But when you said that I wasn’t worth talking to, I had to take your word on that.
— ‘Divorce Song’, Liz Phair
Carrie Brownstein comments on the 15th anniversary reissue of Exile in Guyville:
In 1993 I moved to Olympia, Washington to attend college. The Northwest was full of incendiary bands in the early 1990s. Some of the sounds were heard around the globe, others remained stubbornly underground, festering and smoldering, creating an incognito hysteria and inspiring offshoots. There was twee and lo-fi, angular post-punk, emo, metal, riot grrl, noise—most of it eager, breathless and frenzied.
It was within this context, this feeling that everything important had a line drawn around it and that my town was inside that imaginary border, that I first heard Liz Phair. She crashed through the insularity, with no clear alliance to one music scene, writing from the periphery of her own. I was at a friend’s house, he was making us dinner and he put on the album. The fact that I remember any details at all about what my friend was cooking, what we wore, the layout of this small apartment–those memories only exist because of Exile in Guyville. Otherwise, it would have been just another night. I was 19.
I don’t know if it was the weight of the endeavor, or the fact that those of us over a certain age couldn’t escape this album if we tried, but Exile in Guyville’s presence is still felt after all these years. I admit to not having followed Phair much since the mid 90s, but listening to Exile again, I think it just might qualify as a monster of rock.
More details on the Exile in Guyville reissue at Pitchfork:
And who do we have to thank for all of this Liz Phair goodness? Why, Dave Matthews, of course! Matthews is one of the co-founders of ATO Records, which in addition to putting out the reissue has signed Phair for a new studio album due in the fall. (Yes, she is no longer on Capitol Records.) AND Dave introduces the Guyville Redux DVD.
So between this, My Morning Jacket, and Radiohead, is it finally time to stop hating Dave Matthews?
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