Red Letter Year,Music,Free Shipping,748731706326,B001D7T276,

	Red Letter Year by Ani DiFranco
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Product Details EAN 0748731706326 Label Righteous Babe Manufacturer Righteous Babe Number Of Discs 1 Release Date September 30, 2008 UPC 748731706326 Availability Usually ships in 24 hours Disc 1: Red Letter Year Alla This Present/Infant Smiling Underneath Way Tight Emancipated Minor Good Luck The Atom Round A Pole Landing Gear Star Matter Red Letter Year Reprise Product Description 'I've got myself a new mantra,' Ani DiFranco shares on her new studio album. 'It says `Don't forget to have a good time.'' This attitude has clearly influenced the dozen tunes on Red Letter Year, which celebrate existence, profess love and tackle thorny political issues with an infectious sense of glee. It's one of Ani's most joyous records to date. And it has been a long time coming. Red Letter Year was sculpted over the course of two years, a period in which Ani continued to hone her songwriting, performing and recording skills, all the while balancing her new role as a mom. 'I think I sorely needed to be slowed down, and finally a little person came along powerful enough to do it,' Ani reflects. The end result is an album of focused, layered, panoramic music. Ani's band - upright bassist Todd Sickafoose, vibraphonist/percussionist Mike Dillon and drummer Allison Miller - is a major source of Red Letter Year's singular personality. On 'Emancipated Minor,' Miller's driving beat tethers to Ani's killer electric guitar hook, while Sickafoose's bass adds the perfect counterpoint to Ani's acoustic guitar work on 'Way Tight'. And on 'Alla This,' Dillon's vibes are as rich and open-minded as Ani's defiant, anthemic lyrics. Add to the inspired, re-invigorated Ani the uncanny production skills of Napolitano (Joseph Arthur, The Twilight Singers, Squirrel Nut Zippers), the otherworldly string arrangements of long time collaborator Sickafoose, and the inspired playing of guests such as Jon Hassell on trumpet (Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Ry Cooder), and you've got the makings of a DiFranco classic. '...celebratory and joyous...' '...a dazzling folk/punk/jazz hybrid.' '...lush and elegantly recorded... . It is among DiFranco's best records... one of the only singer/songwriter albums to really push the envelope in new directions in 2008.' 'Feminism, strength, individuality and introspection all come through... But it seems some of the room in her writing that was reserved for political and societal anger has been taken up by the happiness she's found...' 'a 12-track festival of folk, rock, and funk tied together by her sharply astute lyricism and wit. ...gorgeous.' 'When I listen to my new record, I hear a very relaxed me, which I think has been absent in a lot of my recorded canon,' Ani explains. 'Now I feel like I'm in a really good place. My partner Mike Napolitano co-produced this record - my guitar and voice have never sounded better, and that's because of him. I've got this great band and crew. And my baby, she teaches me how to just be in my skin, to do less and be more.' Ani DiFranco has written hundreds of songs, played thousands of shows, captured the imaginations of legions of followers, and jammed with folkies, orchestras, rappers, rock and roll hall-of-famers, jazz musicians, poets, pop superstars, storytellers and a martial arts legend. She's 'fixed up a few old buildings' and minimized her carbon footprint before it was trendy - from installing a geothermal heating and cooling system in the renovated church that her label calls home to using organic inks on all the t-shirts she sells. But nothing she's done in her 18-year career has garnered more attention than a business decision. Since Ani bucked the major label system in the early-`90s, opting to release her music on her own terms, the self-described Little Folksinger has been the subject of all kinds of hyperbole. She's been called 'fiercely independent' (Rolling Stone), 'inspirational' (All Music Guide), 'the ultimate do-it-yourself songwriter' (The New York Times), etc. As the cracks in the music industry get larger and more big-name artists follow Ani's lead - Radiohead, Madonna and Nine Inch Nails among them - maybe people will just start calling her 'smart.' As important as Righteous Babe Records is to the singer/songwriter/guitarist, she's more than happy to trust like-minded people with the business and revel in the complete artistic freedom it provides. On her new album, Red Letter Year, she takes more advantage of this freedom than ever before. Conceived, sculpted and refined over the course of two years - a lifetime compared to a typical Ani recording session - the album is an impeccably crafted, multi-layered sonic achievement. And while the extra time is a big reason for Red Letter Year's captivating musical depths, the people in Ani's life play an even bigger part - her partner and co-producer Mike Napolitano (Joseph Arthur, The Twilight Singers, Squirrel Nut Zippers) and her one-year-old daughter Petah Lucia (gurgling, infectious laughter, wide-eyed innocence). Love, family and home are three of the album's most prominent muses, resulting in a dozen songs that exude warmth and renewed vigor. For several years to come, musicians will be making headlines as they jump the major label ship and take charge of their own destinies. Having been there and done that, Ani DiFranco will be more than happy to just sit back and make art. Customers who bought this item also bought Little Honey Promised Land Ani DiFranco: Live at Babeville Acid Tongue Canon Customer Reviews for: Red Letter Year Rating - Eh. Just ok. I've been a die-hard Ani fan for 12 years. I buy each album she puts out without question, and will probably consider to do so, hoping she will shock and awe me as she once did in the days of Dilate and Little Plastic Castles. Red Letter Year seems to be at the bottom of a downhill slide that started when she began playing with the voice-synthesizer and instrumentals. So much of Red Letter Year has been so overly-synthesized that you ... Read More Rating - I wish Ani would be as ashamed of making this as I am of buying it listen to this garbage: "I won't rent you my time i won't sell you my brain i won't pray to a male god cuz that would be insane and i can't support the troops cuz every last one of them is being duped and i will not rest a wink until the women have regrouped" 2008, and Ani is still trying to sell feminists and baby lesbians on the idea that women are being kept down ... Read More Rating - Refreshing, new, and all around delish This is going to be my favorite Ani album since Little Plastic Castle. I enjoyed Knuckledown and Reprieve, but I love it when she experiments and puts a bit of groove and fun into her music. It's good to see her in a good place again--musically and personally. Buy this album. It's fun; it's groovy; it's refreshing! Rating - RED LETTER YEAR As some reviewers have pointed out, this album might be a disappointment for those who are deeply in love with the 90's Ani. It's much like To The Teeth, Revelling/Reckoning, Knuckledown or Reprieve (specially very similar to this one), but actually a lot more future-oriented, sonically fairly innovative, tight and song-by-song perfectly crafted. I'd like to say which songs are my favourites, but.. I can't mention none in particular. Read More see more reviews See all music titles by Ani DiFranco

Music CD : Red Letter Year