― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:28 (twenty years ago) link
I made a compilation of Ani's best jazzy/balladic stuff for my boyfriend - who was suspicious because of the uncritical love by lesbians - and I surprised myself at how totally unlike the public idea of Ani it was.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:45 (twenty years ago) link
― Agent Uranium [GPC], Tuesday, 11 November 2003 01:30 (twenty years ago) link
-- Kenan Hebert (edito...), November 10th, 2003."
Oh, c'mon, I want to kick Darren Spooner down the stairs after her...
― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 01:32 (twenty years ago) link
― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:05 (twenty years ago) link
― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:06 (twenty years ago) link
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:07 (twenty years ago) link
I am bothered by:*her weird vocal affect*her guitar tone (thuddy, jarring)*her general aversion to melody
I am much more bothered by:*listening to people trying to imitate her weird vocal affect at open-mic nights*listening to sound engineers at my college tweak the EQ on any acoustic guitar to make any acoustic guitar to make it sound like hers*her popularity among my ex-boyfriends
― Kevin Erickson, Tuesday, 11 November 2003 13:03 (twenty years ago) link
― Felcher (Felcher), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:39 (twenty years ago) link
― Adrian (Adrian Langston), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 09:40 (twenty years ago) link
― Lauren S, Tuesday, 30 March 2004 06:23 (twenty years ago) link
― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 12:00 (twenty years ago) link
― Matt Smut, Tuesday, 11 May 2004 15:55 (twenty years ago) link
― Felonious Drunk (Felcher), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 16:15 (twenty years ago) link
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 16:17 (twenty years ago) link
― Felonious Drunk (Felcher), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 16:18 (twenty years ago) link
"Folky Drivel" would be a great name for a record label. Better than "Righteous Babe", at any rate.
Now where did I put that "A Mighty Wind" DVD?
― kjoerup, Wednesday, 12 May 2004 04:24 (twenty years ago) link
― djdee2005, Wednesday, 12 May 2004 04:27 (twenty years ago) link
― mookieproof (mookieproof), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 04:33 (twenty years ago) link
― Al (sitcom), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 05:56 (twenty years ago) link
― dave q, Wednesday, 12 May 2004 13:55 (twenty years ago) link
― subgenius (subgenius), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 15:12 (twenty years ago) link
Although maybe she's hot. Is she?
― Sasha (sgh), Thursday, 13 May 2004 04:26 (twenty years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 13 May 2004 12:27 (twenty years ago) link
― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 13 May 2004 13:10 (twenty years ago) link
Incidentally, the irony of Sasha's complaint is that Ani's old (and not especially numerous) feminist rants were always funnier and more involving than the more generalised Mike Moore style anti-military/industrial complex stuff that she does now (though in her defence "Your Next Bold Move" - which I disliked initially for the aforementioned reasons - utilises its inter-connected metaphoric imagery superbly)
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:33 (twenty years ago) link
― Sasha (sgh), Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:04 (twenty years ago) link
― the 'surface' 'noise' (electricsound), Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:06 (twenty years ago) link
http://www.righteousbaberecords.com/images/m_chunkmagnets.jpg
― martin m. (mushrush), Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:10 (twenty years ago) link
Haha Revelling/Reckoning was my introduction to Ani! And it's ironic given what's generally considered to be her biggest flaw (self-editing) that her double album is the only consistently brilliant LP I've heard of hers. Dilate comes close, but nothing else.
― The Lex (The Lex), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:58 (twenty years ago) link
Yeah what's also weird is that all the Ani fans seem to rate To The Teeth and Evolve - neither of which really struck a chord w/ me bar a few fantastic songs on the former - and dislike Revelling/Reckoning.
Here's what I wrote on R/R when I got into it.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:15 (twenty years ago) link
"So What" might be one of my favourite Ani songs... lyrically amazing, and I love the distant jazz clarinet circling her.
― The Lex (The Lex), Friday, 14 May 2004 10:45 (twenty years ago) link
"So What" *is* great - the 3 drinks/2 drinks bit in the chorus, or "but nothing comes at first/and little comes at all/and when inspiration finally hits you/it barely even breaks your fall". Likewise I love the line in "Rock Paper Scissors": "Desire drags me right out of myself/like a gas-soaked rope tied to a piece of coal/i'm getting pretty good at looking on the bright side/while the flames rip along the sand and swallow me whole." Or the extended riff in "Marrow" on "a taste of your own medicine". Great stuff! Some of my favourite lyrics ever.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 15 May 2004 12:37 (twenty years ago) link
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 15 May 2004 13:55 (twenty years ago) link
The 3 beers/2 beers line - yes! Also, the munificence of metaphors on "School Night", and the "you were the make-me-mad guy... now I am the bad guy" couplet on "Sick Of Me". R/R is a perfect summer album, actually - the ballads are all languid and warm, and the more upbeat ones are totally sun-kissed. "OK" in particular needs some love!
― The Lex (The Lex), Saturday, 15 May 2004 14:58 (twenty years ago) link
now i have to find out what alex in nyc looks like.
― mike bott, Saturday, 15 May 2004 15:14 (twenty years ago) link
*cough*FranklinBruno*cough*.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 15 May 2004 15:45 (twenty years ago) link
Disapointment awaits ye
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 15 May 2004 17:25 (twenty years ago) link
Yeah the whole house burning down metaphor thing in "School Night" is amazing. It's almost as if she realised at some point that formulating extended metaphors was her special skill like a strong backhand or something and just spent months and months stretching it and stretching it. Love "OK" too!
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 16 May 2004 04:16 (twenty years ago) link
― 24 hours with the King of Snake. (SNAKE!) (ex machina), Sunday, 16 May 2004 04:27 (twenty years ago) link
― christhamrin (christhamrin), Sunday, 16 May 2004 04:27 (twenty years ago) link
― christhamrin (christhamrin), Sunday, 16 May 2004 04:28 (twenty years ago) link
― 24 hours with the King of Snake. (SNAKE!) (ex machina), Sunday, 16 May 2004 04:31 (twenty years ago) link
― christhamrin (christhamrin), Sunday, 16 May 2004 04:35 (twenty years ago) link
Ani is attractive.
― don carville weiner, Sunday, 16 May 2004 10:22 (twenty years ago) link
The extended metaphor thing also works really well on the more political songs on R/R too - Ani's so much better when she makes her point by twisting and bending language rather than sloganeering. It comes across in the performance too - the way she rhymes on "Tamburitza Lingua" is so offhand and natural, in stark contrast to something like "Serpentine" which is very forced.
― The Lex (The Lex), Sunday, 16 May 2004 21:57 (twenty years ago) link
I suspect the reason why the political songs on R/R work is that she sounds so tired of didacticism. In a funny way I suspect that September 11 "rejuvenated" a lot of occasionally political musicians like Ani in a manner that was ultimately negative - the perceived urgency of saying something once again took priority over the other two crucial issues: whether something can be said, and, if the answer to that is yes, how it should be said.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 17 May 2004 01:11 (twenty years ago) link
― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 17 May 2004 11:15 (twenty years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 00:25 (twenty years ago) link
― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 08:49 (twenty years ago) link