Shakenstir » Ani DiFranco New LP +

Ani DiFranco’s eagerly awaited memoir, NO WALLS AND THE RECURRING DREAM is out now. In addition, DiFranco also offered a NO WALLS MIXTAPE, her current take on the songs that inspired the memoir.

DiFranco addresses this to her fans. “So here is my mixtape for you, like the kind that I would make you on cassette if it was, like, 1993 and I was really into you. It’s a flight of Ani songs that I took the liberty of revisiting, solo stylie, twenty… (thirty?!) years later, songs that factor (either literally or figuratively) into my memoir, No Walls and the Recurring Dream.”

In her memoir, DiFranco recounts her early life from a place of hard-won wisdom, combining personal expression, the power of music, feminism, political activism, storytelling, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and much more into an inspiring whole. In these frank, honest, passionate, and often funny pages is the tale of one woman’s eventful and radical journey to the age of thirty. Ani’s coming of age story is defined by her ethos of fierce independence-from being an emancipated minor sleeping in a Buffalo bus station, to unwaveringly building a career through appearances at small clubs and festivals, to releasing her first album at the age of 18, to consciously rejecting the mainstream recording industry and creating her own label, Righteous Babe Records. In these pages, as in life, she never hesitates to challenge established rules and expectations, maintaining a level of artistic integrity that has impressed many and antagonised more than a few. Ani continues to be a major touring and recording artist as well as a celebrated activist and feminist, standing as living proof that you can overcome all personal and societal obstacles to be who you are and to follow your dreams.

No Walls Mixtape

It’s 1990-something and we’ve all got that best friend who enriches our lives with their incredible mixtapes. Better than the music itself was the feeling that came with it, knowing just how much effort they had put into it to make it just for you. Well, fast forward to 2019 and your friend Ani has done just that very thing for you! This No Walls Mixtape featuring new stripped-down versions of 16 Ani classics is the perfect musical companion for your first read of her memoir No Walls And The Recurring Dream.

Ani included this note for you: “It’s a flight of Ani songs that I took the liberty of revisiting, solo stylie, twenty… (thirty?!) years later, songs that factor (either literally or figuratively) into my memoir, No Walls and the Recurring Dream. These songs take the same stumbly trip through my formative years that the book takes — except for TO THE TEETH. TO THE TEETH has nothing whatsoever to do with the book; I just wanted to include it. ”

“I took a few liberties with my own lyrics here; in other words, the me that I am now sang these songs in the present, even though they are old songs. I also took some liberties with the chords, mostly because I couldn’t remember the right ones.”

“I am blessed to have three very special guests join me on this otherwise solitary outing. All are musicians I love, people who make appearances in No Walls and the Recurring Dream in some form or another. They are people who have already given me gifts along my journey and now, here is one more.”