Soundadvice

Get Out!

For an album that came out in 1993, in the height of hyper-stylized, era-defining music, Exile in Guyville is an anomaly; it doesn't so much transcend genre as ignore it. It just is. Fifteen years later, Liz Phair is playing it as it so brilliantly lays, performing Guyville in its entirety, start to finish, in select cities. Say what you will about Phair's recent work or any apparent teenybopper reinvention — and we know you will — just try to live in the moment. Take a deep breath and count back from 10, and maybe you'll be all right.

—Lori Hill

Wed., Aug. 27, 8 p.m., $25-$34, Theater of the Living Arts, 334 South St., 215-336-2000, theateroflivingarts.net.

Drummer Dylan Ryan leads this Chicago quintet, but more important than his rhythms are his compositions, sharp, vigorous mini-epics that unfold with the drama and roiling momentum of Mingus' work burred with the Windy City's trademark angularity. The group, whose front line doubles as Wilco's horn section, take to the pieces like kids on a jungle gym, climbing spiderlike all over the structure, always mindful of the adrenaline-pumping threat of spilling off.

—Shaun Brady

Sun., Aug. 24, 8 p.m., $5, with Santiago/Litwin Duo and Gina Ferrera, Gojjo, 4540 Baltimore Ave., scifiphilly.com.

The best politics are the ones you can rock out to — probably because you can ignore all the soapboxing and just enjoy the music if you want. There's no good reason not to tune into Defiance, Ohio's unkempt, fist-in-the-air acoustic folk fight songs. Their revolution is a righteous and insistent one, and even their most cutting social criticisms are hard to argue with. They want more beauty. Don't we all?

—Patrick Rapa

Fri., Aug. 22, 5 p.m., $7, all ages, with Guignol, The Barbary, 951 Frankford Ave., 866-468-7619, r5productions.com.

The WPO is a Balkan carnival of brass-tooting, drum-beating musicians that stutter and stomp their way through a cornucopia of musical delights. Parlaying their skills into anthemic, anthropological song structures, the collective can be found marching through their audience, embracing the crowd in the same loving way that they wrap their arms around traditional Eastern European music.

—Kevin Pearson

Sat., Aug. 23, 9 p.m., $10, with Leana Song, North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., 215-787-0488, northstarbar.com

It's funny how nihilistic punks and jingoistic neocon apologists can end up in the same place. If it weren't for their rough, ridiculous, hardcore-via-Mad magazine sound, Detroit punk vets The Meatmen would probably be Bill O'Reilly's favorite band thanks to songs like "French People Suck" and "Camel Jockeys Suck." Of course, Bill-O's not joking.

—Patrick Rapa

Thu., Aug. 21, 9 p.m., $10, Y-DI, Necktie and Hydrogen Hell Horses, Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-569-9700, thekhyber.com.