Underdogs is Tanya's third Post Throwing Muses/Breeders release, and though it's been out for several months, if you blinked you missed it. She must've somehow offended the powers that be, because she gets no airplay, or MTV, so I guess it's up to me to tell you about Tanya.

Cast in a fairly minor role in her half-sister Kristen Hirsh's band Throwing Muses, and wasted in her collaboration with Kim and Kelly Deal on the The Breeders first album Pod, Tanya debuted in '93 with her new band Belly, delivering the masterpiece Star. (With the exception of the Pixies. Bossanova, probably my most listened-to record of the 90's). Good people of Earth,Tanya Donnelly is the most gifted female songwriter working.

Though no longer using the Belly moniker, Lovesongs for underdogs picks up where Star left off. The songs have the same pretty/mean, visceral, pop-driven clout that powered Hole's Live Through jagged gem, but Tanya keeps her venom minced between the lines; and her lyrics and musical ideas surpass any of the women who try to make pop-music rock.

Her playful girlish voice seductively flirts, and then can just as convincingly kick your butt with a passion. There's an element of magic in her music that sets her apart from the Lilith Fair set, the same mercurial whatever that makes a Beatles song cooler than a Stones song. (Go ahead, write me a letter). To coin the popular ebonic expression, Tanya is The Bomb. Do yourself a favor and let her blow you away.