Hi Beck fans!

So a lot has been happening, and as I like to every so often, thought I’d recap.

1. Song Reader: this comes out in a few weeks. I’ve seen a bit more of it than has been released so far, and I assure you, it’s very entertaining, even if you’re not a musician. You can start using songreader.net and get a preview copy of one of the songs, and start uploading your versions (if you use Youtube). If you don’t want to use Youtube, you can always send Soundcloud or mp3s or any other non-musical things to us computergirls@whiskeyclone.net and we’ll put it on our Song Reader tumblr: whiskeyclonenet.tumblr.com.

2. Beck’s final “mini-tour” of 2012 is almost over, he’s been doing a handful of shows in Australia this week. He mentioned in an Australian interview that he hoped to go back out some more in 2013, with his band (JMJ, Smokey, Roger, Joey). (PS. Beck, please give that band a name.)

3. Production work: Beck continues to be a music producer. He did a couple of songs with Dwight Yoakam for his new album, also assisted Bat For Lashes in getting her album straight (though he only ended up adding to one song on her final album). I’ve heard he’s working with Jenny Lewis and a couple of others.

4. His own work: In some Australian interviews, Beck indicated again he wants to finish the album he began in 2008, but never finished. (Think this was Rococo but maybe a different one.) He said he just has to find time between all his production duties. Otherwise, there’s no news here. I was hopeful that a new album would synergistically be released at around the same time as Song Reader, but seems not. More patience!

5. Whiskeyclone: Also, I’m adding all the song titles from Song Reader into our database, whether or not Beck actually wrote music/words for them. (There’s a lot of titles in the art. You’ll see.) Just wanted to play along, like they’re legit Beck songs, and I hope people create them! Watch the tumblr! But I do realize that this will make the giant list of songs on AlmostAGhost completely unwieldy (if it wasn’t already). I’ll get that re-organized soon into a more readable list! Sorry. Also hope to redesign the home page soon, have a cool Song Reader-inspired idea for it.

Anyway, enjoy Song Reader and be sure to share all your recordings/writings/art that are inspired by it!