LIZ PHAIR WANTED TO BE BACK in the buzz bin, and boy did she get there. The indie-rock queen, whose 1993 CD, Exile in Guyville, is considered one of the most influential albums of the '90s, had dropped off the coolness radar.

So she hooked up with the production team The Matrix (which has helped make Avril Lavigne a radio staple) for her new self-titled CD, which combines glossy, teen-friendly productions with Phair's sexually intense, confessional lyrics.

"I wanted to go back and take another ride on the whole pop cultural milieu," she says, calling on her cellphone from her tour bus as she heads toward Friday night's show at On the Bricks.

"A lot of people were saying, 'She's over, she's a mom.' I was like, 'Yeah? Mom? Watch me!'" (Phair, 36, is a single mother of a 6-year-old son.)

But some hard-core Phair fans viewed Liz Phair as a sell-out of her lo-fi roots and the gloriously ragged feel of Guyville. The New York Times called it "career suicide".

"The people who really liked Guyville are split," she says, but adds, "The goals I set for myself are working nicely, so from my perspective, things are pretty positive."

Onstage, she's the same Liz Phair, although more confident than she was early in her career. "I'm a singer-songwriter at heart, not a performer. I wish I could be more showy, but I just do what I do."

THE 411: On the Bricks, with Tonic, Hootie & the Blowfish. 6 p.m. Friday. $3. Centennial Olympic Park, 285 Andrew Young International Blvd., Atlanta. 404-222-7275, www.centennialpark.com.