Liz Phair
Saturday
Reviewed by Richard Whittaker, Fri., March 18, 2011
Liz Phair
Funstyle (Rocket Science Ventures)Chicago's pottymouthed girl has come a long way since her Exile in Guyville, and she's lost acolytes on the road. She may not find them falling into line with this formerly Web-only release and its gleefully helter-skelter barrage of bhangra, blues, and bile toward the music industry. The old Phair is still there: Scrape the overproduced garnish off "You Should Know Me," and it's as sweetly laden with Beatles love as any bite from her Whitechocolatespaceegg era. Slipping her vintage Girlysound recordings into the digipak may scream "fan service," but truth is that 1998 disc was the last time she experimented this much. Hunted by cryptomusicologists with a zeal once reserved for Zimmerman's Basement musings and the Pixies' purple phase, this addition is alluring. (Sat., TBD, ACL Live at Moody Theater)
