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

Some days you're just in the mood for some chick to yell at you with lots of experimental music in between. Those days are for Rolo Tomassi. So if your weekend wasn't full of marital strife then this album is right up your alley!

Eva Spence is simply amazing on lead vocals, they're a UK band from Sheffield and are playing England, Scotland and Wales this fall, so go check them out and let me know how they are on stage, eh? And tell them to come to the U.S.!

Chez Tart was full of work, lots of sleeping and only a wee bit of yelling over the weekend so I'm enjoying this today, hope you do too, and this is about as far as I'm going into Halloween land folks, xoxo


Macabre Charade mp3 Rolo Tomassi Hysterics
Trojan Measures mp3 Rolo Tomassi Hysterics

Rolo Tomassi on MySpace
get out your pocketbook for Hysterics

(special thanks to Battle For Midwestern Housewifes for introducing me to this! That is one rocking punk blog over there, check them out)

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!

At the new album by Joan Osborne, Little Wild One, out today, it's beautiful and wonderful and takes her back to herself as I first met her; a soulful, bluesy, sing-it-down-from-the-bottom-of-your-gut kinda woman. Damn that's sexy!

Little Wild One

buy it here

more complete review coming soon!

Dear Liela,

First off, thank you so much for a great show last night! I honestly don't know how you maintain all that energy especially at the end of a grueling tour and let me say, you went out with a bang last night. I could tell by your performance that you knew how to handle yourself on a stage with four gentlemen but even more admirably in front of an audience of about 300, comprised of at least 100 pervy and rude men. The way you heckled that heckler was truly inspiring, THANK YOU! Indeed, he would NOT know a babe if he saw one.

photo credit: mediaeater
Now, about your voice; I have to tell you how impressed I was that you were even more raspy-wonderfully-Gidgety (and I mean that as a compliment) than in your recordings. You told us you might need help on the high notes, pfffft. That was false modesty, my dear. You had it GOING ON last night! It's so refreshing to find a voice that's not dreary, cutesy, popstar-like sliding all over the long notes in that Mariah Carey fashion. I mean if you're Mariah do it, but please, if you're somebody else, do your own fucking thing! And you, Liela Moss, you do you own thing wonderfully! There's a certain bit of psychedelia in it, a dash of Grace Slick perhaps? I don't know what you think of all the comparisons to Blondie or to Nico, but I think you're just you: open, raw, out there exposed and bare with lyrics that cut to the quick in a way that none of those artists could do in their time. That, to me, is what indie should be, bravo!

I feel a little embarrassed that we gave you such a small stage... surely you and the boys in The Duke Spirit deserve a much grander space. I could hardly see Olly and had to sneak sideways glances at him before the show, in all his dandy grandeur, yummmmmmmmmm! (Not to mention his performance on "This Ship Was Built To Last") Maybe you could point him towards this blog for me? ;) I would have really loved to see Toby stretch out and hit that bass in the way I know he wanted to last night. God, I love his lines in "Send a Little Love Token" and "The Step and The Walk."
photo credit: richt/tlobf
Now Liela, I need you to do some smoothing over for me, ok? I'm terrible with guitarists, oi! I also was pretty far back from the stage, alas and well, I'm quite short. So who ever did that amazing fret work on "Into the Fold" really deserves a toffee pudding or a pint or whatever they want over there in Prague where you are off to next. So Luke or Daniel ( well both of you, ok?), throw it back, men! Well done! The encore, Neptune's Call was brilliant as well! Thank you.

Please come back and give us another show. I swear I'll buy 50 tickets and make them give you a better venue with excellent sound and more room to romp around and kick and prance and throw your arms about as I know you like to do. Because you all were fucking awesome. And I meant that when I hollered it to you from the street as you were getting into your tour bus. And wow, Liela, thanks SOOOO much for dashing over to me in the street and shaking my hand last night. You ROCK! :)

xoxoxoxo,
a tart - and yeah, like I said, I'm blogging about ya'll today! And thanks for the kind word about Obama, I'm glad you're a fan too!

p.s. Did that guy who climbed on stage at the end actually grope you? OMG, I saw you throw him off and all I can say is wow. If that wasn't an act, where the hell was security when we need it, eh? Don't think all of us in Chicago are animals hun!



Send a Little Love Token mp3
Neptune's Call mp3
Buy the album directly from them
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venue: The Empty Bottle

Opening Bands:
The Pale Gallery
MySpace
Brian Boes: Electric Guitar, Pale Jonny: Electric Bass, Brent Larson: Electric Guitar/Vocals, Jeff Massey: Drums/Vocals. They came on strong and not too loud, confident and for a local band, I'd give them kudos for a good sound. It's kinda like Green Day meets Wheezer.... a good, tight band, Pale Jonny is a good, funky bass player, Bred Larson did a fine guitar solo on "Autograph", but damn they need some work on vocals and "Drop the Deadbeat 4/4" honestly didn't show off the lyrics in my opinion, but tell me what you think. To be fair, the venue did them no favors in terms of acoustics. "Autograph!" was incredibly danceable tho!

from The Pale Gallery EP:
Autograph mp3
Drop the Deadbeat 4/4 mp3
They're not signed yet, here's hoping they are soon!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skybox
MySpace
Tim Ellis: Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Christian Carpenter Fields: Background Vocals, Keys & Lead Guitar, Mike Holtz: Drums, Percussion & Background Vocals,
Dan Ingenthron: Bass Guitar & Background Vocals. Think Jerry Seinfield doing an impression of an Indie Rocker, add Tina Weymouth, bass player for the Talking Heads, and then make it a dream sequence wherein the band does some Sigur Ros songs but in English and you pretty much have the Skybox. Now granted, I am most definitely not an indie rock fan (how do you people dance to this stuff??) In fact, I generally use the term "indiecrap" much like I use the term "fucktunes" to disparage the younger generations' love for all things "wacky" and "fun" grrrr. So when these guys started singing about their relationship with their right hand, especially their thumb, forgive me if I felt it was dumb. The sing-songiness of it all doesn't help me get over the fact that I babysat these brats when I was in my 20's and listening to the really good music of my time. It's as if they never really outgrew Sesame Street, ffs.

However, I have to say, even with the bad acoustics, (did I mention the horrible venue already?) the horrible audio mix and the absolutely rude locals, it was blaringly apparent that these guys have loads of talent and will be huge if indeed they are not already huge (I know little to nothing of the local indie scene). Vocally, Tim Ellis has a terrific falsetto, and a lot of energy. Christian Carpenter Fields is a perfect accoutrement to him, I'd be surprised to learn that the two were NOT long time friends, they seemed so in sync with one another, musically. Mike Holtz gave a very good performance and Dan Ingenthron simply blew me away. I don't often think of Tina Weymouth, few bassists cover the frets the way she does. He saved the night for me, honestly, with this band. They opened with "Various Kitchen Utensils" and I couldn't stop smiling, even as I gritted my teeth. Slower songs like "Gravity Can't Keep Us Down" were lost on the audience which talked through most of it. This is a band that needs a captive audience. The fast songs work well live but the rest don't fill the stage enough to keep the mood going yet. Yes, you indie freaks out there, you will love this band and all their sappy-love-filled harmonies and fun songs and on CD the melancholy stuff is pretty good I'll admit. Go hear them, go buy their CD. Here, taste the love! :)
from Arco Iris:
Various Kitchen Utensils mp3
Gravity Can't Bring Us Down mp3

Buy Skybox's Arco Iris

It's always nice when great music aligns itself with beautiful women. In the case of The Duke Spirit, I found the music first, the woman second. I'm quite proud of that! Those who know me by my rakish nature probably won't believe it but honestly, I was simply scanning the music files on the SXSW website late one night and heard "Lassoo" and whamo! like a lightening bolt this voice from Venus smacked me right down to the center of my you-know-where.

See, it's always the vocals: the actual way the voice sounds*, how it resonates and transforms the words, how it reverberates through the song - over the instruments, around the (sub)text of the melody or lack thereof (as is often found, in my opinion, in indie rock these days) and most importantly out the lips of the singer, out the very body of the person who breathes it and groans it and exudes it. In the case of Liela Moss it's a very lovely body indeed and I can't wait to witness it in action ... and indeed I will, on Thursday night! Yay me!

But don't let my goofy ramblings about embodied utterances distract you from the music of The Duke Spirit, it's freaking great too! Listen to these two tracks and prepare yourself for my ridiculously overenthusiastic report of the show on Friday, I'm sure I'll be in a stupor over it all.





photo credit: Afraid Of Ducks


In the meantime, roll these songs around in your mouth a bit, and yeah... if you're an avid blog reader you've likely heard them before, sorry, nothing new here!

The Duke Spirit: from Neptune, 2008
Lassoo mp3
Wooden Heart mp3


photo credit: CC Chapman

The Duke Spirit's Website buy their album!
The Duke Spirit on MySpace

Now why is this a good week? Yesterday's post brought me such a treasure! Amy Ray's new album, Didn't It Feel Kinder. The second track hit me with that lightening bolt described above but alas, no time to devote to it today! I'm going to soak it in for a few more days because well, Amy always evokes something very personal in me. Lucky you, eh? Goddamn, women rock!

*after a few conversations with Puppet Show, I have come to the conclusion that this is why I am seemingly genetically adverse to a lot of what's known as metal these days. The "growl" just doesn't do it for me like other kinds of singing do, even though I do relish in the girl-punk sounds of Pretty Girls Make Graves and The Butchies and others... go figure!

There's some great new music by Trapt coming out. I've been a fan of Trapt for a while now, it's a sound that combines terrific melodies with a good old fashioned head-banging beat and yet doesn't quite drive my lover mad like NIN or Puscifier or Cold does. And the words mean something, full of angst and well just plain old heartbreak, yeah I'm a sucker for that. Plus, it's not the kind of death-dirge sound of Metallica and other bands in that genre that makes me want to take a knife to my tender bits.

The single off their new album, Only Through the Pain, titled "Curiosity Kills" is the best one I've heard so far. And the lyrics made me think of another great song by my favorite all time artist Amy Ray. No, the songs have nothing in common musically. Amy has roots in punk/folk/country music and her solo efforts are in no way comparable to the hard-hitting output of a band like Trapt. But when Amy is cut loose from the Indigo Girls (no offense meant to Emily Sailers of course!) she gets to let go a bit, stretch the lyrics and turn up the amp and well, kinda butch the whole thing up some. And this song, Rural Faggot does that. It's all about how what you don't know will break your heart. But sometimes there's folks along the way to help. And yeah, it's full of angst and pain and that rawness that comes from being different in a world where being the same as everyone else is what matters.

Yeah I know, a corny ending, but hey, it's a beautiful summer Sunday afternoon here!

Trapt: from Only Through the Pain (due out soon), Curiosity Kills mp3
their website

Amy Ray: from Prom Rural Faggot mp3
her website buy it there

photo credit to Freelance Dreamer

First of all, you must go over to !Viva La Mainstream! and read TJ's rant/review on Chris Cornell's latest release (and listen/download four tracks from Scream). It's thoughtful, thought-provoking, and downright fair. And even though I hate what Chris has done I have to agree with TJ, let the man be, he's got every right to evolve as an artist and go where he wants with his music and well, we can just go fuck ourselves! I give him loads of credit for having the balls to do it.

And yeah, if you listen to it enough and squint your eyes a bit and turn your head and just push Soundgarden outta your mind, it's not THAT bad....

Lots of folk thought that Carry On was pretty awful too. Here's a little reminder of how much better it was, in my opinion, (no, I'm not really saying "I told ya so!")

from Carry On
Arms Around Your Love mp3 Chris Cornell
This is maybe the best song about breaking up I've heard in a long while, it's heartfelt, it's ugly and raw and sobering, and I love the way Chris' voice wraps around this tune. The guitar work's not so shabby either.

Killing Birds mp3 Chris Cornell
I chose this one for you because it's got a totally different sound to it and yet that VOICE, omg, it just sucks you in. Sure, the lyrics are a little forced, but still catchy. I'd like a better drumline on this, it's mechanical and unimaginative, but hey, it's a pop song, it's o.k. Again, the guitar solo doesn't suck :p
Buy Carry On

from BBC Sessions
Orignial Fire mp3 Chris Cornell
Just Chris and a guitar, and sometimes that's all you need.

Redemption Song mp3 Chris Cornell
Bare bones and well, what do we expect from our aging rock gods folks? Honestly, yes, like the Stones, they are CAPABLE of belting it out well into their 60s but some of them may not want to, so why should we demand them to? Let them rock when they wish, mellow when they wish, and god-smite-me for saying this, but even go mainstream on us if they will, eeek!

Have a great weekend!
photo credit to f_day

and you really can't describe what you've seen for perhaps a week or two. Yeah, that happened to me. Honestly. I just thought I was going to see Billy Bragg. You pretty much know what you're gonna get at a Billy Bragg concert: good tunes, tunes you've heard for years, some new stuff off his latest album, (which I quite like, by the way), some political rants, (which I also quite like, by the way), a lot of warm fuzzies, a roomful of middle aged to aging middle class folks like me. What can I really tell you? Billy Bragg always does it for me.

But, WHAM, right before his set this crazy looking guy waltzes out on stage with giant geek-glasses, goofy wrinkled geek-buttoned down shirt, baggy but not too baggy geek-nondescript pants and shoes, but wearing a red keytar. He whips out a harmonica and starts making these odd hip-hop beat noises with his mouth into the microphone and this middle-aged white woman stifles a laugh, claps her hand over her mouth for the next 40 minutes and is amazed at what comes out of this, er, spectacle on stage.


Here, I give you a taste of C. R. Avery folks. He's part performance artist, part one-man band, part genius and part slam poet. I think he's brilliant and he needs you.

Like right now.

Hell Of A Hotel Of Harm mp3 C.R. Avery Magic Hour Sailor Songs

The Ballad of Charlie Parker and Patsy Cline mp3 C.R. Avery Magic Hour Sailor Songs

The Boxer Who Just Returned From London mp3 C.R. Avery Magic Hour Sailor Songs


go to his MySpace site to buy it!