Up Up Up Up Up Up by Ani DiFranco

Released in early 1999, Up Up Up Up Up Up finds Ani continuing to explore the politics of love and the personal dimension of political issues. Ani picked up her guitar, wrote a slew of new songs, and raced off to her favorite studios; the Congress House in Austin and Kingsway Studios in New Orleans to record them. Much like the Congress House (but a bit more glamorous) the now defunct Kingsway Studios was situated in the French Quarter allowing artists to live, work, and play right there in the studio. Aiding and abetting this time around are the members of her 1997 touring band: Jason Mercer on bass, Andy Stochansky on drums, and – making her first appearance on one of Ani's albums – Julie Wolf on keyboards, accordion, and backing vocals. "It's taken a long time, but now the band is really acquiring a voice of its own," Ani says. DiFranco herself offers up more of her distinctively percussive acoustic guitar. Up Up Up Up Up Up is a joyous, mournful, funny, sober, sexy album rich with insight and emotional intensity. Among its gems is "Jukebox," which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance – Female. From story-songs like "'Tis of Thee" and "Trickle Down" to such deeply personal meditations as "Angry Anymore" and "Everest," Ani's doing what she does best: taking stock of the world outside her and the worlds inside her, too. "By expanding her production palette, DiFranco has made a CD that's less an ancillary byproduct of her incendiary live shows than an album that marks a distinct sonic territory." - THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

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The album is a relatively understated answer to the public response of Little Plastic Castle.