Liz Phair has been struggling these past five years. Her last album,
Somebody's Miracle was critically panned and ever since then (or, perhaps, long before), she's been floundering in her attempts to stay relevant. Sometimes people only have one or two good albums in them. It happens! Phair, however, has taken some serious heat for her recent career moves.
P4k's Amy Phillips characterized the songs from Phair's last album as "perfectly content to get up every morning, go to work, come home, eat dinner, watch the news, have 10-minute missionary-position sex, and then fall asleep". The New York Times' Meghan O'Rourke, in reference to Phair's self-titled album from 2003, asserted that Phair had "committed an embarrassing form of career suicide". Scathing to say the least. So five years after her last faux pas, Phair took to the internet over the weekend to self-release a new album on her website:
Funstyle featuring lead single "Bollywood".
And what a single it is. It's a got a little bit of everything: rap, satirical voiceovers, you name it. Give it a listen below and head over to Phair's website to buy a download of
Funstyle if you're so inclined. Even if "Bollywood" isn't to your liking, it's got people talking about Phair again so she's doing something right...right?
-ben krusling
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Liz Phair on Myspace 