Without fanfare or even a press release, Liz Phair quietly unleashed "Funstyle", an album of silly songs, this past weekend.

An Apple Lossless download and lossy downloads are available for $5.99 from her website, which is a great value even if the album is not serious.

01 Smoke 3:12
02 Bollywood 2:37
03 You Shouldn't Know Me 2:56
04 Miss September 4:26
05 My My 3:32
06 Oh, Banhladesh 4:39
07 Bang! Bang! 3:39
08 Beat Is Up 3:21
09 And He Slayed Her 3:36
10 Satisfied 3:34
11 U Hate It 4:36


I'd report on the album, but my download manager was screwing up... I clicked the download button several times after buying the download... and it then told me I'd exceeded the number of allowed downloads. So I never received the album.

But apparently it is slightly amusing, and includes at least one real song that she'd been performing at the Guyville shows as an encore.

Update: Their help department sent me a link ...to an mp3 version. I believe they have that link at the ready for folks on dial-up who couldn't download the real thing.

I'm back at them with a request for the Apple Lossless. We'll see how this goes.

What is "Source Audio"? Is that an alternate format?

Source audio is wav. Unusual term, I agree.


On the mp3 version, there's an unintended "pop" sound at 2:43 into the song "Bang! Bang!", at least on the download I received. I decompressed it twice to make sure it wasn't an unzipping error.

Update: They came through with the lossless for me, yay. Sounds much better.

The pop or click sound is also present in the Apple Lossless version.

Someone, try buying the wav version and see if it is there too. Totally minor, but definitely an error.

I can't get the Topspin site to work at all on any of 3 Browsers. When I click get it now, a black box comes up with a spinner, kind of grays out & hangs. Occurs on current Firefox, Opera, & IE.
http://app.topspin.net/store/lizphair/2 ... &wId=28207

Must be an xp issue. A friend with Win 7 & FF was able to open it

Edit: also have the same problem with my Win 98 box, though that's no surprise.

If you're using a firewall with site blocking, maybe add topspin.net to the list of permitted sites?

Don't think that's it; my friend with Win 7 is on the same network as me at the moment so it's not my router, & to be honest I'm just using the xp default firewall with default settings. Also tried turning off my anti virus with no impact.

I may just have her buy it, but i'd rather not put my card # on a pc I haven't secured. She also frequents some places that I think are unsafe, so again am hesitant to put my card on her machine. Hopefully Topspin customer support will respond to my email.

Weird, i booted up my 3rd pc, which afaik is set up (by me) the same as my main one, but it worked on that one (though it was a bit of a pain).

I bought the .wav version, will post soon on the pop on Bang Bang.

The .wav version does have a click at 2:43 of Bang bang also. Though the sound quality is so ratty not sure if i really care!

I thank you for checking, and I suppose as long as it is everywhere, it's not worth worrying about.

Will, after playing the entire cd, my guess is that crackle/tick is intentional. There are several more between 1 & 2 minutes of the same track; but they're more buried in the music. Seems to me she was going for a "modern" feel on several of the tracks.

From first play, I preferred the comedy tracks to the "real" songs; kind of reminded me of Frank Zappa meets Lily Allen.

IMO, not great but certainly worth the $5.99.

Thanks for letting us know about this, I collect Phair.

I listened to this literally slack-jawed.

If I thought she was still on Capitol, I would have figured this was some final F.U. to them to get out of a contractual obligation.

I'm confused by it on so many levels. I think I need to set it aside and come back to it in a month or so.


I can't think of another album that left me feeling similar from another artist I really like. It's no "Metal Machine Music", but...

Maser, it made me think more of Paul Westerberg, who released "49:00" online, a one-track montage of half-finished songs that he wanted to get out into the world without the hassle of having to perfect each one. It was brilliant and messy. Or his follow-up, the "5:05" single.

Phair's effort is more carefully finished... thanks to home computers having replaced studio production... but it is the same sort of "unloading" of stuff. Granted the songs that make fun of her experience with the Why Can't I album seems several years late, but if the experience hurt her so much that she had to make some radio-theater about it now, that's fine.

It's definately a "ping-pong balls to the wall" type of album in terms of styles. She breaks out of the singer/songwriter niche that people want her to be in, and instead turns in a bunch of different styles. Not that she's expert in any of the styles, but, as a way of dissolving expectations in her audience, it works.

I haven't heard a complete Liz Phair album since Exile in Guyville, but the way you guys are talking about this is making me at least curious.

Liz Phair's an odd duck.

She's made an interesting transition, from lo-fi shock rocker (like a Marilyn Manson for the Lilith Fair) to glammy popster, to AOR maven in the mold of Sheryl Crow or Lisa Loeb. Her last official album, "Somebody's Miracle" bears no resemblance to "Guyville" AT ALL. That said, I'd rather listen to "Miracle," especially its title track, any day of the week, compared to her debut. Even if it is sappy easy-listening.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goBHULtjhio[/youtube]

I do think that about 1/3 of this is an FU to Capitol. That was my favorite part, but i found much of it hilarious.

For $5.99 I'm not disappointed, though I doubt it will be played often.

Westerberg's "49:00" is an excellent comparison to "Funstyle".

Only without the completely unlistenable "songs".

This is coming out on cd on 10/19 on a 2 disc set. I bought the download. I am PISSED, I threw away $5.99, as this has a 2nd disc of unreleased material for $12.99.

http://theusdaily.com/articles/viewarti ... &type=home
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041ON4BS/?tag=imwan-20

$5.99 for 4 months advance listening isn't bad. I can't buy a sandwich in this town for less than that.

I'll get the physical version when it comes out, but I'll look for a lower price than $12.99. Hopefully some places will have it for $9.99.

The second disk appears to be some more Girlysound demos. Those have been floating around as bootlegs for years now.

I emailed Topspin, "Are those of us who bought the Funstyle download going to get a discount on the new Funstyle 2 cd set?"

Their reply,

"Hi Geff,

I have not heard any such plans."