FEATURES

Falling forward
All's Phair in love and music
BY MATT ASHARE

It's easy to say, after the fact, that a Matrix-polished shiny, happy pop album was the exact wrong move for an indie-bred artist like Liz Phair to make in 2003. But who would have guessed that Amerindie artists like Bright Eyes, the Decembrists, and Death Cab for Cutie would be commercial heavy hitters within a year? Or that the transvestite-led cabaret-pop "band" Antony and the Johnsons would win Britain's Mercury Award? Phair, whom I talked to back in July when she was in town on a promotional tour, makes no apologies for her Top 40 aspirations. But she's a smart woman, and she's well aware that Somebody's Miracle (Capitol, October 4) will have to recapture her base. It's an album that, like a lot of follow-ups we'll be seeing this fall, attempts to split the difference between indie quirks and radio-ready hooks.

Already there are Gap ads promoting the fall line with sexy b&w pics of Phair. And you can check her out playing three tracks from the new album at VH1's Web site, as well as listen to the disc's first single, "Everything to Me," at her own www.lizphair.com. There's a podcast up there too, and you're invited to be one of Liz's friends at myspace.com. That Phair is working all the angles is no surprise - but as more and more people download songs rather than full CDs, it does make you wonder about the future of the album. And about how downloads - whether full albums or just select tracks - are going to be integrated into the systems already in place - SoundScan, CMJ and Billboard charts - to gauge an album's success. What the hell are radio programmers going to do? And what if some up-and-coming young mixmaster does Phair the favor of remixing, chopping, and screwing "Everything to Me" into an underground hit? How does that count toward record sales? These are questions we'll all be asking ourselves as the flood of fall releases deluges record stores, the Internet, and, before you know it, your mobile phone.

September 27
RYAN ADAMS & THE CARDINALS | JACKSONVILLE CITY NIGHTS | Lost Highway | The suddenly prolific Ryan Adams seems to have forsaken his bad old days as Whiskeytown's troublemaker. This isn't just his second album of the year, it's a follow-up to a double album.

BIG STAR | IN SPACE | Rykodisc | Yes, a new Big Star album. Unfortunately, it's not the original Big Star. Alex Chilton is aboard, as is original drummer Jody Stephens. Filling in for the rest of the band: Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow of the Posies.

BLACKALICIOUS | THE CRAFT | Anti- | This influential Bay Area duo, who made the Gift of Gab one of the premier rappers of the '90s, seem poised to learn a thing or two from OutKast - namely that the line between hip-hop and funk should be crossed as often as possible. To that end, they invited George Clinton along to make a cameo on "Lotus Flower," and Floetry provides the vocals on the soul tune "Automatique."

SHERYL CROW | WILDFLOWER | A&M | With hubby Lance Armstrong off the touring circuit, someone's gotta bring home the bacon. And her last album (two years ago) was just a greatest-hits comp. Sheryl's nothing if not reliable. In other words, expect more of the same: a couple of solid Stonesy rockers, a ballad or two, and maybe even a rumination on married life.

THE GO! TEAM | THUNDER, LIGHTNING, STRIKE | Columbia | Thanks to imports and downloads, the Go! Team have already accomplished what every Brit band dreams of - an American breakthrough. We'll see just how far they can take it with this disc, its indie/noise overtones set to funky beats in Beckian soundclash. They come to the Paradise November 1.

BETTYE LAVETTE | I'VE GOT MY OWN HELL TO RAISE | Anti- | This Detroit singer has studied the greats, as in Sinatra and Bennett and, well, maybe even Tormé. She puts her skills to work interpreting tunes by Lucinda Williams, Sinéad O'Connor, Joan Armatrading, Dolly Parton, and others, turning them into everything from soft rockers to Southern-soul screamers to a cappella gems.

RIC OCASEK | NEXTERDAY | Sanctuary | Ocasek has opted out of a Cars reunion tour, but the last time he assembled a band in the studio, for 1997's Troublizing, he'd abandoned silly synth-pop and was back to brushing his rock-and-roll hair. Let's hope he has something similar in mind this time around.

SMILE EMPTY SOUL | ANXIETY | Lava | This So-Cal band quietly moved more than half a million units with their homonymous 2003 debut. And Anxiety is posed to make headlines with its unabashed Bush bashing and the controversy surrounding its intended first single - a rant against the religious right called "Holes."

SYSTEM OF A DOWN | HYPNOTIZE | American/Columbia | If it's anything like its sister album, Mezmerize, then everyone's favorite Armenian metal band will once and for all throw off the new-metal tag and place themselves beyond category.

SUPERGRASS | ROAD TO ROUEN | Capitol | This is Gaz and Rob Coombes's fifth try at an American breakthrough, so give them credit for fortitude. Last year they even released a greatest-hits album, Supergrass Is 10: The Best of 94-04, which wasn't meant as a joke and wasn't taken as one in Great Britain, where they've consistently topped the charts.

GRETCHEN WILSON | ALL JACKED UP | Sony | No surprises this time from the anti-Shania. Having broken through with the bad-ass anthem "Here for the Party," she ups the ante with refined tunes like "Skoal Ring," "Not Bad for a Bartender," "One Bud Wiser," and the totally unnecessary "Politically Uncorrect." If you're not sure what Skoal is, this disc ain't for you.

NEIL YOUNG | PRAIRIE WIND | Reprise | This is Young's first full-length since 2003's insufferable Greendale. And since a brain aneurysm back in April interrupted recording. Reports have it he's in a reflective mood, inviting his old friends Emmylou Harris and Spooner Oldham on board for this Nashville-based album.

October 4
FIONA APPLE | EXTRAORDINARY MACHINE | Epic | The most extraordinary thing about Fiona's new disc is that she panicked when it leaked to the Internet, then went back into the studio to recut a number of its tunes. Having learned her lesson, Apple is now letting iTunes sell bundled two-fers of Extraordinary Machine's tracks leading up to the official release.

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE | BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE | Arts&Crafts | The BSC collective has created a network of bands and projects that have flooded the underground with all kinds of good stuff. The band's third album features members of Stars, Apostle of Hustle, Metric, Feist, Do Make Say Think, Raising the Fawn, and the Dears, and even Canadian rapper K-os.

THE DARKNESS | THE PAINSTAKING | Atlantic | Did someone mention Bob Rock was producing? Does he play bass on the album? Just kidding. Either it'll rock or it'll suck. Either way, a good time will be had by all. Just watch the Metallica movie. Maybe that accounts for the title.

FRANZ FERDINAND | YOU COULD HAVE IT SO MUCH BETTER | Epic | Yeah, and we did back in the '80s. We just didn't fully appreciate it. So a big thank-you to Franz Ferdinand for reminding us that the '80s really weren't as bad as we used to think.

MY MORNING JACKET | Z | ATO | They got John Leckie, who usually makes good albums, to produce this one. Not what you'd expect from an alt-country-leaning outfit, but they also added a keyboardist. MMJ have promised that there'll be plenty of roots and blues.

SINÉAD O'CONNOR | THROW DOWN YOUR ARMS | Rocket Science | Sinéad went to Jamaica to record this disc with reggae vets Sly and Robbie - a full album of reggae protest songs that she's threatening to tour behind.

LIZ PHAIR | SOMEBODY'S MIRACLE | Capitol | What does commercial indie rock sound like? Death Cab for Cutie or pop songs by this cutie?

SIMPLE PLAN | MTV HARD ROCK LIVE | Lava | The era of Unplugged has ended and we've moved on to hard-hitting, full-band live performances at Hard Rock Cafés like this disc by pop-punkers Simple Plan, which they recorded earlier this year at Orlando's Hard Rock - 13 tracks and an acoustic bonus cut of "Crazy." So, wait, they haven't totally gotten rid of the unplugged thing. Now I'm confused.

October 11
AEROSMITH | ROCKIN' THE JOINT | Columbia | Do we really need another live album from 'smith? If it's a blues album, that would be pretty cool. No word yet as to whether that's the case. DANGERDOOM | THE MOUSE AND THE MASK | Epitaph | Take the DJ who turned the world on its head by mashing the "White" and Black albums to create the Frankensteinian Gray Album, pair him with one of the hippest MCs in all of hip-hop, and set them loose in a studio. Copyright lawyers, start your engines . . .

DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL | TBA | Vagrant | If anyone can pull a worthwhile album out of the tiredest emo voice in the tired realm of emo, it's producer/guitarist Daniel Lanois. And since he's hitting the road with Tortoise, chances are that info on this disc is just about to start leaking.

GANG OF FOUR | RETURN THE GIFT | V2 | Instinct says that nothing good can come of a band's going back and re-recording seminal material. And then you hear it and, well, it sounds great. Let's just say that Gang of Four were way ahead of their time and that they're the exception to the rule. A bonus disc includes remixes by everyone who's ever stolen a riff from Entertainment: Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, the Futureheads, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ladytron, the Rakes, Dandy Warhols, No Doubt's Tony Kanal, and Hot Hot Heat.

HANSON | BEST OF: LIVE AND ELECTRIC | Cooking Vinyl | Who would have believed that this '90s boy band would grow up to be something of an indie band. They've breathed new life into their older stuff, and the new stuff actually rocks. They'll be filming a documentary when they tour; they're coming to Avalon November 4.

OUTKAST | 10 THE HARD WAY | La Face | The next disc by OutKast is said to be tied to an HBO film that the duo are involved in. They're also reported to be working on an album titled My Life in Idlewild that may or may not be the title of the HBO special. You figure it out.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS | TBA | Warner Bros. | Maybe this time they'll just drop the funk and get down to the real bidness of writing those ballads that cross over to every radio format known to man.

SCISSOR SISTERS | TBA | Universal | This NYC combo set the bar high with their homonymous 2004 debut, so don't be surprised if this gets bumped to January the way the new Strokes disc did.

SEVENDUST | NEXT | WineDark/Universal | The title says it all. It's Sevendust's fifth album and I still haven't gotten through the third. But the single, "Ugly," seems to be doing well on radio. Active Rock lives!

October 18
DEPECHE MODE | PLAYING THE ANGEL | Reprise | They got those irrelevant solo albums out of the way, and now that new wave is back in style, Depeche Mode are ready to cash in again. DR. DRE | DETOX | Aftermath | Assuming he hasn't given all his good beats to Eminem, this should be a commercial grand slam. After all, it's been seven or eight years since he released an album under his own name. The guest list has gotta be huge.

TANGIERS | THE FAMILY MYTH | Frenchkiss | From the label that brought us Les Savvy Fav, Call, and Ambulance Ltd. comes this punkish, gothish duo who use Stonesy riffing for their own devices. (Think the Kills, not the Killers.) It seems they got Jon McCann of GBV to play drums, and Frenchkiss mastermind Chris Zane to produce.

T.A.T.U. | DANGEROUS AND MOVING | Interscope | Okay, so they're not really lesbians, right? But they are Russian. They're cute. And if this disc has even half the sexual tension of the first, they may not be a one-hit wonder.

October 25
VASHTI BUNYAN | LOOKAFTERING | DiCristina | The second album from the Brit folk diva - whose first came out in 1969. A lot's changed since then, but not Vashti, and she's returned just in time for a neo-psych folk revival spearheaded by Bunyan fans Devendra Banhart and Animal Collective. Lookaftering features Banhart, Joanna Newsom, and Adam Pierce (Mice Parade) and post-classical composer Max Richter working as producers and c0-arrangers.

KATE BUSH | AERIAL | EMI | The queen of dreampop is back with her first album since 1993's The Red Shoes. She produced it herself, and that's all anyone seems to know.

THE LEEVEES | HANUKKAH ROCKS | Jdub/Reprise | Guster's Adam Gardner, the Zamboni's Dave Schneider, and producer Peter Katis (Get-Up Kids/Interpol) have joined forces as the LeeVees, and they've recorded what they're calling an indie-pop Hanukkah classic. "Latke Clan" is already available as a download.

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE | LIFE ON THE MURDER SCENE | Reprise | The outta-nowhere success of this New Jersey pop-punk band has everyone wondering why everyone doesn't just start his own pop-punk band. It's only been a little over a year since Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, but you gotta strike while the iron's hot, right?

MEAN REDS | TOGETHER AT LAST AND THIS IS OUR WEDDING | Record Collection | Five teens from the middle of nowhere show up in LA and everyone starts comparing them with some band they'd never heard of - the Germs. Sounds like a fairy tale - especially the part about their mom and dad driving the van to LA.

MT. EGYPT | PERSPECTIVES | Record Collection | Travis Graves is the Wayne Coyne of Mt. Egypt, a "band" who deserve to inherit the Flaming Lips' absurdist-pop mantle if it's ever up for grabs. He handles most of the instrumentation himself, but this time he got Carla Azar from Autolux to play drums.

November 1
SANTANA | ALL THAT I AM | Arista | The second repeat of the 1999 Supernatural all-star-guests megahit formula, this time with, among others, Big Boi, Mary J. Blige, Black Eyed Peas, Los Lonely Boys, and Sean Paul.

November 8
NEIL DIAMOND | Columbia | Nobody apart from certain elderly communities in Florida has taken anything new from Diamond seriously in years. So Rick Rubin, the producer who reinvigorated Johnny Cash's career, has come to the rescue.

November 15
MADONNA | CONFESSIONS ON A DANCE FLOOR | Warner Bros. | The dance floor made her a star to begin with, so why not return to her roots even if her nightclubbing days are over? Rumor has it the disc pays tribute to everything from '80s house to French techno to classic NYC disco and even includes some contempo electronica.

LADY SOVEREIGN | VERTICALLY CHALLENGED | Chocolate Industries | She's already hung with Jay-Z. And in England she's surpassed M.I.A. as the essence of Grime. The US will finally get a taste of Lady Sov on this eight-track EP, which also includes a 30-minute DVD.