Ani DiFranco, So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter
Feminist folk funk. Not the Ani of 10 years ago; this is yet another double live album, and her sound is ever-evolving. This stuff is all live and in addition to her usual percussive acoustic folk sound it features sax and trumpet and funky organ sounds on most of the tracks. Way different versions of her older songs. I’m liking the funk thing, it’s pretty cool. All tracks are nifty.

Disc 1: Stray Cats (the blue disc)
1. Swandive—starts out with some chatter over the strumming intro; complete with goofup. Driving midtempo, with sax/trumpet breaks. Sparse-sounding.
2. (FCC!) Letter to a John/Tamburtza Lingua—starts right in with a loud, funky groove. fuller instrumentation, with guitar, percussion, saxes, organ. Ah, songs about being molested. Segues into a different song in the middle, which is darker-sounding, with mysterious wandering saxes, and she transitions into her spoken-word-style. Ah, songs about the “bloodthirsty hierarchy of the patriarchal arrangement” (FCC for one “shit” near the end of the second song)
* 3. Grey—slow, minor key, acoustic guitar with piano. Pretty. Vocal harmonies and sax/brass enter after awhile.
* 4. Cradle & All—loud aggressive guitar and wow-wow bass beginning. Female vocal harmonies. Heavy on the funk. Lots of instrumental breaks.
5. Whatall is Nice—starts slow, settles into steady slow uneasy groove. Isolated wavy electric guitar solos. Wavering organ chords in background.
* 6. WhatHowWhenWhere—nifty vocal echo effects in beginning. Languid trumpet over quick drums and hasty lyrics. Kind of a loungy gypsy latin feel—blends lots of styles.
7. To The Teeth—quiet solo acoustic beginning and quiet meditative vocals. About school shootings and an over-armed culture. Fcc? I couldn’t really tell. (“giving head” =FCC?) (fuck?) false ending, with instrumental/vocal instrumental break. Ends with chatter for next song.
* 8. Revelling—brooding and minor, with smoky sax/trumpet solos.
9. (FCC!) Napoleon—(“fucking” is in the chorus, which gets repeated throughout.) percussive acoustic guitar, male vocal harmonies; goes into broad loud midtempo groove. Chatter between this and the next about Clearchannel censorship!
* 10. Shrug—hushed, jazzy minor key, loungy piano and sax; finds a bass beat and some sax harmony. Melodic.
11. Welcome To—starts with spoken intro over music. Also quiet, steady midtempo; with a loud electric guitar-featured chorus. Echo machine on Ani’s voice.

Disc 2: Girls Singing Night (the green disc)
1. ‘Comes a Time—just a muffled intro of Ani over screams; hard to understand.
2. Ain’t That The Way –Loud strumming, male/female harmony. Funky, bouncing tune. Flute and trumpet featured. Sassy.
3. Dilate— Ani’s take on the touring life. bass/acoustic guitar, Ani solo, she takes her time; starts quiet and meditative. Has lots of audience screams throughout; dis is their favorite, I guess. Builds volume as other instruments add.
4. Gratitude—starts with some patter between Ani and her bassist about being “tour hags.” Soft, melodic; accordion and guitar featured. Female harmonies. Several audience outbursts of cheering—another oldie.
5. FCC! Rock Paper Scissors—starts w/patter (which contains the FCC) about Girls Singing Night. Piano-heavy, driving and wandering through the guitar—lots of heavy low chords and jazzy runs. Breathy voices, minor key. Ends with some breathy scatting
* 6. 32 Flavors—funky yet dreamy, with chugging drums. (another of her classics, updated) Sax/trumpet, marimba.
7. Loom / Pulse—right in with driving tempo, strumming guitar and later accordion and sax outbursts. Some yelling, party beats. Jazzy sax solo. Transitions into Pulse, with funky bass, spoken word style and nonverbal vocals.
* 8. Not a Pretty Girl—but a pretty song . . . melodic acoustic guitar, sax harmonies, some vocal harmonies. Neat moment with dissonant accordion.
* 9. FCC? Self Evident—Poem about Sept. 11th and what happened since—only spoken voice, with some occasional spare notes behind her. (are these FCCs? Jackass, big dick, asshole—this is pretty darn clean for all that anger.). Smoky groove enters; clarinet, steady drums, muted trumpet and slow synth chords behind her. Has audience screaming moments. Looong and super political.
10. Reckoning—muted, wandery, her and her guitar, with occasional support from other instruments. Quiet, smooth
11. My IQ—verbal/nonverbal lyrics; quick spoken quasi-rap, over insistent beat. Another radically different version of an old song. Segues right into 12.
* 12. Jukebox –enter funky bass solo, insistent instrumentals. Chaotic-sounding music. Steel string guitar, sax, loud instruments. Ends with crazy strumming chaos.
13. You Had Time—quiet high guitar, intricate plucking, one of the quieter songs, with soft guitar, high piano, female vocal harmony; fast drum beat under. Builds to louder near end.