Dilate (Import) (CD)

The ultimate expression of the DIY ethic, iconoclastic singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco burst onto the contemporary folk scene while still in her teens. Her confrontational lyrics, aggressive, percussive acoustic guitar playing, and unconventional image marked a new direction for folkie troubadours. Building up a huge grass-roots following through incessant touring and self-released albums, she was the first artist to achieve major success through truly independent means. By the end of the 1990s, her spare, acoustic sound had come to encompass everything from full-band rock to horn-driven funk and her Righteous Babe label (located in her hometown of Buffalo, New York) had become the home of other respected artists from Utah Phillips to Arto Lindsay. After writing and recording a new album virtually every year since 1990, DiFranco finally released a career retrospective in 2007, as well as a book of poems, and shows no signs of slowing down.

• Category:  Music  »  Rock & Pop  »  Alternative
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: March 25, 1998
• Label: BMG (Japan)
• UPC: 4995879087046
• WAPI (Tower ID): 106134389
• Average Customer Review: There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review!
• Tower.com Sales Rank: #273172 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #66351 in Rock & Pop (See Top 100 Rock & Pop Bestsellers)
• #5122 in Alternative (See Top 100 Alternative Bestsellers)

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Rolling Stone (6/13/96, p.85) - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "...while most devoutly `political' artists stress polemics, DiFranco stresses music....she's at her best when she picks somber guitar phrases and lets her voice trail off into a whisper. Her self-deprecating humor prevents her personal songs from becoming sappy or self-righteous..."
Spin (7/96, pp.93-94) - 7 (out of 10) - "...a song cycle excavating an unrequited obsession that knocked the wind out of her. DILATE's core conflict is DiFranco's pain as the other woman....DiFranco retains her knack for the well-cut phrase, and that's what razors some of these behemoths down to size..."
Entertainment Weekly (5/24/96, p.98) - "...DiFranco's songs and voice grab you between the ears and won't let go." - Rating: B+
Alternative Press (10/96, p.82) - 4 (out of 5) - "...she goes electric, adding a Hammond organ, sequenced drums and synths to her songs that blend punk's anger with a folksy belief in the power of protest..."
Option (9-10/96, p.102) - "...DILATE smoothes out DiFranco's rough edges a little....DiFranco handles out-right love songs like `Superhero' with surprising ease, and even strays from her usual six-string folk, experimenting with things like echo tracks and synthesizers..."
Village Voice (2/25/97) - Ranked #22 in the Village Voice's 1996 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.
NME (Magazine) (8/3/96, p.45) - 6 (out of 10) - "...Ani Di Franco is her very own one-woman music industry. Ceaseless touring and a total of eight albums--all self-produced, self-financed...have made her a grass roots sensation over the pond..."

Personnel: Ani DiFranco (vocals, acoustic, electric, steel & tenor guitar, Hammond organ, synthesizer, thumb piano, bass, bongos, shaker, drum programming, samples); David Travers-Smith (trumpet); Michael Ramos (Hammond organ); Andy Stochansky (drums).

Engineers include: Mark Hallman, Marty Lester, Ed Stone.

Recorded at Congress House Studio, Austin, Texas; Grant Avenue Studio, Hamilton, Canada; Chemical Sound, Toronto, Canada in December 1995 and January 1996.

The Japanese edition includes two additional tracks.

CD contains 2 bonus tracks.

Expanding musically beyond the folk-rock-ish guitar pop of its two immediate predecessors, NOT A PRETTY GIRL and OUT OF RANGE, Ani DiFranco's seventh album in six years adds Hammond organ, synthesizer, bass, and even trumpet to what was once a stark musical vision. Though DiFranco supplies much of the instrumentation, longtime drummer Andy Stochansky and a few other collaborators assist.

DiFranco successfully expands her musical frontiers without compromising her fierce self-determination. As always, this is a major lyrical theme on DILATE, particularly on the title track and "Napoleon," a scathing and self-aware treatise on DiFranco's tenuous position as a best-selling "voice for women." Critics were puzzled by the keyboard-led, beat-heavy rearrangement of the spiritual "Amazing Grace," but DiFranco's next releases, the Utah Phillips collaboration THE PAST DIDN'T GO ANYWHERE and the MORE JOY, LESS SHAME remix EP, explored this new musical direction in greater detail.

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