Hey everybody… sorry it’s been so long, but really Beck isn’t up to much at the moment. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t stuff to talk about here! I don’t intend Paper Tiger to be a news site, but I do like every once in awhile to bring up all the things we know about on the horizon to look forward to. I’ll start with the confirmed things we know about:
1. In a couple of days, the new movie I Am Number Four comes out. Beck has a new song called “Curfew” in it. I do not have any idea if there will be a soundtrack CD release or not.
2. Sometime this year, Thurston Moore is releasing a solo album. Beck produced it! They recorded it at Beck’s house. It was initially announced that the album was called Benediction, but most recent reports say it’s called Demolished Thoughts. (No release date that I’ve seen yet though, but it’s coming this year for sure.)
3. That leads to Beck’s cover of Sonic Youth’s album, EVOL, in its entirety. Not a Record Club, but something he did for, I think, some sort of EVOL deluxe project at the request of Sonic Youth. The release of this is probably up to Sonic Youth, but it’s been floating out there for at least a couple of years now. Hopefully it’s not lost!
4. At the same time Beck registered the copyright for “Curfew,” he also registered songs called “Constellation” and “She Coulda Done Better.” I have no idea what those are.
5. Also last year, Beck produced some songs with Stephen Malkmus and his band the Jicks. Haven’t heard anything about this since last May, which indicated that their work would be out in 2011. Hopefully it still is coming!
6. And of course, Beck mentioned to Pitchfork last summer that he had an album done that he was trying to figure out how to release. (He thought about calling it Rococo, so that’s what fans refer to it as for now.) Nothing’s come of it yet though! (Beck also mentioned that he had some songs that he had finished before doing Modern Guilt.) And of course, there’s the millions of other things he’s probably recorded since then we’ve never heard of and will never hear.
7. I’ll copypaste this from the last “update” I did, last March, and note that I still don’t know when it’s coming:
John Martyn tribute album: Beck has covered John Martyn in the past, in the early 2000s, he used to do “Go Easy†live on occasion. Martyn unfortunately died last year [2009], and Beck is giving a version of “Stormbringer†to an upcoming tribute album. He recorded this in Nashville a few years ago, when he and his band stopped in and did a bunch of covers (he put a Lee Hazlewood cover up on beck.com once from this session). I have no other info about when the album will be released.
8. Beck.com said Record Clubs would resume, and man I hope it does soon. I loved getting a new Beck song every week! The story is after the last one, Beck tried a few times to get one together but for whatever reasons, it never really happened. So he eventually just sent it on a hiatus. He did for a short while have a voting contest, where you could vote for the Record Club tracks that you would want to have on a sort of “best of the Record Club” CD. That was last November.
9. And, as always, I have to mention the 2nd K Record. With the release of One Foot In The Grave Deluxe, Beck dropped the tantalizing note that more info was coming about the album he began for K Records after finishing One Foot. He never really finished it, but it sounded like some of the songs were still around and he was planning to drop them. To tease, he included a song called “The Way It Seems.” No new info about it since… *sigh*
10. Finally, Beck is scheduled to play one concert, but it’s not until August. It is at the Hollywood Bowl, and Beck will be part of a Serge Gainsbourg tribute concert. We all know Beck is a huge Serge fan. It looks like Justin Meldal-Johnsen will be along and a sexy time will be had by all. More special guests will probably be announced in time too.
I’m sure some little things slipped my mind here. But that’s what we’re looking at. I do strongly believe that 2011 will see a Beck album proper. But that’s mostly an educated guess, not based on anything concrete. It’s hard to believe Beck hasn’t played his own concert in almost two years now. Must he be getting as restless as we are?
would it be possible to re-post the link for the Whiskeyclone RSS feed? i emailed and was told it was all taken care of, but now it isn’t reloading. i can just use the Paper Tiger feed, Whiskeyclone was cool because it covered all the sites.
thanks for the updates, good to see that Beck will get material out to us somehow, i’m still holding out for an album, tour and a few dates in Boston.
we can dream right……
Hf he does announces a concert in Boston, I would start to fear the apocalypse or something. But a concert in Boston would be nice. What has it been? Since Nov 2005, right?
Anyway, a new record would be nice too. Maybe even a box set. Everything he hasn’t released yet. Everything. It will cost a few thousand dollars. But it’ll all be there :3
Think of it as a precaution,, in case he dies in a horrible accident or something… hm.
It’s really strange that “Curfew” just came out of no where as a track for I Am Number Four. Thought we would’ve heard more about it before this. Also, I’m curious to your source? (not to sound critical, I did some research and found it listed on IMDb but at the same time on IMDb Beck is listed as doing a song called “Lady” for the Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas soundtrack and it’s not on almostaghost or said soundtrack, so I assume it’s false). Just a curious fella. Thanks.
Also, I really hope we get a Beck album this year and a tour. I live in Arkansas, not sure if he’s ever been here but I imagine he’s been to Texas or Oklahoma (at least somewhere nearby so I catch it)
There is a short sample of “Curfew” in a video clip on the I Am Number Four website. It could be fake, like you said, but there WAS a song called “Curfew” registered to Beck in the copyright database just a few months ago, so I think that’s what pushed it out of “rumor” for me.
Readymade, if you’re still having trouble with the RSS, email Dave who emailed you about it. He takes care of that stuff.
Ah, sounds legit. Thanks!
Thank you, as always for the updates and summaries.
Oh, man! An album this year would be awesome. Thanks for the itemized update, it makes it easier to keep track of everything that’s in the “works”. :)