LIZ PHAIR Funstyle Released out of the blue around the Fourth of July as a statement of independence, this is, without a doubt, an odd duck of a record from the former alt-rock queen of raunchy cool. No, it does not equal or even approach the bracing smarts of Phair's watershed debut, Exile in Guyville, or the polished pop charms of her 2003 major-label release. But it is an intriguing, loose-limbed snapshot of Phair's current headspace and her willingness to explore a variety of styles and sounds to varying degrees of success. Whether that means goofing her way through an endearingly silly record-companies-are-evil rap ("Bollywood"), penning a bona fide Phair-style pop classic ("And He Slayed Her"), or getting her grind on for a noir-ish rocker ("Oh Bangladesh!"), Funstyle captures a certain fearless spirit.

You can read the rest of the list at the Boston Globe.

The food arrives (eschewing the S&M salad, we opted for Thai lettuce wraps and Brazil-nut sea-vegetable croquettes), and she politely arranges the dishes so we each have equal access. "I was raised to be a very intelligent housewife," says Phair, who grew up the adopted daughter of a wealthy couple in a ritzy Chicago suburb and graduated from Oberlin. "It was a source of shame for my family that I was in rock and roll, which is so blue-collar. It just isn't done. And I felt it, too. Part of me used to look around and be like, 'What am I doing in this dive shithole? I don't have to be here. I have a life raft.' In some ways I never settled with it, but I'm having fun now. This is my life's purpose."

You can read the rest of the interview at New York Magazine.

Liz Phair, "U Hate It", from Funstyle: Laurie Anderson meets Dr. Demento in the indie queen's kiss-off to critics.

You can read the rest of the list of 25 songs (and an explanation of the list) at the Los Angeles Times.

Strutting onstage and greeting the mixed crowd – literally from the ages of 18 to 81 (probably the strangest crowd I have ever seen, including the guy banging his cane in front of me) – the sexy songstress pounds out the chords from "Supernova", starting strong and continuing the crescendo of energy way through the night. The majority of her set was from her popular first release, Exile in Guyville, which was re-released in 2008.

You can read the rest of the review here.

Coy eyes say want me
She's fucking her guitarist
Wry silver flower

From the Washington Post (by Dave McKenna):

To balance things out, Phair also performed the most radio-unfriendly tunes from her songbook. For "Flower", a Guyville cut with a giggly supply of bad words and graphic sex references, Phair brought two female members of the crowd onstage to help her croon vulgarities. The newcomers couldn't hold a tune either, but by song's end they were warbling along with their hero so shamelessly they might as well have all been in the shower, and everybody in the building was smiling.

You can read the rest of the review plus see photos (taken by Evy Mages / FTWP) here.

Here is an alternate link to the Washington Post review.

From Washington City Paper (by Erica Bruce):

Fast forward 17 years to Friday night at the 9:30 Club: Phair's audience was an interesting mixture of those same men and women, as well as women who weren't born when Exile came out. 43-year old Phair – who apparently has a painting next to Dorian Grey somewhere – ran the gamut through her musical catalogue, touching down mostly on tracks from Exile and her July release, Funstyle.

You can read the rest of the review plus see photos (also taken by Erica Bruce) of Liz and opening act US Royalty here.

From DCist (by Francis Chung):

Phair couldn't stop beaming during her ninety-minute performance, seemingly having even more fun than the near-capacity crowd of adoring fans, two of whom were invited on stage to harmonize with her during "Flower". Backed by a three-piece guitar/bass/drums combo, Phair jumpstarted her set with "Supernova", following up that rousing opener with Guyville's lead tracks, "6'1"" and "Help Me Mary", her throaty vocals accompanied by the percussive rhythm-guitar jangle of her Fender Musicmaster. The set list was well-curated, spanning her entire career (with the notable exclusion of 2005's Somebody’s Miracle LP) while keeping the focus squarely on her strongest material. Only two songs from Funstyle made the cut (the vaguely Beatlesesque "Oh, Bangladesh" and the bluesy "And He Slayed Her"), as Phair wisely avoided the more eccentrically "experimental" tracks on her new record, such as the Bhangra-rap mistep, "Bollywood". Instead, she offered a satisfying array of crowd-pleasing favorites, with Guyville classics such as "Mesmerizing" and "Never Said" delivered alongside later standouts like "Polyester Bride" and "May Queen".

You can read the rest of the review plus see photos (also taken by Francis Chung) here.

From The Bay Net:

The Baynet Radio team along with local winners had an enjoyable evening on Friday December 17, as Liz Phair entertained a sold out crowd with all of her fan favorites including "Divorce Song", "Supernova" "H.W.C.", "Why Can't I?" and "Extraordinary."

You can read the rest of the review plus see photos here.

9. Liz Phair – at Belly Up Tavern in October.

The indie rocker who suffered stage fright years ago, doesn't show any signs of that. Fans were worried, with her releasing a new CD with rap songs, it might not be the same girlie in Exile we knew and love. We were treated to all the songs we dig, in the warm intimate setting--while it poured rain outside.

You can read the entire top ten list at SanDiego.com.

From its age, the crowd seemed loaded with folks who've been with her from the start. But Phair, strumming barre chords on various low-end Fender electrics, turned her backing rocker trio most loose when rendering the new "Oh, Bangladesh". Phair, 43, wasn't afraid to dust off "Why Can't I?" and "Extraordinary", tunes with massive radio-friendly choruses from her 2003 eponymously titled record.

You can read the rest of the review here.

Flower (courtesy of MsTowanda73, who joined Liz onstage for the song)

3. Liz Phair, Funstyle
Clearly, Exile in Guyville is long past gone in the rearview mirror, and the one time alt goddess can't be faulted for failing to re-create one supreme '90s achievement. But that doesn't earn her a pass on these lazy music-industry "critiques", painfully off-key pop ditties, and irksome spoken-word skits. As for the random Bollywood stuff -- that's just (curried) gravy.

By Leah Greenblatt

And the set's shortcomings only further endeared her to the crowd. Her voice sounded thin in spots, and she struggled to get in key for "Why Can’t I?" A shouted-out request for "Shitloads of Money" was obliged on the spot, though the band hadn't rehearsed it, and Phair pulled it off with her sheer charisma.

You can read the rest of the review (with photo) here.

Liz's opening act was Chris Brokaw, who goes way way back with Liz. Liz explained to us that it was Chris who encouraged her to start recording her songs, the songs that eventually became Girlysounds and that led to Exile in Guyville and launched her career. Chris covered one of Liz's Girlysounds songs in his set, and I could totally imagine what Liz would have sounded like singing it. MD and I both liked that song a lot. The chorus was "Don't be so in love with yourself, don't be so in love with yourself, don't be so in love with yourself -- because I'm not." All deadpan and such. Hee hee. Chris also played during Liz's encore. I wasn't much interested in his set, because most of his songs were rather slow, but when I learned what his connection to Liz was and how he can take a big chunk of credit for Liz becoming a musician, I have to say that I have nothing but respect for him. Without Chris Brokaw, and therefore Liz Phair, I'd have quite the gaping hole in my artistic and life influences.

You can read the rest of the review (with photos) here.

• 6'1"
• Divorce Song
• Oh, Bangladesh ("this song involved a Four Seasons and a French maid outfit")
• Perfect World
• Mesmerizing
• Polyester Bride

If you missed Liz's performance today, you can hear the archives at npr.org.

By the way, it's Funstyle, not Funology!

…and oh, did I mention that Liz Phair (Liz! Phair!) and her producing partners are doing the music? And that I had a breakfast meeting with Liz Phair during which I was too awestruck to speak? So now Liz Phair probably thinks of me (fondly, I hope) as that mute lady who ate some of her fruit plate. Which is cool. Could be worse, right?

Charith Premawardhana I've known Stephan Jenkins [of Third Eye Blind] for about four years. I was brought in to record for Vanessa Carlton when Stephan was producing her album. We recorded the strings over at Peter Getty's House. Then a few months ago, I played an event over there and left my phone behind. When I went back, there was a girl on the couch I didn't know. I told her about the Velvet Underground cover project and that we still had a couple of openings for singers. She immediately starts singing "All Tomorrow's Parties" and it sounded good. I didn't even know who she was, she'd just introduced herself as Liz. There we were watching the Giants game, drinking beers. When I finally asked her what her last name was and she said Phair, I was like "Oh shit, I used to have your album." She agreed to do the show, and when I saw Stephan later that day he wanted to be part of it too. He initially wanted to do "Heroin", but I had to tell him it was already taken.

Also revealed is the release date for the recording:

A CD of the night is set to be released in January on Porto Franco Records, and in February Undercover will reunite to cover the Pixies' Doolittle.

You can read the entire article here.

As heartening as it was to see Phair refuse to be trapped in amber — she even dipped into her unfairly maligned 2003 "sell-out" album for the delightful snap of "Extraordinary" — she clearly knows where her bread is buttered. So it was equally encouraging that Phair clearly still digs on the tracks from her stunning 1993 debut, Exile in Guyville, as much as her fans do, with nearly half the show dedicated to its lo-fi yet clever charms.

Read the rest of the review here.

"I'm coming to realize the only way I can boil it down, and I would have never said this before, but I'm a female who pretty much does what she wants," said Phair, 43. "And I'm afraid, even in our modern age, that's pretty radical. I think I pay for it in a lot of different ways, but I'm also sort of noticeable for that."

You can read the rest of the interview at InsideNova.

Have you thought about how a Guyville follow-up would sound?

Yeah. I'd make my guitar playing kind of a central feature and I'd pick a theme and get super-trippy into that theme, which I love to do. You know, I'd very, very lovingly put it together -- I wouldn't even care about structure for radio, I'd just get very deep and tripped out about something and keep the production very minimal.

You can read the rest of the interview at the Washington Post.

That doesn’t mean that Phair has lost her trademark sauciness. While acknowledging the heat in the crowded club, she invited fans to strip for her pleasure, and she diverted from her already Exile in Guyville-heavy setlist to bring a couple audience members up to assist her on the breathy "Flower". She would later dismiss incessant requests for "H.W.C.", declaring that one XXX moment was enough for the night.

Read the rest of the review and see photos here.

The setlist:

• Supernova
• 6'1"
• Help Me Mary
• Divorce Song
• May Queen
• Never Said
• Nashville
• And He Slayed Her
• Polyester Bride
• Flower
• Mesmerizing
• Oh, Bangladesh
• Extraordinary
• Stratford-On-Guy
• Fuck and Run

Encore:
• Perfect World
• Soap Star Joe
• Girls' Room
• Speed Racer
• Johnny Feelgood

...Liz thrilled fans by returning to her roots and playing a set that was heavily drawn from her early efforts. The crowd, which has been described as primarily composed of "soccer moms and sketchy guys", was pumped to hear their indie favorite like "Divorce Song" and "And He Slayed Her". However, the uncontested high point of the night was when she initiated some impressive audience participation when she grabbed two girls from the crowd and pulled them on stage to help her sing the explicit lyrics to "Flower".

Read the rest of the review here.

Flower (courtesy of Jake von Slatt)

Perfect World (courtesy of amoneill1)

Divorce Song (courtesy of chuckpadgettmusic)

• Supernova
• 6'1"
• Help Me Mary
• Divorce Song
• May Queen
• Never Said
• Nashville
• And He Slayed Her
• Polyester Bride
• Bollywood (a few lines)
• Perfect World
• Mesmerizing
• Oh, Bangladesh
• Extraordinary
• Stratford-On-Guy
• Fuck and Run

Encore:
• Girls' Room
• Soap Star Joe
• Speed Racer
• Johnny Feelgood

Liz also recited a few lines from "Bollywood"... Can anyone remember between which songs she did this?

Any corrections are welcomed!

I sent ["Bollywood"] to them and I didn't hear back. A couple days later they both got on the phone and they were like, "Liz, you can't put this out," and I was like, "What?" They're like, "It'll be the end of your career. It'll be the worst thing you could possibly do, and if you choose to go with it then we can't work with you." I was totally shocked. I didn't expect it. It's such a funny and to my mind harmless song. I couldn't imagine that it had such a huge reaction. I remember getting off the phone and totally going and crying. I felt like I'd been slapped. I had no idea that was coming. They really believed it was a huge mistake. But sometimes -- this is not to make it seem like artists are so special -- but sometimes artists have to do what they have to do.

You can read the rest of the interview at the Washington Post.

Long story short, while I'm not as die-hard of a fan as I was back then, she still holds a very special - and not only nostalgic - place in my heart and my history. Ilena surprised me with tickets for last night's show at the Bowery Ballroom (Ari played there a few months ago), and although we didn’t know songs from her latest album (which appears to be sort of alt-country) she played a lot of her old songs and we just had a ball. (There was unfortunately a very loud and obnoxious man next to us, but he eventually moved out of our hearing range.)

Read the rest of the review plus recipes (it's a food blog) here.

At one point someone screamed "What's in the box?" which totally confused Liz. It was a line from her Funstyle song "Smoke", where after she realized it she spoke some of the little skit and said the box no longer contained her little voice of self doubt because after she returned to NY she realized she just happens to be a smart person living on the west coast.

Read the rest of the review plus see videos and photos from the show here.

From rock nyc - music live & recorded (review by Iman Lababedi):

And her rapport with the audience was fun(style!). She made jokes, flirted, blushed, went off color riffing on what's in her box ("A party of one!"). The intimacy of the setting worked well for her.

And we got what we wanted, "6'1"", "Fuck And Run", "Divorce Song"... great songs well played, well presented, not as nostalgia parcels but as part of an organic career in motion.

Read the rest of the review plus see video from the show here.

The highlights for me were fairly deep cuts. "Perfect World", the song that always breaks my heart into a billion pieces. "Help Me Mary", maybe not as obscure, but a song with one of my favorite simple melodies. Most especially "Nashville", possibly my favorite track in her catalog.

Read the rest of the review here.

• Supernova
• 6'1"
• Help Me Mary
• Divorce Song
• May Queen
• Never Said
• Nashville
• And He Slayed Her
• Polyester Bride
• Perfect World
• Mesmerizing
• Oh, Bangladesh
• Extraordinary
• Stratford-On-Guy
• Fuck and Run

Encore:
• Don't Hold Your Breath (If I Ever Pay You Back)
• Soap Star Joe
• H.W.C.
• Johnny Feelgood

How about releasing more music? You've been known to go a really long time between albums.

I have a ton more music coming. I just don't want to dump it all out. Because a lot of people just heard the first song from Funstyle, and you just can't get them to listen to the entire damn thing. So I want to give it awhile to sit. So we'll see.

You can read the rest of the interview at OMG Blog.

Are there any artists around these days that you like?

I've just developed a massive crush on Madi Diaz. Go check her out. She's a friend of a friend of mine, and just sang backup for me on my new songs I'm really excited about. She's beautiful and authentic and an amazing performer, and she's not one of these like [sings something slow and wimpy], and neither is she like a tough rocker chick. She's something authentic and really beautiful.

You can read the rest of the interview at the Gothamist.

The newer tunes fit perfectly with the more familiar "Mesmerizing" (which was), "Table For One", "Extraordinary" (from an eponymously named 2005 album some diehards would sooner forget), and whitechocolatespaceegg's "Polyester Bride", "Perfect World", "Girls' Room" and the hard-rocking "Johnny Feelgood" ("All right, bitch: Here you go," Phair said, laughing, satisfying a loyalist who kept calling out the request throughout the brisk, 70-minute set).

Still, the new stuff isn't as raw as "And He Slayed Her", "Soap Star Joe" or the night's biggest sing-along, "Divorce Song" -- all of which exploded from the stage. And they weren't anywhere near as tender and heartfelt as "Fuck and Run". Then again, what is?

Read the rest of the review here.

From the New Jersey Star-Ledger (by Tris McCall):

Yet this show was no nostalgia act. Instead, it felt like the relaunch of Liz Phair as a rocker -- something that Funstyle, crammed as it is with sound collage and Firesign Theatre-like skits, doesn't entirely accomplish on its own. During the hourlong set, Phair was never without an electric guitar. Sometimes her sidemen added color, and sometimes, as on her fiercely-strummed rendition of "Mesmerizing", she didn't need any help.

It felt like a pointed decision. On mid-'00s Phair albums, her distinctive six-string parts were buried by overdubs by session men. Phair's early recordings often consist of nothing but her guitar, her deadpan alto, and a primitive drum track. Phair isn't the smoothest rhythm guitarist, and she does make mistakes. But she's got a strong sense of meter, and her voicings and chord progressions are atypical. Songs like "Help Me, Mary" and "Nashville", both of which were strongly rendered at Maxwell's, involve many ringing "open" strings struck in combination with notes played high on the fretboard. As Phair often runs moving bass lines with her index finger. This isn't guitar learned out of a book, or from a teacher skilled in a particular method. This is guitar played as an explorer might: combining strings, and rhythms, the way a portrait artist mixes paint colors. Often the chords she finds are so harmonically rich, and so broad -- and the changes between them so unexpected -- that her rudimentary arrangements achieve the feel of a lo-fi orchestra.

Read the rest of the review here.

Liz Phair at maxwell's. Rain delay. The ceiling is leaking!

From Kate Sikora (who opened for Liz):

the Maxwell show was an unbelievable dream come true! I felt so much energy! Liz Phair not only rocked, but she was a sweet heart too <3

Here is a photo from the show, courtesy of Jen Carlson.

Here are some video footage from the show, courtesy of BossandNetsFan:

More video footage: crowd banter; Polyester Bride; and Oh, Bangladesh.

"I’m trying to show something that I’ve been eager to show for awhile. Guyville was a particular sound, but it wasn't my original sound. When I was thinking about how to make Funstyle, I went back to my Girlysound recordings. By including them, I hope I'm giving people a road map to the new stuff."

You can read the rest of the interview at the New Jersey Star-Ledger.

In the worst category, "Bollywood" was ranked #14 on Village Voice's 20 Worst Songs of 2010.

In the best category, "Bollywood" was ranked #40 on PopMatters' 60 Best Singles of 2010.

"Isn't that funny? It's just a mutual admiration that came about a few years ago," the 43-year-old singer tells Spinner. Phair originally met Matthews through her former tour manager, who went on to work with DMB. "Instantly, we liked each other. His entire production was an eye-opening experience. We don't come from the same culture, but the people that he surrounds himself with, and the kind of person he is, is so inspiring that I defy anybody to get to know him and not love him."

You can read the rest of the interview at the Spinner.

"I have this very religious feeling about my shuffle," she says by phone from Manhattan Beach, California. The alt-rock goddess, who plays the Paradise on Wednesday in support of her latest release, the fizzy Funstyle, almost exclusively enjoys the music in her iTunes library in random mode and treats listening sessions like mythical musical messages from the gods about the current state of her life "just like the ancient Greeks would go to the Oracle Delphi. I take it so seriously." Indeed, as we skip cavalierly from Led Zeppelin to the Beach Boys, Phair feels bad that we're not listening through to what each song might have to say. "I feel like I’m swearing in church," she says with a laugh. "People wonder why my records are so varied. This is why."

You can read the rest of the interview (including what's on Liz's iPod Shuffle) at the Boston Globe.

"I've gone searching for new grounds to break, and that's what I like to do. [Listeners] don't get to go through the process of getting there. They just wind up getting the end result," said Phair, speaking on the phone from Los Angeles, where she lives. "It's not that I'm designing it to shock them. I'm designing it to give them a 'Wow, that's new' [reaction]."

You can read the rest of the interview at the Bergen Record / NorthJersey.com.

"I think that as I get older, I'm more willing to show that I have doubts and insecurities," the 43-year-old Chicago native says. "I feel like we’re all in life together and one of the things I've always fought for is that we should tell each other the truth."

You can read the rest of the interview at Metro.

As somebody who's been both baptized and crucified by critics over the span of your career - and now you find yourself in the role of a reviewer - after all of that, what kind of value do you place on critical commentary?

I have a very strong opinion about this. I think critics should say if they like it or don't like it, but the bulk of their content should be to describe what it is. The purchaser can decide whether or not they want it. I think too many reviewers get caught up in themselves, where the material is just a platform for their own views. I have no patience for that. Don't even bother me with that. I don't care about you; I want to know whether I should go get this book, so you can say that you like it or don't like it but tell me what it is. Actually describe it. I think everybody is gonna like something differently, it will strike someone differently. In a book group, whenever I've been in a book group, half of us love it, half of us hate it. It doesn't make the book any less valuable, it just helps guide you as to whether or not you feel like buying it.

You can read the rest of the interview at Spectrum Culture.

• Thursday, January 20, 2011 - Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis, MN (more info)
• Saturday, January 22, 2011 - The Metro, Chicago, IL (more info)
• Tuesday, January 25, 2011 - Rams Head Live, Baltimore, MD (more info)
• Saturday, January 29, 2011 - Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA (more info)

Ticket information coming shortly.

• Friday, January 21, 2011 - Turner Hall Ballroom, Milwaukee, WI (more info)

Tickets for this show go on sale Wednesday, December 8th at www.pabsttheater.org and Tickets.com.

This just in, courtesy of AEG Live / The Messina Group:

• Sunday, January 30, 2011 - Mercy Lounge, Nashville, TN

Tickets for this show go on sale Friday, December 10th at Mercy Lounge and TicketWeb.

And another, courtesy of The Bluebird Theater:

• Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - Bluebird Theatre, Denver, CO (more info)

Tickets for this show go on sale Saturday, December 11th at Ticketmaster and BluebirdTheater.net.

And another, courtesy of Drusky Entertainment:

• Monday, January 24, 2011 - Rex Theater, Pittsburgh, PA (more info)

Tickets for this show go on sale Saturday, December 11th at Ticketmaster.

And another, courtesy of The Blue Note:

• Monday, January 31, 2011 - The Blue Note, Columbia, MO (more info)

Tickets for this show go on sale Friday, December 10th at Ticketmaster.

And one more, courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan:

• Wednesday, January 26, 2011 - Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY (more info)

Tickets for this show go on sale Friday, December 10th at Ticketmaster.

[Apologies for the sloppiness of this post... I wanted to get the information out there immediately.]

• Thursday, January 27, 2011 - TheNorVA, Norfolk, VA (more info)

Tickets for this show go on sale Friday, December 10th at Ticketmaster, norvatickets.com, and The Jewish Mother Backstage.

The filmmaker [Mark Obenhaus], whom SN&R reached in Los Angeles, explained that crews trailed a dozen individuals throughout the state on the same day, November 19, for a "day in the life" [documentary California Dreamland] that will air this fall. "All were shot simultaneously, starting as early as 5 o'clock, which is when I believe [Sacramento] Mayor [Kevin] Johnson began his day with a morning run," said Obenhaus, who oversaw the productions from Southern California.

The film's other subjects include a woman surfer and chemistry doctorate student at UC Santa Cruz, a redwoods ecologist, vintners in Napa, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, the founder of Patagonia clothing company, chef Susan Feniger, musician Liz Phair and skateboarder Bob Burnquist. "We were looking for exceptional people who have come to prominence or realized their ambitions in California," Obenhaus explained.

The doc is part of the Emmy-winning Documentary Group, which produces films for ABC and PBS.

You can read the rest of the article at Sacramento News & Review.

Inside the L-shaped room, a gilded mirror hangs over a comfy brown couch with a glimpse of white stuffing that pokes from a gash in the middle. There's a refrigerator against one wall. A stack of surfboards is mounted like a work of sculptural art. An electric keyboard stands next to an ironing board propped against the wall, and Liz Phair's set list sits on a plain wood table surrounded by four matching chairs. A bowl piled high with fruit adds a dash of tropical color to the space. That's because Phair, best known for her album Exile in Guyville, requested it as a rider on her contract. This gig introduces her new album, Funstyle, a selection of songs that celebrate Phair's notorious cynicism and sly humor.

"Normally I ask for herbal tea on my rider — and for sure, room-temperature water and fruit," says Phair. "I eat raw half the time; I'm a vegetable and fruit nut. And I always do a vocal warmup. We don't do anything freaky backstage — though we just got in a fight about UFOs."

You can read the rest of the article at San Diego Magazine.

"The Keith book, I was like, 'Fuck it! This is awesome. I'm actually a part of this,'" Phair tells Spinner about the Rolling Stones guitarist's recently released memoir, Life. "I get to be a part of it because I'm a rock 'n' roller too. It made me really invigorated for performing. I'm all into it right now. I wanna rock. I don't think I've ever said that my entire career."

You can read the rest of the interview at Spinner.

What is it about crying? Crying is the low note on the emotional piano. Some people play it too much. Some people don't play it at all. I recently got in touch with crying. I went through an unusually traumatic break-up and I really didn't have a choice. Crying became my daily practice and I got to learn the art of crying, like learning the art of yoga or the art of meditation.

I began my journey as an initiate, but not with any kind of intention or mastery in mind. In those early days, I often forgot to breathe and would get stuck looking like a baby bird with my mouth open, lock-jawed, eyes popping, no sound coming out at all, just emanating waves of shock and disbelief.

You can read the rest of the essay at life by me.

hangin with good ol friend pete mcneal in the studio recording liz phair track.. using his massive gretsch kit for gig sat night @ metropol

7. Divorce Song, Liz Phair. It's hard to pick a song off Exile in Guyville, but this is the one that ended up on most of my friends' mix tapes.

You can read the rest of of her selections at Pop Candy.

Photo by Darren Ankenman

"It's always been something that's trailed after me, this polarizing quality. I just have to embrace it at this point."

Photo by Jimmy Fontaine

Liz Phair (on Matador from 1993-99)

"Watching everyone here, it's just incredible how cohesive we all seem as a body of work. Nobody looks like a classic performer who grew up wanting to be the center of attention -- they're all kids who felt smarter, like they could do something better, but it took real courage for them to actually get up and do it. I was so stoned back in those days -- my dorkiness was suppressed by a whole lot of angry cool. But as I stopped smoking as much pot and got my shit together, I got more bubbly and goofy, and I think that's when [Matador] were probably like, 'Let Capitol have her.'"

You can see more Matador Records acts reminisce at Spin.

"When I decided to bring them all together into this collection, I was really trying to make an arrangement that fit the emotional arc that I needed to express. It starts with self-deprecation and humor and bravado and then quickly shifts gears to say, 'Yes, but I'm a person too – and I have an intimate life and sadness and emotions that are real and simple' and then, after expressing that, ramping back up a little bit. I think the record relies a lot on the layers that we all have as a person; you have the ambassador of yourself, you have your go-to mode when you need to be funny and witty and charming, and then you have your private self that is less polished and more brittle, raw and unvarnished. For me, the record moves dynamically in and out of those spaces, and just when you think, 'Okay, she's really vulnerable and really small and just seems to be curled up in a ball there on the floor,' I'll do something which illustrates that I can still get back up and swing a sword around. That, to me, rings really true to life and true to people; so much of the time, you can engage with someone that you know and know well, and you're fielding all of their different selves at any given moment. I was trying to express all of my sides in this record; I was trying to put that all out there, and sort of force a listener to deal with the complexity of it because that is what I see."

You can read the rest of the interview at Ground Control.

Has anybody ever told you they like your guitar playing?

I feel a little bit like my guitar playing or my musicianship doesn't get enough attention, although it is distinct, it's original. But I think that's partially because the production, of late, has sort of overtaken it; you can't even hear it anymore. It's really in the live shows that I think you can see my guitar playing. Also, I'm not technically very good and I never have been interested in becoming, you know... I'm not a technician. Even when I go skiing, I have my own way of doing it; I don't wanna learn how to be better, I just wanna learn how it feels best to get down the hill for me. I've always been like that and I think my guitar playing reflects that. So thank you very much for that compliment.

You can read the rest of (part three of) the interview at Filter Magazine.

At 43, have you come to just write these people off and make the music you want to make?

I don't write people off, I really want them to come with me. The olive branch is still here, I'm still sticking it out. I didn't get defensive when I was doing Liz Phair and they were bashing me. I really didn't — go back, look at my interviews. I actually felt like I was doing therapy on them. I would meet an interviewer and I'd try to calm them down. I'm always there; my true spirit is: let's make music!

If you wanna know the great secret to me, it's that I love making music. Music is with me 24/7. The world could use some more music. Let's just all keep doing that. I cannot try to make people feel one way or the other anymore. All I can do is just keep going for my passion.

You can read the rest of (part two of) the interview at Filter Magazine.

• Sunday, December 12, 2010 - Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ (more info)
• Monday, December 13, 2010 - Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY (ticket info)
• Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA (ticket info)
• Thursday, December 16, 2010 - Theatre of Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA (ticket info)
• Friday, December 17, 2010 - 9:30 Club, Washington, DC (ticket info)

You can find more details at Pollstar, Ticketmaster, and Live Nation.

Is Exile on Main St. still your favorite record?

Seriously — it still is my favorite record of all time. It's just still goin'. If I had to pick one to go off and be stranded on the moon with, that’s the one I'd pick. The close seconds are Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life or Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon.

You can read the rest of (part one of) the interview at Filter Magazine.

It is odd. It's not risky... I get it. I don't freak out about it. To me, this is a longer game. I really did sit for 13 months on the Funstyle sound. I did listen when they were like, "Don't do this." I listened! I sat there for a year and waited to feel the way they did and I never did. I actually thought the more the economy tanked, the more Funstyle is needed. I don't get the fear people have of creativity.

For me, I was always working on a budget. For me, that's fine, you don't have to do as much of the dog-and-pony show. I obviously feel passionately about it, and gave myself the amount of time to see if I feel passionately about it, and I do.

You can read the rest of the interview at the Village Voice.

[Margaret Cho] gets especially moony over Liz Phair, about whom she deviates from the nineties-music-fan party line that Phair betrayed her fans by taking off her clothes for promo pictures and chasing mainstream fame.

"I always thought she was sexy," Cho says, making such direct eye contact that I lose my train of thought. "Even in the first album, that was kind of her cross to bear, her sexuality. So why not pose naked? Why not be heavily produced? Why not get all up into that sexual image, because that's part of it?"

Caught In The Carousel: As varied as the numbers are, do you think there's a unifying theme?

Liz Phair: Yes!!!!!! The SPIRIT OF FUNSTYLE!!!! Everybody can use a little funstyle in their lives. Everybody can apply the same methodology I did to my music to enhance their experience of almost anything. We have no funds? Ok, we do it cheap. We have only two hours? Ok, we do the best two-hour smackdown we've got. Oh, you brought your dog? Ok, get him on the track. FUNSTYLE is a way of operating and engaging. FUNSTYLE is like a drug. It's not for every situation, but when used wisely, it has brought immense satisfaction and presence to the things that I do. Economy sucks. FUNSTYLE is free! (Well, almost).

You can read the rest of the interview at Caught in the Carousel.

He's been a global avatar of wish fulfillment for over four decades and managed to eke more waking hours out of a 24-hour day than perhaps any other creature alive (thanks, Merck cocaine and amphetamines!). As Keith puts it: "For many years I slept, on average, twice a week. This means that I have been conscious for at least three lifetimes."

You better believe it. This cat put the joie in joie de vivre. As the legendary guitarist for the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards has done more, been more and seen more than you or I will ever dream of, and reading his autobiography, Life, should awaken (if you have a pulse and an I.Q. north of 100) a little bit of the rock star in you.

You can read the rest of the review at the New York Times (or you can buy it / read it in the November 14th (Sunday) edition New York Times Book Review).

And don't forget to read the New York Times editors' profile of Liz.

Your new album, Funstyle, is part personal, and part mockery/self-deprecation. Can you talk a little bit about that?

I think I have always incorporated wry humor in my work, it just may be more overtly stated on Funstyle. I felt that an over the top approach really suited the sense of incredulity I felt at some of the responses I had to my music. Self-deprecation is really just a way to set up the joke, as I mean for the stories in my songs to represent the crap that happens to all of us, just as seen through the lens of my very personal experience.

You can read the rest of the interview at Speakers in Code.

• Monday, December 13, 2010 - Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY (more info)
• Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA (more info)
• Thursday, December 16, 2010 - Theatre of Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA (more info)
• Friday, December 17, 2010 - 9:30 Club, Washington, DC (more info)

...what did you think of Liz Phair's recent album Funstyle?
The "Bollywood" one? I loved it. I was so moved by her truth and her beauty and the rawness of her voice, and her playing and everything. I love all of her albums.

"I picked my faves and made a story out of it. I used myself as a little cut-out character—like a paper doll—and made an arch throughout the 11 songs that came to satisfy me in terms of what the emotional journey was. That's how I arrived at Funstyle," Phair notes of the process that helped her heal some old wounds.

You can read the rest of the interview at Venus Zine.

• Steve Rogovin / Baby, You Got a Stew Goin'!
• Brad Searles (of Bradley's Almanac)

You can see more photos at Facebook and at the Jazz Mafia website.

And one more shot (courtesy of Austin Riva):

8. "Beat Is Up"
Here you're voicing a character.

That's kind of me poking fun at myself but also a lot of the suburban moms that I know. I watched my female friends get twisted like bonsai tree: You have to be so, so positive, you have to do all these things and at the same time, you're secretly drinking and taking drugs. Pills, that's the only kind of drugs you're allowed to take. I have all these female friends and they get drunker faster and earlier in the evening than they should because they're so stressed and pent up in their lives. And these same women are picking up the latest self-help book to try to somehow ease the pain of their twisted life that everybody is supposed to live. It's the American dream of the American housewife, and I'm trying to put a funny face on the horror.

You can read the rest of the interview at Vulture / New York.

"It's funny because the way I've been for a long time is, I'm open to different kinds of songs. And I was playing this song the other day and Stephen Jenkins was there and he was like, you've got to drop the hammer on that, that's going to be full on metal. And I was like, ooh OK. You know there is something about me that loves that and at the same time I'm reading this book right now (which I can't say what it is because I'm reviewing it), that has made me stop and go maybe I need to really consider what sound I put something with. And everyone's told me that forever, you know pick a sound, do this and I've never wanted to do it because they said so. I can't also promise that I'm not going to go 'It's going to be metal all the way through!' It might be. It's the joy of my life, – creating is the joy of my life, please don't make it a job. Like it’s something I hate, you know force me to do something because you need that."

You can read the rest of the interview at Consequence of Sound.

"People spend so much time batting back and forth my image, and they don't get that I'm totally small, normal, funny, nice, personable," Phair tells me. "Nobody who is sensitive enough to write really is thick-skinned. You can become it. I've gained my armor. But I'm not naturally like that."

You can read the rest of the interview at The Walrus Blog.

I hope you can make it to this "Velvet Underground & Nico Covered by..." show tonight, Tuesday 10/25 at Coda in SF. It's part of a new monthly series where many creative musicians will be involved in performing substantial albums in their entirety, a different one each month, presented by Charith Premarwardhana/Classical Revolution, Undercover and Porto Franco Records. For this first show, I've arranged the song "All Tomorrows Parties" for string quartet and trombone and we’ll be joined by extra special, super-surprise guest Liz Phair. Yes, Liz Phair... the one I've been a fan of since my first year of college. Anyway, there are 11 bands and 35 different musicians performing and it's being recorded live, so this is definitely an event to check out. It will likely sell-out since Stephen Jenkins from Third Eye Blind is also one of the guests singing. I'm especially excited about my homie Rupa's performance and also the group Edmund Welles which is a virtuosic quartet comprised of bass clarinets that play heavy metal and beyond. There are two shows, one at 7 and one at 9.

More from Adam Theis of Jazz Mafia:

the instrumental of the tune ["All Tomorrow's Parties"] I've been arranging to perform with Liz Phair tonite at the Velvet Undrgnd thing (Click here to listen to Adam Theis with Mega String Quartet perform "All Tomorrow's Parties".)

Mark Matos & Os Beaches did a haunting "Heroin", Rupa Mayra and Ara Anderson did a gorgeous "Femme Fatale", Liz Phair inhabited the icy spirit of Nico -- and smoked a cigarette onstage -- for "All Tomorrow's Parties", and Stephan Jenkins howled like a madman for album closer "European Son", a song Lou Reed dedicated to his favorite professor at Syracuse University. These weren't strict covers -- most of the artists reinterpreted the original songs, sometimes radically. The California Honeydrops, for example, did a nearly a capella "Run, Run, Run" -- with only a guitar accompanying their four gorgeous voices.

Liz, backed by the Jazz Mafia (arrangement by Adam Theis), performed "All Tomorrow's Parties". Yes, she smoked a cigarette during both performances. And she walked off the stage and into the crowd at the end of the both performances.

Here are a few pictures I took (using my iPhone). If you want to see more, let me know.

GEVAUDEN (actually Gevaudan) is Michael Honaker, who ran the Supernova | The Liz Phair Experience, and originally hosted the Girly Sound mp3s.

"whoever runs the site GIRLY SOUND" is Larry Harkrider, the Girly Sound site admistrator.

From Napster:

Any discoveries you made along the way?

I discovered that I enjoy freedom, adventure, humor, playing music with cool people, expressing my emotions, long walks in the moonlight, surfing, expensive wine, and world peace.

From Spin:

Was your stint on Capitol ultimately a depressing experience?

I had a lot of fun, ironically. I had a horrible time with [CEO] Andy Slater and the way that went. But I had fun on tour. I had fun doing photo shoots. It was fun to be challenged to learn about that world.

From LimeWire:

Why did you decide to include a bonus batch of tunes from your early GirlySound recordings with this album?

I've always wanted GirlySound to be heard by a wider audience. Guyville was specifically Stonesy. My sound is being true to the sound a song wants to have. Different songs, different influences, different sounds. Girlysound is a good example of my eclectic, irreverent, yet heartfelt roots, a lot of what Funstyle is about.

Liz's private show will be streaming live at 2:45 PM PT at http://www.ustream.tv/TheEsquireHouse.

Anyway, no point in feeling too bad for Liz Phair. Even 17 years after her groundbreaking Exile in Guyville album, the Chicago singer still attracts a decent-sized crowd. It's been awhile since she released anything noteworthy (her two most recent albums were widely reviled by the indie-rock faithful for their mainstream tendencies) but the mostly adoring crowd that came out to the Venue for an early Friday night show responded excitedly to the old "hits" ("Stratford-on-Guy", "The Divorce Song") and enthusiastically to the more recent pop stuff ("Extraordinary", "Why Can't I").

And you can see a gallery of photos from the show here (taken by Robyn Hanson).

The audience seemed to be composed mainly of older fans who knew her songs word for word. There were about as many men there as women, too. For every "I love your bracelet" that a girl shouted out, some guy would shout out "You look hot!" Not surprisingly most of the men were crowded around the stage. I couldn't blame them. With her blonde mane, shiny guitars, and glowing face, Phair was a rarity: one hot mama who could rock your socks off.

Setlist:
• Supernova
• 6'1"
• Divorce Song
• May Queen
• Never Said
• Johnny Feelgood
• Nashville
• And He Slayed Her
• Polyester Bride
• Perfect World
• Mesmerizing
• Oh, Bangladesh
• Extraordinary
• Stratford-On-Guy
• Fuck And Run

Encore:
• Speed Racer
• Wild Thing
• White Babies
• Why Can't I?
• Flower (with assistance from Torie)

And you can see a gallery of photos from the show here (taken by Karina Halle).

Liz's record officially comes out on Tuesday, and to celebrate she's having a private show in LA at 2:00pm in the afternoon.

7 of you have a chance to win passes to this special show.
...Here's how:

Post a comment on why you must attend this show, then tell your friends come 'Like' Liz's page and 'Like' your comment.

The 7 people with the most 'Like's from their friends will win passes to see Liz on Tuesday afternoon!

Doug Fir is truly the perfect venue. It's small and intimate, and if I close my eyes I feel as if I've won some magical contest where Liz Phair is to play all of my favorite songs in my living room... After playing "Mesmerizing", she tells us that if we listen closely to the end of the recording, we'll hear the whining of a dog named Piggy who was present in the studio during the Exile in Guyville sessions.

Setlist:
• Supernova
• 6'1"
• Divorce Song
• May Queen
• Never Said
• Johnny Feelgood
• Nashville
• And He Slayed Her
• Polyester Bride
• Perfect World
• Mesmerizing
• Oh, Bangladesh
• Extraordinary
• Stratford-On-Guy
• Fuck And Run

Encore:
• Soap Star Joe
• Wild Thing
• White Babies
• Why Can't I?
• Flower (with assistance from four audience members)

There is also a cute photo of Liz (as well as guitarist Greg Suran) post performance at The Human Clock.

Also included is a slideshow of Liz from the Portland show (taken by Troy Dunham).

Here is another review from Flotzam (by Art of the Mix):

Phair talkin about Nash (from UO) and The Rainbow Room in Chicago. She was relaxed, joking around, enjoying herself. Crowd into it it, super appreciative, singing along. She also played "Polyester Bride" and "Perfect World" from Whitechocoloatespaceegg.

Here is one more review from Confessions of a Wanna Be Guitar Player (by Gtr1ab):

Gear wise, it was great to see an entire show run on just a couple of low watt amps (Liz used a Carr), her lead guitarist used a Suhr head with a divided by 13 cabinet and a Fender Princeton Reverb (probably in stereo), and the bass player had the smallest amp of the bunch. It was a small head (wasn't familiar with it) and a beat up speaker cabinet that had the brand name plate ripped/broken off. He used an A/B switch to go between his bass and a midi controller. Liz played her Fender Mustang II and a Jazzmaster (if I remember correctly). She also had a Mike Stern signature edition Pacifica, which is a gorgeous looking tele. I'd love to try one someday. Hearing her play it was pretty cool too!

[Note to JeremyEngle: I hope you appreciated this review!]

She took the stage with her band shortly after 10pm and quickly launched into "Supernova" and going through her set, she reminded everyone in the packed Crocodile that she'd make a killer Greatest Hits album. She sounded great with her band, mostly being faithful to the album versions of her songs (though there are a lot of different versions of a lot of different songs floating around in the Internet) and she found much of the audience singing along.

Setlist:
• Supernova
• 6'1"
• Divorce Song
• May Queen
• Never Said
• Johnny Feelgood
• Nashville
• And He Slayed Her
• Polyester Bride
• Perfect World
• Mesmerizing
• Oh, Bangladesh
• Extraordinary
• Stratford-On-Guy
• Fuck And Run

Encore:
• Soap Star Joe
• Friend Of Mine
• White Babies
• Why Can't I?
• Flower (with assistance from Patricia Solomon)

Out of the multitude of tracks recorded for the Girlysound Tapes, how did you choose the 11 that will be released alongside Funstyle?

I relied on the fans who love them the most. I asked Ken Lee, who runs the Liz Phair fan site, Mesmerizing, to give me suggestions. He has been instrumental in helping me poll hardcore fans for their set-list wishes, coordinate efforts with other fan sites, just generally keeping me in touch with my core supporters. I am very grateful to him and to all my fans.

Read the entire interview here.

Judging by some of her song titles, ("Divorce Song", "Fuck and Run", "Liar") I was expecting a bitter divorcee with a very public axe to grind. Boy was I wrong! Ms. Phair was buoyant, smiling, joking with the audience and extremely upbeat. Not at all what I expected. That's what I get for developing pre-conceived notions, eh?

Also included in the review are several photos taken from the show, presented as a slideshow.

Next, two reviews from the Los Angeles / El Rey Theatre show. From Neon Tommy (by Sarah Erickson):

With her signature low register voice sounding almost guttural in nature, I truly couldn't make out a majority of the lyrics to her songs. But a hip-swinging beat was there. And the crowd certainly enjoyed itself.

Phair's guitar skills were undeniable, as she seamlessly strummed (nearly) every song and swapped out electric guitars every few numbers.

From Buzzine (by Aron Golds):

The pacing and mood stayed up even during frequent short pauses to change guitars or chat to the audience. Much of her banter to the crowd was about how things were going and how she was feeling in the moment. Always with a nod and a wink attitude. At one point, she joked about how many foot pedals she had on stage, but instead of using them for what they were there for, she just wanted to "kick them out of the way."

From New York / Vulture (by Amos Barshad):

Are people still mad at Liz Phair for Funstyle? As long as she keeps playing Exile in Guyville stuff live, all bad vibes should be kept to a minimum. A thousand bonus points here for getting Ted Leo (who played with his own band in Vegas) to show up with a tambourine and join in on the "I want a boyfriend" part [of "Fuck And Run"].

From Blender (by Conrad Doucette):

10:30 pm Sunday Perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend comes from Liz Phair, who left behind the controversial pop sheen and recent raps and samples to deliver a stripped down set of '90s favorites accompanied only by a guitarist and, on the set-closing "Fuck and Run", by Ted Leo on vocals and tambourine. Leo and the song have a history: he played it during Friday night's Ted Leo vs. Fucked Up session.

From The Coast (by Ryan McNutt):

Not only that, but [Ted Leo] joined Liz Phair on-stage during her short-but-so-sweet set (i.e. all classics, no new crap) to sing harmony on, yep, "Fuck and Run".

From The Washington Post (by David Malitz):

Liz Phair's performance was notable for being not-so-notable.

Of all of Matador's '90s success stories, Phair seemed the least likely to come back for this reunion. She slowly but very surely moved away from the sound of her still-amazing debut (and only Matador release) Exile in Guyville. That album's recent re-release was handled by another label entirely and Phair made headlines recently for her self-released new album on which she raps. So what exactly would she do in her allotted 20-minutes? Exactly what you'd expect her to do: play "Divorce Song", "Stratford-On-Guy", "Fuck and Run", wear high heels taller than Jon Spencer and walk off stage. It was fine.

From the Wall Street Journal (by Adam Thompson):

[Ted] Leo has been everywhere this weekend – he even appeared at an after-after hours karaoke session. Liz Phair said she kept hearing about his version there of "Fuck and Run", her very personal piece about a young woman repeatedly misused by men. At the end of her tight five-song mini-set she let Leo sneak onstage with her to turn the most memorable song on Exile in Guyville into a duet. Strange as that may sound, it worked.

From Ryan's Smashing Blog (by Lesley Katzen-Berndt):

Liz Phair, is only doing a 20 minute set... no no no!, It's NOT a personality thing – it's a well known fact to anyone who earnestly wanted to be her in the early 90's that she has crippling stage fright. Which she mentions one song in, when she likens the experience to playing her first Matador showcase years ago at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC. She confesses to the estrogen heavy floor crowd (though the high ratio of male to female attendees of this festival is narrowly surpassed by the high ratio of female attendees to Anthropologie dresses, also, guilty as charged) that this feels like a college reunion. She plays exactly five songs. Supernova, Divorce Song, Nashville, Stratford-On-Guy and as previously mentioned is joined by Ted Leo on tambourine for Fuck and Run. From the jumbotron I think I see tears in her eyes as she tells Matador and the crowd "Thank You".

Phair has come a long way since her early years of stage fright, but it's evident that she's still uncomfortable with between-song banter. She filled one void by reciting the X-rated "Fuck & Run". Another early-career dirty ditty she sang was "Flower". By this time, the front filled with men, who gravitate to the "fellatio chorus". Phair quipped, "These lyrics have caused trouble in my dating life."

Read the rest of the review here.

From Spin (by Steve Kandell):

Most improved: Liz Phair and Cat Power
Wasn't too long ago that you couldn't avoid describing a Liz Phair or Cat Power show without using the word "uncomfortable". The former seemed totally at ease playing a stripped-down set that included "Supernova" and "Divorce Song" and "Stratford-On-Guy". (For all the praise heaped, deservedly, on Exile In Guyville, when will Whip-Smart get its due?) Meanwhile, Chan Marshall has gone from rarely being able to finish a set intact to strutting around a stage smiling. Too bad the songs get a little snoozy and samey and too devoid of Cat Power's Moon Pix goodness.

From Stereogum (by Amrit Singh):

LIZ PHAIR, FEATURING TED LEO ON TAMBOURINE
Five songs — "Supernova", "Divorce Song", "Stratford-On-Guy", "Nashville", "Fuck And Run" — and you could kind of forget the last too many years of Liz's career. She was joined by another guitarist, recalled her first Matador showcase ("at Rose... something", which a fact checking cuz at Matador later clarified was Irving), and then joined by Ted.

From Las Vegas CityLife (by Max Plenke):

Liz Phair kicked off a lo-fi set, backed up only by a guitar player (who she could have babysat in high school). No, it wasn't the uncomfortable rap stuff she's been doing lately, but the lo-fi aesthetic wasn't really passing this particular evening. Still, when she broke into "Supernova" and "Fuck and Run" (Ted Leo jumped up to sing and play tambourine; he'd covered the song two nights before during his post-midnight gig with Fucked Up), the Liz Phair everyone misses came to the forefront and grabbed the crowd by the ovaries.

From Arts Vegas (by David Hardy)

Liz Phair: Played for 20 minutes with one additional backup guitarist, but made every minute count. A handful of songs from Guyville and Whip Smart included "Supernova" and "Fuck and Run" (with Ted Leo assisting on Backups).

From Guttersnipe (by Shawn Conner):

Liz Phair, accompanied only by another guitar player, sounded okay as she went back to Exile in Guyville days for the gems "The Divorce Song" and "Fuck and Run". On the latter, she was joined by Ted Leo, who apparently has covered the tune.

From Blurt Online (by Brian Staker):

Liz Phair... was given a twenty-minute slot in which she performed with just another guitarist as accompaniment, but her renditions of numbers from Exile In Guyville, another keystone release for the label, sent the audience on a musical time machine back to the 90's like little else quite did during the weekend. Ted Leo joined her on a moving version of "Fuck and Run" and her all-too-brief segment of the evening demonstrated the monumental effect of events on the personal level.

Here are some links to pictures taken of Liz at Matador at 21:

• Brian Birzer's flickr
• Greg Chow's flickr
• Matador (pictures by Laura June Kirsch)
• Pitchfork (pictures by Natalie Kardos)
• Chromewaves.net (pictures by Frank Yang)
• Prefixmag.com (pictures by Courtney Biggs)

From The A.V. Club (by Kyle Ryan):

On the weekend's schedule, Liz Phair's 20-minute set stuck out. No one else was playing such an abbreviated show, and considering Phair has performed Exile In Guyville in its entirety on tour, it was odd to see her play such a diminished role in the weekend's festivities. Maybe bad blood still lingers all these years (and subpar albums) later. But when she took the stage along with a guitarist Sunday night, she was greeted like a conquering hero. And with such a short set, she could easily focus on the hits: "Supernova", "Divorce Song", "Stratford-On-Guy", "Nashville", and "Fuck And Run" (featuring Ted Leo on backups). Of all the Matador alumni, Phair has had the toughest time recreating the magic of those early records. Though she arguably wasn't trying to do that; her output over the past decade has focused on mainstream adult pop, like Sheryl Crow with an edge, a style that would fall on deaf ears in the Pearl Theater. But Sunday night, it was all about the Liz Phair, the hot-shit smartass singer from Wicker Park. It would’ve been nice to have heard more from her.

From Pitchfork (by Amy Phillips):

In the reverse of Pavement, who came in with high expectations and failed to live up, Liz Phair surprised with a brief, satisfying set of classics. Accompanied only by a guitarist, Phair performed "Supernova", "Divorce Song", "Stratford-on-Guy", "Nashville", and "Fuck and Run". (Ted Leo jumped in on the latter.) Those 20 minutes won't erase the ill will Phair has generated since her tenure on Matador ended, but they helped. And it sure was better than her playing anything off of Funstyle. Which would have been a pretty ballsy fuck-you, but also would have probably been a Britney-level disaster.

From Las Vegas Weekly (by Annie Zaleski):

Liz Phair: Liz Phair's short-but-sweet set solidified her place in Matador's history. Perhaps owing to her notorious stage fright — something she said plagued her during a long-ago NYC Matador showcase — the five-song performance started off with a shaky version of Whip Smart's "Supernova". But the wobbles in her voice wore off as she moved through Exile in Guyville's iconic "Divorce Song" and "Stratford-On-Guy"; the latter's reverbed-out fuzz and powerful electric riffs felt especially empowering. To everyone's delight, the ubiquitous Ted Leo showed up to add tambourine and backing vocals to "Fuck and Run". A playful tone superseded the song's angry shading, an appropriate shift for the celebratory atmosphere. The musical highlight, however, was Whip Smart's "Nashville". Phair's accompanist teased out lonely guitar effects that sounded like hollow wind gusts, while Phair displayed her strongest vocal performance and some haunting, evocative melodies of her own.

From Rolling Stone (by Rob Sheffield):

Liz Phair confessed right off the bat she was suffering from her "notorious stage fright", and although her voice was shaky with nerves, she pluckily made it through "Supernova", "Divorce Song", and "Stratford On Guy", teetering on heels that were taller than her mikestand. The crowd was on her side, sharing her affection for the songs and respect for the occasion. But the cathartic moment came when Ted Leo rushed out from backstage to added some badly needed tambourine and back-up vocals to "Fuck and Run". It was a chivalrous gesture that just confirmed Leo's status as the festival's hardest-working star, from his performance of Beat Happening's "Cast a Shadow" at Saturday night's karaoke throwdown to his hoops game in the Hardwood Suite to his Sunday set, where he brought out the New Pornographer's Carl Newman for a duet on Nick Lowe's "I Love My Label."

From Vanity Fair (by Juli Weiner and Michael Hogan):

Juli Weiner: O.K., let's work backward in chronological order. I saw the Liz Phair setlist. Oh my God, "Nashville" and "Divorce Song"! That is like my fantasy Liz Phair setlist. How was she?

Michael Hogan: She was good. It was just her and another guitarist. I will say that she looked better than she sounded, which raised a bit of a flag for me. I get the feeling she thinks she has to be a celebrity, when all this crowd ever wanted from her was more great songs.

Juli Weiner: I think Liz Phair-as-polished-celebrity is the last thing that the Matador 21 crowd would have wanted.

From Entertainment Weekly (by Josh Rottenberg):

Next, Liz Phair took the stage, accompanied only by another guitarist, and delivered a short and stripped-down but spellbinding set of five songs from her seminal Matador albums, Exile in Guyville and Whip-Smart. At one point, Ted Leo stepped out of the wings for a duet on "Fuck and Run", which marked one of the festival's highlights. Though Phair has wandered in odd directions and down some blind alleys since her early heyday, the audience greeted her with warm enthusiasm, like an old friend they hadn't seen in many years.

From the Los Angeles Times (by David Greenwald):

Then the evening turned toward the '90s: Liz Phair, in a cut-up Belle & Sebastian shirt, took the stage with a guitarist and his-and-hers Fender Stratocasters. Though the songwriter's music (and reputation) has taken a number of strange turns in recent years, on Sunday night she stuck to the classics, closing with a song we can't print the name of in a family blog but which turned from lament to anthem.

• Yo La Tengo - President Yo La Tengo/New Wave Hot Dogs
• Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
• Pizzicato Five - Made in USA

You can read about her selections in detail at eMusic.

• Supernova
• Divorce Song
• Stratford-On-Guy
• Nashville
• Fuck And Run (duet with Ted Leo)

As she gears up for the October 19 physical release of that album, Funstyle, on Rocket Science Records, Phair speaks openly about why things didn't work out with ATO.

"It was an amicable parting, and I was sad to leave, but I don't take well to strong-arm tactics," she says. "The management there went through huge shifts, and I felt like they wanted to reel me back."

Read the rest of the interview here.

Liz Phair: Matador has always been a well-oiled machine, but at the same time it's a strongly bonded network of individuals. When I was there — and from what I've seen since — there was none of the power-tripping bullshit and none of the corporate culture than blunts individuality. Everybody's good at what they do and they turn their shit in on time.

Maybe Chris [Lombardi] and Gerard [Cosloy] are like Mick [Jagger] and Keith [Richards]. There aren't a lot of labels that are run by two guys, but their unique chemistry brings this lovely, quirky balance that has lasted through the years.

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