe Records. The company has released more than 20 of her albums to date, ranging from the popular two-disc live album, Living In Clip (1997), to the expansive To The Teeth (1999), which included such guests as legendary R&B saxophonist Maceo Parker and Prince. Journalist Sylvie Simmons wrote in the British music magazine MOJO in 1998, “Even if her overt politicism and her 200~shows~per~year tours with an acoustic guitar place her in the Woody Guthrie tradition, her music — which has boldly plundered funk or punk, hip hop, rock — doesn’t.”
≡• Some stellar traditional New Orleans musicians and jazz players contributed to her 2012 disc, Which Side Are You On?, and the Crescent City also informs Allergic To Water, which is one of her most intimate and musically expansive recordings. This autumn, DiFranco will tour internationally behind Allergic To Water and the disc’s high-profile guests will accompany her stellar trio of bassist Todd Sickafoose and drummer Terence Higgins on several stops. Violinist Jenny Scheinman will open and sit in at some points. DiFranco has also marked other career milestones this past year. This summer she returned to the Winnipeg Folk Festival, where she received their prestigious Artistic Achievement award, coupled with her first ever honorary doctorate, which was given to her by the University of Winnipeg. She also marked the passing of one of her own mentors, Pete Seeger, through writing a moving essay about the man and his legacy in the Wall Street Journal.
≡• “I think that my one grain of wisdom in my life, which serves me well, is that when I meet a great teacher, I follow them,” DiFranco said. “I invent excuses to be near them. Whether it’s Pete, Utah Phillips, or Sekou Sundiata, it’s made my life pretty great along the way.”
Studio albums:
1990 Ani DiFranco
1991 Not So Soft
1992 Imperfectly
1993 Puddle Dive
1994 Out of Range
1995 Not a Pretty Girl
1996 Dilate
1998 Little Plastic Castle
1999 Up Up Up Up Up Up
1999 To the Teeth
2001 Revelling/Reckoning
2003 Evolve
2004 Educated Guess
2005 Knuckle Down
2006 Reprieve
2008 Red Letter Year
2012 ¿Which Side Are You On?
2014 Allergic To Water
____________________________________________________________