{"id":25720,"date":"2023-07-27T05:30:25","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T09:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=25720"},"modified":"2023-07-26T08:43:38","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T12:43:38","slug":"album-review-ani-difranco-little-plastic-castles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/27\/album-review-ani-difranco-little-plastic-castles\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Ani DiFranco — Little Plastic Castles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"One of popular music\u2019s most refreshing and encouraging developments of the last couple of decades has been the rise of the independent artist. True, there have always been occasional artists who operate outside the machinery of the business and succeed in finding an audience. But in the 21st<\/sup> century, it seems more likely that an enterprising musicians\/songwriter\/performer can break through on his\/her\/their own terms, without signing their life away to what\u2019s left of the music industry.<\/p>\n

Chief among such artists is Ani DiFfranco. When she was still a teenager(!) DiFranco launched her own label, Righteous Babe Records. More than 30 years and 20-plus studio albums later, DiFranco has steadfastly continued to do things on her own terms. Her music is sociopolitical; her style defines easy categorization; her commitment to her art\/craft is unassailable.<\/p>\n

DiFranco\u2019s success \u2013 she\u2019s consistently a critical darling, and with good reason \u2013 is on her own terms, too. Although her record sales might be termed modest by industry standards, between record releases and touring, she has created a sustained and sustaining career. To the extent that mainstream chart figures have any relevance to her and\/or her dedicated following, it\u2019s worth observing that her highest-charting release to date is 1998\u2019s Little Plastic Castle<\/i>; it rose to the #22 spot on the U.S. folk album chart. (Once the Independent Albums chart was inaugurated in 2000, DiFranco racked up a staggering eight placements on that chart\u2019s Top 10 list. Presumably, Little Plastic Castle<\/i> would have performed well on that ranking.)<\/p>\n

Coming out as it did during the post-vinyl era, DiFranco\u2019s eighth solo release didn\u2019t get an LP version. But now in 2023 \u2013 on the occasion of the album\u2019s 25th<\/sup> anniversary \u2013 she has decided to reissue the record on a double-vinyl configuration.<\/p>\n

DiFranco\u2019s music is often characterized as folk, and while the album\u2019s title track opens with an arrangement that fits into that category, the artist quickly takes things elsewhere. The appealing horn charts and loping beat of \u201cLittle Plastic Castle\u201d has hints of New Orleans jazz and other textures. And the wonderful idiosyncrasies continue: \u201cFuel\u201d features an extended spoken part \u2013 equal parts passion and mania \u2013 backed by a deeply funky and hypnotic rhythm bed. \u201cFuel\u201d feels like street poetry: not exactly rap, but also not miles away from what Iceberg Slim was doing in the \u201870s.<\/p>\n

\u201cGravel\u201d is built around a set of skittering quick-run acoustic guitar figures. The arrangement is vaguely redolent of Dave Matthews Band\u2019s \u201890s aesthetic, but let\u2019s not hold that against DiFranco, as her song is wholly original. \u201cAs Is\u201d has a feel along the lines of some of Paul Simon\u2019s better work. The subtle basswork of Sara Lee (League of Gentlemen, Gang of Four) is a key to the song\u2019s appeal, as is the understated brushwork of Jerry Marotta (or possibly Andy Stochansky; the album credits aren\u2019t clear which drummer plays on which track(s)).<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo Little Girls\u201d has a southwestern feel and a delightfully wide-screen ambiance. The tune works on multiple levels, at least one of which is to serve as showcase for DiFranco\u2019s vocal agility. The production is especially impressive. The swirling \u201cDeep Dish\u201d could serve as Exhibit A for DiFranco\u2019s eclectic manner; it\u2019s nearly prog in its construction, with left-field musical turns throughout. Very much a studio creation, the tune likely wouldn\u2019t work in a live setting (I could be wrong on this) but it\u2019s a dazzling display nonetheless.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoom\u201d is more conventional in its form and delivery, but the uptempo tune is among the most accessible songs on this wildly varied collection of songs. DiFranco spits out copious lyrics, and some listeners will understandably focus on those. But the things she does instrumentally are every bit as fascinating, even on a tune like \u201cLoom,\u201d running well under three minutes. \u201cPixie\u201d has some unusual sonic textures to recommend it. The spare \u201cSwan Dive\u201d demonstrates DiFranco\u2019s ability to create a tune that\u2019s both appealing and possessed of an unconventional meter. \u201cGlass House\u201d finds the artist embracing her rock (or at least folk-rock) inclinations. But as always, the arrangement features enough oddball sonic touches to keep it well outside the mainstream. And something about the song encourages the listener to lean forward, straining just a bit to peer through the musical window into DiFranco\u2019s world. The song earned DiFranco a Grammy nomination in the Rock Female Vocalist category.<\/p>\n

That feeling persists into the next track, the haunting \u201cIndependence Day.\u201d Featuring little more than guitar and voice, the song makes remarkably effective use of the silent spaces between the notes. The album-proper concludes with \u201cPulse,\u201d a song daubed with electronic flourishes that may remind some listeners of Suzanne Vega\u2019s 99.9F\u00b0<\/i> from 1992. But trumpet and accordion pull the song back toward more organic roots. And the song wastes not a bit of its 14-minute(!) run time.<\/p>\n

The 2023 reissue of Little Plastic Castle<\/i> features three bonus tracks, placed on Side four of the double LP. Noted as \u201cbed tracks,\u201d these alternate version of \u201cGravel,\u201d \u201cAs Is\u201d and \u201cTwo Little Girls\u201d are interesting, serving to highlight DiFranco\u2019s mastery of musicianship, arrangement and vocals.<\/p>\n

On its original release, Little Plastic Castle<\/i> was met my widespread critical acclaim; a quarter-century later, the record has aged remarkably well. It doesn’t feel dated, sidestepping as it does most of that era\u2019s au courant<\/i> productions choices. DiFranco\u2019s songwriting is strong throughout. And the eye-popping orange vinyl pressing is in keeping with the color-saturated vibe of the album packaging. It\u2019s an essential purchase for anyone who appreciates DiFranco\u2019s inimitable musical style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of popular music\u2019s most refreshing and encouraging developments of the last couple of decades has been the rise of the independent artist. True, there have always been occasional artists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25721,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,64,65,73],"tags":[5202],"class_list":["post-25720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-folk","category-reissue","category-review","category-vinyl","tag-ani-difranco","cat-30-id","cat-64-id","cat-65-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25720"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25722,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25720\/revisions\/25722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}