It was bad enough that Liz Phair had four of the fourteen songs on her new album written and produced by the Matrix, the team responsible for Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8ter Boi” and “Complicated.” But now Glorious Noise has discovered that one of our favorite rock and roll combos, the Mooney Suzuki, is currently recording with the Matrix as well! Please, someone tell us this is not true. That this is just some kind of internet rumor. Or at least tell us that once they hear the results, everyone will realize it was a ridiculous idea and scrap the tracks…
Tag Archives: Matrix
That’s Not Phair!
Liz Phair – Liz Phair (Capitol)
It’s always been Liz Phair’s greatest trick to entice with a come hither finger, only to kick you in the balls when you get close enough to kiss her. The real kicker? She always leaves you wanting more. This is partly why her two albums since the landmark debut Exile in Guyville were so eagerly anticipated, and it’s also why her latest, the long-awaited, eponymous followup to 1998’s Whitechocolatespaceegg, is so contentious for longtime Phair observers. It flirts around—and occasionally fucks—with her own reputation/history, but it’s also Liz’s most brazen stab yet at mainstream acceptance. Liz Phair, then, becomes a problem record for both audiences. The fanboys are pissed because they have to share even more of their girl with Jetta-driving Sheryl Crow fans. Meanwhile, blanket-hogging mainstreamers might be confused by the record’s sudden rights and lefts down alleys of blue language and hot sex. Phair herself has made her desire for a larger audience clear. But by strip mining her past for a cash money future—and delivering some of the weakest material of her career in the process—she just may have alienated both sides of the bed.