Most of the negatives about Ani have been cited here; annoying vocal stylings, a lyrical persona bordering on the narcissistic, jam band/world music/fake funk moves, slam-poetry-style wordsmithing, heavy-handed political posturing. What redeems her is strong songwriting and a body of work that's nothing to sneeze at; her first 6-7 albums are pretty consistent. As a non-fan, I think her best is '94's Out of Range, though Living in Clip is the perfect primer/crash course/compilation for that period.
Those who hate her voice should check out the self-titled first album. Stripped-down production, her vocals are straightforward - this was before her goofy melisma went into overdrive. And it's arguable that she never wrote anything as good as the first track, "Both Hands," a perfect little jewel of a song (avoid the pretentiously overblown version on Living In Clip - a portentous sign of the beginning of the end).
The earlier material derived a lot of its crackle from the tension between Ani and her drummer, Andy Stochansky. Clearly it's always been The Ani DiFranco Show, but when Andy left in '98 things declined in intensity. I saw them (w/ Sara Lee on bass) do a version of "Shy" in '97 in Nashville that was so urgently desperate it was frightening. There's always been something a little punky about Ani that separated her (at least in my mind) from Dave Matthews and others of his ilk.
And yeah, she's got a way with words. Here are a few of hers that stuck with me:
In each other's shadows we grew less and less talland eventually our theories couldn't explain it allI'm recording our history now on the bedroom wall and eventually the landlord will comeand paint over it all-Both Hands
I was 11 years old he was as old as my dadand he took something from meI didn't even know that I had- Letter To A John
One thing I find interesting about Ani DiFranco's career is how it demonstrates the speciousness of the "selling out" concept. Musicians don't sell out as much as they burn out, as inspiration provides diminishing returns over the course of a career. This naturally-occurring process is usually mirrored by an increase in popularity and an affiliation with larger labels that is mistaken for a cause-and-effect relationship. Ani's independence did little to prevent an eventual aesthetic decline. Even my wife, the self-described "Ani nut," finds the post-Little Plastic Castle material slow-going.
― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 27 February 2006 19:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― Cameron Octigan (Cameron Octigan), Monday, 27 February 2006 20:01 (eighteen years ago) link
this is the pinnacle of eloquence and you hit every annoying notion that represents "Ani-dom" to me!!!WELL DONE!!!!and let's face it, it's ALL about the fans near fanatical defense of everything she's ever done that put most people off...as is the case w/ most band, innit?
― eedd, Monday, 27 February 2006 20:28 (eighteen years ago) link
and hey, i'd know - my ani obsessive phase began my freshman year of high school and ended my freshman year of college, when i replaced her with sleater-kinney and le tigre and the slits and bratmobile for my feminist girlpunk jollies.
but her good stuff (imperfectly, out of range, dilate, to the teeth, parts of little plastic castle) is some of the best, most tough and smart and sensitive songwriting i've ever heard. i've finally come round to liking her again, and i must say, dilate still remains one of the most heartbreaking relationship albums, right up there with "blood on the tracks" and "the meadowlands". i really don't like her warbly ness and weird vocal tics, but when she's just singing - angry or sad - it's very powerful stuff.
and she is an absolutely brilliant guitar player. her fingers must be made of some space age material that never scuffs or anything. seriously.
like someone said in a previous post - she just needs an editor, or at least shouldn't record and release what seems like every single song she ever writes. her last few albums have been depressingly mediocre.
― Emily B (Emily B), Thursday, 1 June 2006 00:50 (seventeen years ago) link
She uses some kind of false press-on fingernails (reinforced w/ glue and/or tape) for picking IIRC.
― Marmotdeth (marmotwolof), Thursday, 1 June 2006 01:12 (seventeen years ago) link
ended my freshman year of college, when i replaced her with sleater-kinney and le tigre and the slits and bratmobile for my feminist girlpunk jollies.
Also, she seems to be a gateway artist: a bit eccentric while still accessible, but mostly a bag of stems and seeds, hooking nascent music nerds and guiding them towards the uncut stuff. Like Jane's Addiction. Is there a thread on bands like that?
― bendy (bendy), Thursday, 1 June 2006 10:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― Dan Heilman (The Deacon), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:09 (seventeen years ago) link
i used to admire the way she approached her career (diy, yadda yadda yadda) until i found out that her parents hired a harvard mba (at a cost of $30k/year) to manage her career when she was starting out.
― Lawrence the Looter (Lawrence the Looter), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:29 (seventeen years ago) link
Not as indestructible as you might think - she had to cancel a tour recently to recover from some nerve damage issues with her hands. One of those "take a break or you'll never play again" things...
― Edward III (edward iii), Thursday, 1 June 2006 14:02 (seventeen years ago) link
I've barely heard her music, aside from like one or two songs someone brought into an undergrad Music & Gender course I took. If it garners comparisons to Rush and Ali Farka Toure it's probably worth hearing though.
― Sundar (sundar), Thursday, 1 June 2006 16:36 (seventeen years ago) link
a) Rush is not lifeless. at all.b) Difranco's pre-fame records, of which there are many, are basically home recordings -- vocals and guitar -- and are the polar opposite of "slick"c) the harvard mba thing sounds spurious, at best
― erklie (erklie), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:29 (seventeen years ago) link
What irks me is the seemingly endless parade of Ani wannabes, and lest you think I'm dealing in strawmen here, I sat through more than my fair share of them during my open mic-attending college days. All of the fire, twice the passion, but not a single coherent statement, engaging lyric, or memorable melody in the bunch.
I also have a funny story involving her ex-drummer, but that's another rant for another time.
― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Thursday, 1 June 2006 18:51 (seventeen years ago) link
This is the red light.
― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Thursday, 1 June 2006 19:00 (seventeen years ago) link
And while it's unfair to blame a musician for their imitators, gawd she has the worst.
― js (honestengine), Thursday, 1 June 2006 19:04 (seventeen years ago) link
I haven't listened to ani in literally years but for some reason I've had a couple of her songs running through my head the last couple days. I spent a while being really into the stuff she realeased in the late 90s and as annoying as I eventually grew to find her whole shtick, she's a talented woman. Also, seeing her play this in NM in 1998 was one of the two times I've cried at concerts. It was incredible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwEI6UNMkag&feature=related
― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Friday, 29 April 2011 22:51 (twelve years ago) link
so cleaning out my section of the office I found an unopened promo copy of Evolve beneath a pile of folders.
Tim says it's bleh. Should I try it?
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 29 July 2013 13:36 (ten years ago) link
Ask John maybe, I got rid of that one years ago.
Knuckle Down from a few years afterwards was great though.
― Tim F, Monday, 29 July 2013 16:07 (ten years ago) link
boy Jon Hassell sounds great on "Pulse."
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 26 March 2015 23:59 (nine years ago) link
It seems like she was popular because she presented a confident image and said what a lot of young women needed/wanted to hear. As a songwriter and performer I find her abysmal -- obvious, didactic lyrics with awkward phrasing, worst guitar tone I can imagine, not catchy
― IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (man alive), Tuesday, 10 October 2017 18:44 (six years ago) link
good to know dude
― brimstead, Tuesday, 10 October 2017 19:00 (six years ago) link
Explain what you hate about Ani DiFranco.
― IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (man alive), Tuesday, 10 October 2017 19:01 (six years ago) link
Casual fan here, albeit one who hasn't heard anything she's put out since around the turn of the millennium, but there there is a certain type of gay guy who is obsessed with her that was a bit annoyingly overrepresented in my social circle for a while.
― iCloudius (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 10 October 2017 19:36 (six years ago) link
Ani's in that select group of people I hate but have no desire to slag in public
― rip van wanko, Tuesday, 10 October 2017 19:38 (six years ago) link
(i do not consider hurting's post a slag btw)
― rip van wanko, Tuesday, 10 October 2017 19:40 (six years ago) link
the new album is great
― uberweiss, Wednesday, 24 March 2021 21:50 (three years ago) link
The first half sounds like she has been listening to D'Angelo.
Agree this is great, trying to decide whether it's her best since Knuckle Down or Red Letter Year or Allergic to Water (though really the albums after Knuckle Down tend to blur together for me).
― Tim F, Thursday, 25 March 2021 00:35 (three years ago) link
Am I inventing this memory or did she complain that Eno “stole” her observation that the Eventide H3000 Ultra Harmonizer sounds great when you overdrive it?I can’t find it anywhere on the internet right now. And yeah, dudes take credit for women’s ideas all the time. But even still, this is some weak sauce.
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 25 March 2021 01:41 (three years ago) link
"shrinking violet" is achingly perfect. it's like "if i believe you" (the 1975) mixed with "tolerate it" (taylor swift)
There's nothing I can sayBeyond this whispered wishYour anger has a hunger, misterAnd I'm its favourite dishThere's nothing I can saySo I don't make a soundI just wipe the counter and II keep my head down
― überweiss, Friday, 26 March 2021 16:10 (three years ago) link
The last Secondary English Curriculum I used incorporated the lyrics of her song “Amendment” and asked students to analyze the language she employed. I got more out of it than the kids, but they’re apathetic to everything
― beamish13, Friday, 26 March 2021 18:52 (three years ago) link
Gotta say I did not expect to see much Ani love on ilm, but heartened nonetheless. I listened to her a ton in college, then fell away for a bit but have been paying more attention to her recent stuff. Hoping to get my copy this weekend.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 26 March 2021 19:03 (three years ago) link
OTM but also lol at this Beatlejuice-like attempt to manifest Brad in this thread.
― Tim F, Friday, 26 March 2021 22:28 (three years ago) link
I realized that I hated my roommate 26 years ago when he asked me if I liked Annie. Me thinking Annie Lennox replied, “Oh my God I totally love her!” and then he started playing Ani Difranco… 🤢
Ani Difranco has no redeeming qualities to my ears. Sorry to those who like her but fingers on a chalkboard are more appealing than her incessant whining and dreadful stream of consciousness word vomit.
― Mbaby, Saturday, 15 April 2023 21:04 (one year ago) link