To the Teeth (CD - 1999)

Personnel: Ani DiFranco (vocals, acoustic, electric, tenor & acoustic baritone guitars, banjo, piano, organ, bass, drums, triangle, bells); Julie Wolf (vocals, accordion, melodica, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, Wurlitzer piano, organ, Clavinet); Prince (vocals); Corey Parker (rap vocals); Kurt Swinghammer (guitar); Jason Mercer (banjo, acoustic & electric basses); Maceo Parker (flute, tenor saxophone); Brian Wolf (trumpet, trombone, tuba); Irvin Mayfield (trumpet); Mark Mullins (trombone); Daren Hahn (drums, turntables).

Recorded at The Dust Bowl, Buffalo, New York; The Congress House, Austin, Texas; Kingsway, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Personnel: Ani DiFranco (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, tenor guitar, baritone guitar, banjo, piano, organ, drums, steel drum, triangle, bells); Julie Wolf (vocals, accordion, melodica, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, Clavinet, organ, Wurlitzer organ); Prince (vocals); Corey Parker (rap vocals); Kurt Swinghammer (guitar, electric guitar); Jason Mercer (banjo, upright bass, electric bass); Maceo Parker (flute, saxophone); Brian Wolf (trumpet, trombone, tuba); Irvin Mayfield (trumpet); Mark Mullins (trombone); Daren Hahn (drums, turntables).

Audio Mixer: Ani DiFranco.

Recording information: Austin, TX; Congress House, Austin, TX; Dust Bowl, Buffalo, NY; Kingsway, New Orleans, LA; New Orleans, LA.

Photographers: Goat Boy; Patty Wallace.

Ani DiFranco continues her soulful, genre-bending, flaming guitar march into the millennium with TO THE TEETH. Like her other recent recordings, she branches out into full-band arrangements with plenty of electric sounds, in addition to the stripped-down acoustic music she's always made. Her singing roams into wider territories too, with the rap-rhythms of a funk singer and the smoky subtleties of a jazz diva.

The title track is Ani's mournful-yet-directed diatribe on gun violence in America. Her sensitive, lilting guitar chords make for a moving contrast with the eventual full-band crescendo. She truly sounds so heartsick of it all that her pipes have run dry. The tune closes with an all-together-now oompah of tuba, trumpet, and drums, giving it an upbeat conclusion. The poly-textured "Freakshow" has a funky, hip-hip sensibility and strident, shout-style vocals--like a couple of the other tunes, it's an overdub pastiche with Ani playing and singing every part. Some honored guests are in attendance, too: "Swing" is truly a fun affair, with Maceo Parker blowing his signature funk horn to a backdrop of Wurlitzer piano and turntables, while the one-and-only Prince adds spirited vocal atmospherics to "Providence." minimize