Everyone, it seems, compares The Boxing Lesson to Pink Floyd. And well why not? Paul Waclawsky, lead singer and songwriter is a big Floyd fan without shame. But don't fear dear ones, this Floyd hater fell in love with Wild Streaks & Windy Days anyway. No, it's not because this is the very first band to enter my mail box, (ooh I've been de-flowered in yet another manner!) and no, it's not because I've since exchanged very cordial emails with their manager and publicist, Ryan Cano, who has been so kind as to grant me explicit permission to share any two files of my choosing with you all.

No, dear readers, I love this album for one simple reason: it's incredibly moody.

It's that bitchy woman that you love too much and put up with even when she makes ridiculous and loud arguments in public, even when she wears garish lipstick to make everyone look at her and want to kiss her, even when she pouts and gets sulky when you're so obviously JUST JOKING! You love that bitch.

See, I am that bitch sometimes. And Wild Streaks & Windy Days takes you through that process of knowing a woman like me. It starts out with a really great catchy song, a terrific guitar lick-- you want to hear the rest. That first wink really turns your head ;) And with a title like "Dark Side Of The Moog" who can resist wanting to know how Jaylinn Davidson is gonnna work that synthesizer? (It's a moog, by the way.) The album was created sequentially, in other words, in order, from one song to the next and listening to it that way is the way I love to listen to an album. It doesn't mean that all songs have to flow into one another. Everything a person says and is doesn't flow so reasonably does it? I expect some twists along the way and this album provides some really fun ones. It's heavy and dark at times, then twirls us back to modern rock and roll with songs like "Brighter" and "Hopscotch and Sodapop." Wild Streaks & Windy Days gets all moody and introspective and blue, but it takes you there with it. And it leaves you feeling melancholy and mellow, just like a night with a good woman.

"Hanging With The Wrong Crowd" is a fan-fucking-tastic song, if not for the cool electro opening, then for the repeated chorus of "she's such a whore" at the end. God!, I so want to be on stage with a guitar, screaming that into a microphone some days! Jake Mitchell's heavy beat is perfect on a song like this. Likewise, "Freedom" just makes you want to dance and sing along. That crazy synth takes a rather normal pop/rock song and pushes it right into the stratosphere. Damn, I wish they were touring up North soon. Chicago would welcome The Boxing Lesson with open arms, ... hint, hint.

My one complaint? I'd love to hear more of Jaylinn on this album. Her backing vocals are great, and I'm a sucker for female voices in a great punk song. The Boxing Lesson's sound could only be made bigger and broader by adding more vocals. Plus, well, she's really cute... so share the mic Paul! ;)

Wild Streaks & Windy Days is a great album by an up and coming band. Check out these two authorized* tracks and see what I mean.

Freedom mp3 The Boxing Lesson Wild Streaks & Windy Days
Lower mp3 The Boxing Lesson Wild Streaks & Windy Days

The Boxing Lesson on MySpace it's the only source you need, seriously, ... see their tour schedule, buy their album, hear more mp3s and see more pics there, it's a great site!
*There's been quite a drama going on about Blogger.com and google pulling posts with mp3s which have allegedly infringed on the copyright of artists and labels. I've been reluctant to post this review for fear of having it yanked. So I waited to get explicit permission from the publicist and manager of the band. He emailed me, saying "We realize and cherish the importance you play in helping people discover music. You definitely have our permission to post 2 songs as we own these songs and no one else." If anyone out there has a problem with that I suggest they contact Mr. Cano directly, his contact information is on the band's MySpace page.

And for more info on the apparent crack down and on the draconian DMCA law I refer you here and here. But don't worry, this will not stop the Tart from doing her thing! xoxoxo

I'm listening to Amy Ray's new album Didn't It Feel Kinder and it's good, ... it's uneven, as some of her stuff is. So I'm disappointed but also so happy because when she's good, she's excellent. And when she's not good, she's just o.k. and that's still pretty good in my book. I'm a die hard fan. I'm one of those that can sing all the songs, that can tell you all the details of the album covers, all the liner notes, all the points along my life where the songs meant what and why and how. It's not something I'm particularly proud of, I mean, I don't consider The Indigo Girls and Amy's solo projects to be the cutting edge of great music by any stretch but then again, it's not bad stuff either. Like most folk-rock out there, it's good cause it's good to me. It's good in my mind, I like the way it sounds, I like what it evokes in my memory and it's good to me in that it does good things to me. It makes me feel good about my life, it causes me to remember the good things in my life, the tough shit I've got through, the great times I've had with friends and lovers, that music has been there for all of it. So this new album is just another ring on a finger on a hand that travels with me. And eventually I'll have listened to it so many times that I won't recognize the songs that I think aren't so good at first hearing. But for now, track two,"She's got to be" is excellent.

Well that paragraph was written about a month and a half ago. It sat in my blogger draft box all this time while I kept on listening, just waiting for the right time to be posted, to be ready. And yes, I've forgotten which tracks are uneven, which aren't so good at first hearing. But "She's got to be" is still the BEST ONE, oh my god, it's good. You want Amy to sing those high notes. You want to make Amy sing those high notes just for you. Oh god if only she sang those just for you. Ok, I lie, it's not her singing you want. Making those sounds yes, in your ear, in your bed, in with you, hmmm yes. Amy doesn't sing those high notes very often you see.

Now, the music. "Birds of a Feather" starts on a rather sour note, a typical Amy note in fact, and if you've not heard a lot of her music it's rather jarring to have an album open with a song that seems to be so down, so despondent, so un-melodic in fact. But if you listen to it four or five times it shines and especially that last chorus will make you smile. It's the perfect set up for the star track of the project, "She's got to be" (did I mention yet that it's the BEST ONE?).

Amy's in love. We love Amy when she's in love. Hell, we love Amy when she's heartbroken, when she's bitterly disappointed, when she's mad as hell and not going to take it anymore, and when she's sobbing like a baby because somebody took her last cigarette. But we really love Amy when she's in love. Amy in love is like a momma dog protecting her pups, like a eagle bringing fresh meat home to the nest, like pelican plucking her own breast to feed her chicks her own blood if need be (even tho that's indeed a myth). She's noble, regal, beautiful and sexy. And so is this song. Listen to it, buy it, soak up the love folks.

The falsetto is gorgeous and tender next to the more typical sounds of the chorus, the background vocals are smooth and angelic and the easy pop sounds of the guitars make this song a total hit.

"Cold Shoulder," "Who Sold the Gun," "SLC Radio," "Rabbit Foot" all sound like other songs from Amy's solo efforts, all follow formulas from other albums. But they're formulas we like. I don't mind one bit that "SLC" is the same genre as "Let It Ring" lyrically, or that "Cold Shoulder" fills the space of "Driver Education" or "Rural Faggot." "Who Sold The Gun" might be my least favorite song from the album but I guarantee you I'll love it live. Those yearning lines are hard to capture on a recording but are so damn sexy to hear in concert. And yes, it's reminencient of "Covered For You." Of course, "Rabbit Foot" is so much like "Rodeo" and that's just fine with me. I love those bittersweet songs.

Some are harder to match but just feel like they fit... "Out On The Farm" is a great song, so much like one that would go on an Indigo Girls album but I'm glad Amy saved it for this one, it's a song that deserves a solo vocal, that showcases her tone, her sound and the background vocals once again do that justice in a way that Emily Saliers accompanient changes things. There's a reason why artists do solo work when they're well known as being part of a duo.

"Bus Bus," (we'll overlook the verb conversate here) just whispers The Clash to me. Is it because I know of Amy's love for that band? Or is there something musically of it there? Readers, tell me! She proves she's not stuck in a 1990s musical style, though I doubt we'll see a Amy Ray hip hop catalogue any time soon.

All in all, Didn't It Feel Kinder is a new/old sound for Amy. How's that for a review!? New in that it's a real step away from her jangly, punk, rockabilly inspired tunes of Prom and Stag. This is a polished, much more produced, Indigo Girls sounding work, many tracks treading the line between solo and duo work. And old, in that the formulas remain the same, the lyrics revisit many themes that are constant in her music (thankfully) and with each effort Amy gives us quality, thoughful, and evocative art.

She's Got To Be mp3 Amy Ray Didn't It Feel Kinder
Bus Bus mp3 Amy Ray Didn't It Feel Kinder
buy it!