Well it has finally happened. I’ve been waiting years for Liz Phair to release a new album, and a few days ago she released an album titled Funstyle on her website. That’s right, she is NOT releasing this through a greedy label as she has in the past. The album is available for only $5.99 in DRM-free formats, both MP3 and Apple Lossless, though I’ll be converting the Apple Lossless (ALAC) to FLAC (a free lossless codec) as soon as I download it.
Liz Phair rocking out. Rock on, Liz!
Photo by Melanie Vyvyan, CC-BY
The sample song “Bollywood,” which unfortunately is only available for streaming through a flash interface, has me remembering exactly why I’ve been waiting to hear from Liz for so long. Slate Magazine released a podcast (please excuse the MP3) where various critics analyze the sample song, and though it gets a little bit of flack, it is generally liked among them. They focused on the fact she was rapping in the song and parodying pop music while doing what many pop artists do these days, which is sing about their music careers. Liz has been attacked since 2003 when she released her self-titled album Liz Phair which was heavily produced by the same production team that gave us Hilary Duff and Avril Lavigne, and many believed she had sold out completely to Hollywood. Since, she’s been trying to go back to her “roots”, as she puts it, and she’s been doing this quite successfully.
What the crack analysis team at Slate failed to mention was that not only were the lyrical content and vocal stylings parodies of popular culture, but so was the musical theme. The song is reminiscent of Bollywood, which is essentially a sell-out, bastardized amalgam of a genuinely innovative culture (that of India) and the capitalist pigs at Hollywood, whose only intent is to appeal to the masses in a way that makes money. Liz Phair makes her point very firmly in her song “Bollywood.” She says that although this is the crap Hollywood would be willing to put out solely for profit and cheat her out of her artistic integrity, she’s going to do things her way whether they like it or not. The style of the song is so incredibly not her own that it borders on hilarity, while maintaining a hopelessly honest yet addictive nature signature to Liz.
I praise Liz for making this statement and releasing her album on her own terms! I’ll be buying the album from her site tonight, and I’m fucking ecstatic that the whole of my payment is going to her. If I could repurchase all of her albums again with most of the proceeds going directly to her, I would. She’s an artist I respect, infinitely more than the god damn Recording Industry Ass-rapers of America (civilly known as the RIAA).
Liz, you inspire me! You’ll never read this, but I hope you know just how freaking awesome you are. I’ll be a fan long after you close up shop, may it be many years from now.
