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Ani DiFranco – To The Teeth – 1999 (iTunes) Is Ani DiFranco advocating blowing up and destroying media and corporations? On the title track it sure seems so. Thing is, if this was the younger Ani the song would be an onslaught of frenetic fingering and it would have resonance. Continue Reading

“Why don’t you go ahead and turn off the sun cuz we’ll never live long enough to undo everything they’ve done to you.” Ani DiFranco – Up Up Up Up Up Up Up – 1999 (iTunes – Amazon) I suppose it was bound to happen, right? After four straight brilliant Continue Reading

“People used to make records as in the record of an event….” Ani DiFranco – Little Plastic Castle -1998 (iTunes – Amazon) After breaking into the mainstream with the live album Living in Clip and the two phenomenal albums before it Ani was presented with a new challenge. Namely what Continue Reading

“The most vituperative “fuck you” in the history of the music.” Robert Christgau Ani DiFranco – Dialte – 1996 (iTunes – Amazon) Christgau was referring to the opening track on Dilate, “Untouchable Face”. As in “Fuck you and your untouchable face!” For a woman whose lyrics have so often danced Continue Reading

“I could be the million that you never made!” Ani DiFranco – Not a Pretty Girl – 1995 (Amazon) Embracing a strong production hand and even smirking through some of her offerings, Ani’s Not A Pretty Girl is considered by many to be her zenith, a watershed for her. In Continue Reading

Bitter and angry troubadour folkie grrl totally redeems herself on a 90s classic. Ani DiFranco – Out Of Range – 1995 (iTunes – Amazon) “Just the thought of our bed makes me crumble like the plaster where you punched the wall beside my head.” Well, well, well. This is where Continue Reading

Ani DiFranco – Puddle Dive – 1993 (iTunes – Amazon) The thing about the Listening Posts/Reflecting Pools is that I am not bound by the constraints of really “reviewing”. At least not by the rules set forth by Paul Allen’s How to Be a Rock Critic Series. This is about Continue Reading

“What if when we’re dead, we are just dead?” Ani DiFranco – Imperfectly – 1992 (iTunes – Amazon) Remember that song by Joan Osborne about God being a slob on the bus, like the rest of us? Yeah. That one. It’s nothing compared to the desperate, neurotic terror displayed by Continue Reading

Ani Difranco – Not So Soft – 1991 (iTunes – Amazon) The playing is more confident. More aggressive. The singer more assured. Older, but by just a year. The road has given DiFranco a sense of self assuredness. She knows who her audience is. And she doesn’t want to fade Continue Reading

Pre-eminent DIY, Folk/Punk Grrl Power rocker. Ani Difranco – Ani Difranco – 1990 (iTunes – Amazon) When “Hear Music” was just a record store on the 3rd St Promenade in Santa Monica, before it was bought by uber-cafe Starbucks, they were one of the best places to find out about Continue Reading