Author Archive

Chemtrails

Monday, May 19th, 2008

Chemtrails” is the first song from (what appears to be called) Modern Guilt to hit the webs, and you can listen to it on the beck.com music player, or (I’m told) over on his myspace.

It is definitely a trippy song, with, as mentioned before, Stagecoach Joey Waronker’s mad drumming skills on display. Danger Mouse and Beck cooked up some nice changes and moments, and Beck sings it all in a hazy falsetto.

Enjoy! Beck.com says the album is still untitled, and will be out “early summer.” More info on all that coming soon…

Modern Guilt

Monday, May 12th, 2008

Rolling Stone has more info, if you haven’t heard already, about the new album. To sum: it’s got a mix of songs, a good 60s vibe, was played mostly just by DangerMouse and Beck, and may be called Modern Guilt. Four songs include “Modern Guilt” (sounds like The Zombies, who Beck has covered before), “Beggar’s Shoes” (“twangy guitar and uptempo beat”), “Chem Trails” (epic with Joey Stagecoach Waronker on drums), and “Walls” (melancholy with Cat Power).

YEA!

Here’s the link.

New Album Summary

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

OK, yesterday’s article was followed by a little bit more information on the new album, so I thought I’d sum up what we know. This could very well be out-of-date by tomorrow morning, but let’s see:

– Earlier this year, Beck told Rolling Stone, “We’re not going to get sidetracked. This one might be coming out sooner than people would think — definitely this year.”

– In that article, Beck refused to name who he was working with as his producer (some initial reports said it was Nigel Godrich). We have since learned that Beck has teamed up with Danger Mouse! How’d that happen? Beck’s longtime friend/band leader/bassist, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, worked with Gnarls Barkley, and set them up.

– An article about Danger Mouse in Rolling Stone said he had been tirelessly working on the new Beck album in early March.

– As I said yesterday, some news leaked out that the album was imminent, a quick release in the next month or so.

– Now we’re getting little hints that the album is full of collaborations, including one with my future girlfriend, Cat Power. There were earlier reports that Beck was in the studio (prior to Danger Mouse getting there), messing around with Jamie Lidell. That, I guess, is another possibility for a collaboration. Anything else is just pure speculation at this point.

– Beck’s touring band (i.e., Wounded Cougar) helped out a little on this record, but not much.

– And finally, Beck’s first quote about the album from here: “Beck describes the new set as the most concise collection of music he’s ever created. “The goal was 10 songs, 30 minutes, every song over before you want it to be. No fast-forward material. Anything that gave us any trouble was scrapped. There’s no fat on this record whatsoever.”

Stay tuned for more!

Beck Album Coming… Soon?

Monday, May 5th, 2008

The Rolling Stone magazine is reporting here that Beck’s album could drop sometime in the next month. I have no idea how reliable this news is, but it is Rolling Stone. And Beck is of course friends with Radiohead/Nigel Godrich (who put out their last album quickly online) and Jack White (who dropped his Raconteurs album a week after it was announced). Also, even better, Danger Mouse–the producer of this album!–released the last Gnarls Barkley a few weeks earlier than planned. He’s also drawn a picture of Trent Reznor:

So, yea, more info should be coming very soon. Get excited now!

Let us know if you hear anything: computergirls@whiskeyclone.net

Summer 2008 Updated

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

I have updated the post below with a bunch of newer dates for this summer.  Looks like it’s going to be a fun Beck summer!

Beck Summer 2008 Tour

Vote For Your Favorite Beck Songs

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008

A radio station in England posted on BeckTabs Forum, asking us to vote for your 10 favorite Beck songs. They will be played on a special Beck-themed show in a couple of months.

Here is the direct link to voting.

Not trying to influence anything here, but how about we all vote for “Ozzy” and “Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997” numbers 1 & 2. :)

Beck Dans Paris

Saturday, April 12th, 2008

Beck has added another summer show, this one in Paris on July 7.

Paris Show Announcement

Beck will perform at the Olympia in Paris, France on July 7th.

from beck.com/news

Beck Summer 2008 Tour

Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

So far, a few festivals and a few regular shows have been announced.

Beck is beginning by hitting the Europe:

June 25, 2008: Beck is at the Hove Festival in Arendal, Norway
June 27, 2008: Beck will be at Columbiahalle in Berlin, Germany
June 28, 2008: Beck is playing the Open Air Festival in Switzerland
June 30, 2008: Beck will be at the Melkweg in Amsterdam
July 1, 2008: Beck solo show in Southampton, England
July 2, 2008: Beck solo show in Manchester, England
July 4, 2008: Beck will be at the Wireless Festival in London
July 6, 2008: Beck is playing the 4th day of the Werchter Festival
July 7, 2008: Beck show at the Olympia in Paris, France
July 9, 2008: Beck is doing a show at La Riviera in Madrid, Spain

then Beck appears to be hitting up the US:

those so far:

Aug 22 – 24 San Francisco, Outside Lands Festival
Aug 30 Seattle, Bumbershoot Festival
Sept 20 Hollywood Bowl – with Spoon and MGMT
Sept 27 Austin, TX – ACL Fest

stay tuned for more… keep an eye here (i’ll edit this post) or over on Hijacked Flavors…

update : added some more Euro dates, and the latter 3 US dates

go to Beck.com/news for ticket info

Hints At A New Album

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

So it does appear that Beck is hard at work at a new album. A recent Rolling Stone article about Odeluxe mentions that he is recording in L.A. with a producer he declines to name. Beck assured that it will be out this year.

Spin Magazine “reports” in one sentence that Beck is back to work with Nigel Godrich, which sounds possible. But then JMJ, Beck’s bassist/musical director, added to the mystery that Beck is working with someone JMJ set him up with, so I read that as someone new. (“And it’s going well,” he added.)

So… this is a report that there isn’t a lot to report, and what little there is to report isn’t quite solid info. I feel like a real member of the media.

Odeluxe vs. Odelay

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

Newt’s last post is about the releases of Odeluxe, but I want to make a note about the music. It appears upon first early listens, that there’s various changes to a lot of the songs… which could just be a trick of remastering, or real additions, I’m not sure yet. For instance the vocals on “Hotwax” appear to be have another vocal, and I think there may be a more prominent keyboard line on “Novacane,” and that a few songs have slightly longer/different endings. Little stuff like that. Some close comparisons to the original version and the Deluxe version are necessary, and I definitely will try to do that. But help is needed, there’s a thread over on Stewoo.net about some of the differences, but if anyone notices anything on the Deluxe version that sounds funny/new/differently-mixed, feel free to post here in the comments, on Stewoo, or email almostaghost@gmail.com so we can start figuring out all exactly what Beck did to his masterpiece. :)

Also apparently Spin Magazine has a short sentence in it saying that Beck and Nigel Godrich are back working on the next album… dunno if that’s just a rumor or not, but there it is. Good news, that.

UPDATE:
List Of Things (this may take me awhile to do, but I’ll keep it here for now.)

1. Devils Haircut – I noticed no difference between Odelay and Odeluxe.
2. Hotwax – Deluxe version has what sounds like an extra vocal track during the verses.
3. Lord Only Knows – I think the versions are exactly the same, if anything there might be some remastering making some things (bass, percussion) a little clearer.
4. The New Pollution -  identical. (tho a commenter below noted the intros sounding different, I don’t hear anything.  can anyone get more specific?)