Independence Meal Review

Preferring to call herself a folk-poet, out-lesbian spoken-word fireball ALIX OLSON is nothing short of a phenomenon. Her 2001 debut album Built Like That garnered her all kinds of kudos, including several Outmusic Award nominations, the cover of Ms. Magazine, a spot on Oxygen TV and a much-coveted slot at the Michigan Women's Music Festival, among others. Now her just-released sophomore CD, Independence Meal (Subtle Sister Productions) seems poised to take her career to that next proverbial level, with its dynamic blend of spoken-word poetry, performance art energy, and acoustic folk music.

A member of the 1998 Nuyorican National Championship Slam Team, as well as winner of the 1999 OutWrite National Slam, Olson is primarily a slam-poet/spoken-word artist who uses her poetry as a platform for her feminist and progressive political views -- but the fact that she chooses to set her words to music brings her message to a wider audience than just the insular world of poetry slams and performance art.

Olson is a feminist through and through, and she puts her money where her mouth is, employing an all-female crew for this latest recording. Her backing band on Independence Meal consists of the aforementioned Pamela Means on guitar, Lyndell Montgomery (of the dyke band Ember Swift) on bass and violin, famed women's music circuit percussionist Ubaka Hill on drums, and Chris Pureka (Catie Curtis) on guitars, while the album was produced and engineered by Michigan Women's Music Festival Acoustic Stage sound guru Karen Kane.

Lyrically, her pieces are dense, filled with intricate wordplay, bold political rants, amusing observations on human nature, confessional self-explorations on love and eroticism, and myriad other brilliantly-inspired thoughts -- often all within the same piece. Her delivery is energetic, moving effortlessly from a scream to a whisper and back again, engaging the listener on every level with her melodic, rhythmic vocal delivery. On stage, simply put, she is a dynamo, a whirlwind of energy ˆ and Independence Meal does a great job of capturing that vibe.

Content-wise, Olson touches on all kinds of topics. She gives props to progressive historian Howard Zinn (author of The People's History of the Unites States) on the epic opener "Pirates," both lyrically and also by including vocal samples of his work; she takes on racism, the injustice of the death penalty and the prison industrial complex in the title track "Independence Meal"; she pays respect to all her female ancestors and political/creative predecessors on "Womyn Before"; and even name-checks surrealist painter/sculptor Dorothea Tanning in the piece of the same name.

Some of the tracks are more personal in nature. "8x10" is a poignant verbal portrait of a moment in time inspired by a photograph; "Kindness and Rage" is an amusing tale that personifies two coexisting personality traits; "Subway Lips" is a sweet crush of a vignette; and "Blessed With A Family" serves as Olson's basic raison d'etre.

As you can tell, it's impossible, really, to explain Alix Olson. She is a performer who must be heard and experienced. Independence Meal is a good way to begin doing so. More info: www.alixolson.com.