The Artist’s Museum Happening Gig (updated)

November 14th, 2010 by

Beck, Devendra, Caetano Veloso (not in Brazil)

Beck played on a (semi-)public stage last night, for the first time since March 2009. (!)

It was a charity gig for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, tickets cost minimum $5000, and he shared the stage with Devendra Banhart and Caetano Veloso. Also the ‘band’ was Beck’s bassist, Bram Inscore, 3 violinists, and a cellist. I have no idea what they performed, but the LA Times says this: “all three performed together in a multilayered piece.”

Some of the pictures I’ve seen of the event seem to indicate that Beck & Devendra and the string section played first, and then Caetano joined them at some point. If any of you famous celebrities (Rose McGowan, hi) were there and want to email me about what went down, feel free: almostaghost@gmail.com

If I hear anything, I’ll update here too.

UPDATE: The LA Times had a fuller report of the evening (and Beck.com wrote it up too). Apparently, they played 4 songs. Initially, Devendra sang his song “At The Hop,” I’m not entirely clear if Beck was involved there (Beck.com seems to say he was, but LA Times seems to say it was just Devendra). After that, Beck and Devendra and the string section did “The Golden Age,” a video clip of which is in the comments below. Next, Caetano Veloso joined them and did his songs “Nine Out Of Ten” and “Maria Bethania.” Afterwards, there was a performance art piece by Doug Aitken called “WE” and Beck apparently participated in that somehow. The piece included drummers, auctioneers, and a guy with a whip.

Yanni Wrap-Up (Rip Off Your Mustache & Save Yr Soul)

September 17th, 2010 by

The final track of Record Club #5 went up today, ending an entertaining run through Yanni Live At The Acropolis.

Beck and Thurston Moore played or sang on all the tracks, while the band Tortoise was actually only on two of them (“Keys To Imagination” and “Within Attraction”). The session musicians on the remaining 8 tracks were Abraham Laboriel (bass), Jeff Babko (keys), Russell Ferrante (piano), Toss Panos (drums). On one song, “Nostalgia,” Vinnie Colaiuta drummed instead of Panos.

Perhaps because of the source material, but this album was pretty different than most anything Beck has ever done. Actually it is probably in spite of the source material, because little of this actually sounded like Yanni! In fact, Beck’s sounded more like Yanni on some of his own tracks than this stuff did (like “Acropolis Now” or “Touch Dolphins”).

Anyway, Beck hinted that there were lots of music allusions in their music on this RC beyond Yanni, like references to Stravinsky, Shania Twain, Bobby Brown. If anyone ever recognizes any riffs in the scores, let us know! (The Bobby Brown was on “Santorini” and they did The Doors on a track too.) You could tell the musicians were having fun doing this stuff. I am not sure how often I’ll be inclined to listen to this RC in the future, but I think it was a fun and worthwhile attempt. It really gets to the core of what RC can and should be; it’s not just covering something Beck and the crew likes, it’s taking a piece of music and challenging themselves with it.

No word yet on RC #6. Hopefully we’ll hear soon and it will start up next week!

Also, no more word on that new album Beck told Pitchfork about. Hopefully some news will arrive soon.

New Beck Interview

August 2nd, 2010 by

Over at Pitchfork, there’s a new short interview with Beck. Nothing crazy new in it, but I’ll summarize:

Beck enjoys collaborating with other musicians, and working with Charlotte led him to call up people (like Jamie Lidell and Stephen Malkmus) and offer his help.

Despite all those projects, he’s still working on his own album. He did it way back in 2008, and is still kinda figuring out the songs. (And, of course, he doesn’t have a label. It could end up on his website!) He was planning to call the album Rococo but probably not anymore. He also has a group of songs from before Modern Guilt that was never released. Beck was going to get Thurston Moore to add guitar to some songs, but didn’t have time, so they stuck to Yanni.

And Beck gave 3 songs to Twilight, but they picked the one with Bat For Lashes. (And he gave one to the prior Twilight movie that didn’t get used.) THERE IS NO REASON THESE ARE NOT ON BECK.COM, BECK. Post ’em up, say “Twilight didn’t want these, so here you go!”

Happy 40th Birthday To Beck!

July 8th, 2010 by

Yes, Beck turns 40 today! That’s a big one!

Happy Beck’s Birthday, everyone.

How are you celebrating?

Acropolis Now

July 1st, 2010 by

The new Record Club project, starring Beck, Thurston Moore, and Tortoise decided to cover Yanni Live At The Acropolis.

ENJOY at beck.com all summer long

UPDATE: As you can see on the .com, Beck wrote “To flesh out the complex arrangements, several studio musicians were brought in to read a heavily doctored score with interpolations of everything from Stravinsky to Bobby Brown (and others).” (Earlier in the day, it said Shania Twain’s name there.) Does this mean that funky riff part in the second half of “Santorini” is an interpolation of something? Does anyone recognize it at all?

Record Club Number Five

June 15th, 2010 by

Beck, Liars, St. Vincent and Os Mutantes still have two more songs left in their Record Club cover of INXS. But current word is that an upcoming (and presumably next) Record Club was with the band Tortoise and Thurston Moore.

Click here for more

No word yet what album exactly… but if/when I hear, I’ll let you know…

1,000,000 Fans Who Want Beck To Release His Second K Album

June 5th, 2010 by

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122881154418075

let’s do it! let’s convince Beck to release some more archives!

join and invite all your Beck-loving friends

Beck Likes Vampires

May 12th, 2010 by

A quick little round-up of some upcoming releases Beck has scheduled:

1. Beck has given a new song “Bad Blood” to the soundtrack to the vampire TV show, True Blood. Soundtrack out in a couple of weeks, on May 25.

2. Beck and Bat For Lashes duet on a track called “Let’s Get Lost” for the soundtrack to the 3rd Twilight movie. Apparently, Bat For Lashes wrote it the lyrics. Soundtrack is out on June 8. I now dream of a record club with Beck and Bat For Lashes.

3. Thanks to a commenter below, we learned of some reports that Beck has helped produce some songs for Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. This was confirmed, but seems unlikely that will come out until next year. Stephen Malkmus is not a vampire.

4. Also on May 25, an album called Maniac Meat by electronic musician Tobacco is going to be released. Beck sings on two of the tracks.

5. Beck’s work with Jamie Lidell is out next week in the US (his album Compass). Beck produced and plays on about half the tracks.

6. Also a new deluxe version of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s album Now I Got Worry is being released with a number of bonus tracks. Beck plays keyboards on one of the tracks. (This isn’t new material, it was recorded in 1996 or so, but the bonus track hasn’t been released before.)

Kick

March 17th, 2010 by

I was wrong, the Beck/Liars/St. Vincent/Os Mutantes is the next Record Club #4, and they’re covering INXS album Kick.

How’s that for a combination of musicians all in one sentence?

Enjoy!

Upcoming Record Clubs

March 10th, 2010 by

As I mentioned, the next Record Club (#4) is on its way any time now. No word on what it is, or who was on it. Beck.com said it would be “big surprises” and Brian LeBarton said it would be “bananas.”

Also, word leaked that Beck recorded a Record Club last week–with St. Vincent, Os Mutantes, and Liars. I assume that is Record Club #5?

(Wow, Liars!)