Archive for the ‘Releases’ Category

Beck on the Lonely Island CD

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

Everyone’s favorite part of Saturday Night Live, Lonely Island, have a CD coming out in a couple of weeks (May 10).

Beck is apparently on it, on a song called “Attracted To Us.”

http://www.thelonelyisland.com/music

!

Demolished Thoughts and Scott Pilgrim

Friday, March 11th, 2011

demolished thoughts

So, first… the new Thurston Moore album, Demolished Thoughts, will be released on May 24. That’s the cover there. Beck produced it, and I’m quite excited to hear what the two of them did together. (Will it be half as creative and amazing as the Yanni covers?!)

Second, I’m sure you all have seen lately that some of the Scott Pilgrim outtakes hit some websites lately. To me, it shows just how much eager interest there always is for Beck material! A few of the links I’ve seen have stated that Whiskeyclone leaked the songs, and for the record, that is not so. We’ve known about them since they initially leaked 6 months ago or so, when they were played on a web radio show. Some fans grabbed them from that stream, and they’ve been around since then. What caused their recent “discovery” and thrust into the mp3-blog world this week, I have no idea.

The 3 songs that were taken from the web stream are “Disgusting Rainbow,” “No Fun,” and “Gasoline Eyes.” They were outtakes from the sessions where Beck and Brian LeBarton wrote a pile of songs to be used as Sex Bob-Omb’s songs in the Scott Pilgrim film. They did not make the final cut for the film, or the soundtrack.

A fourth song, “Indefatigable,” also leaked. It is not from the web stream. It was included in the film, but was not released on the soundtrack. The track that surfaced there was ripped from the DVD and then looped to make a slightly more complete song.

Upcoming Beck Stuff

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

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?

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

Saturday, June 5th, 2010

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

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

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.)

Upcoming Works

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Hi, Beck freaks. Every once in awhile, I like to summarize the upcoming releases and news. As I’ve said on here before, we’re not really a news blog in a normal way, but like to keep you up with everything (and especially the things, say, Pitchfork may not know about).

The last couple of years, we know Beck has been extremely busy. And since there’s been no shows, that means lots of records! While there’s nothing concrete about any new Beck albums, there are a lot of upcoming things to look forward to. In no particular order:

1. Jamie Lidell Compass: A few years ago, Jamie opened a tour for Beck, and they’ve done some unreleased tracks together (and Record Club 3). When he was starting his new album, Beck called and asked if he needed production help, and they spent a number of sessions working on tracks. The album is done, will be released on May 18, and Beck is on about half the tracks (producing, writing, playing instruments).

2. Tobacco Maniac Meat: The lead guy of the cool electro group, Black Moth Super Rainbow, has a few solo albums. His new one is out on May 25, and Beck added vocals and lyrics to two tracks: “Fresh Hex” and “Grape Aerosmith.” Here’s a story about the collaboration.

3. Scott Pilgrim soundtrack: A movie is being made of the comic/graphic novel series, Scott Pilgrim. I haven’t read it, but it concerns a lot of bands. Beck has provided the music for one of the bands, apparently recording a ton of two-man garage band rock tracks with Brian LeBarton for it. The movie is out in the summer, not sure what’s planned for the soundtrack, which was compiled by Nigel Godrich.

4. “Life During Wartime”: Beck and Devendra Banhart perform the title track to the upcoming Todd Solandz film, Life During Wartime. (It is not the Talking Heads classic of the same name.)

5. Record Club 4: The great third Record Club just finished, and beck.com says that the fourth will return in a couple of weeks (and with “big surprises”). Keep checking Beck.com for that!

6. 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, 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 sessoin). I have no other info about when the album will be released.

7. The full cover of Sonic Youth’s album, Evol seems to have been forgotten. I wonder what happened to this? Last April, a vinyl single came out from it (“Green Light”), but nothing else has been mentioned since. Some reports said it was to be on cassette only. Where is this, I’m dying to hear it!

8. Beck was in the studio recording last November or so, according to beck.com. No mention on what exactly.

Those are the ones worth mentioning–there’s other old recordings that seem to have just been for fun (direct-to-vinyl studio experiments and stuff), and are probably long-gone.

If anyone hears anything else, or recalls anything I’ve forgotten, let us know!

UPDATE: Thanks Scott, I don’t know how I forgot about this! About a year ago, we got a free mp3 saying it was from the lost 2nd K Records album, and a promise that more was coming. This hasn’t happened yet, and nothing else has been heard from it or of it! How frustrating.

Compass Spinning Like A Gambling Wheel

Monday, February 8th, 2010

So hot on the heels of Beck’s collaboration with Charlotte Gainsbourg comes today’s news that he appears on the upcoming album, Compass by Jamie Lidell.

Lidell, of course, is on the current third Record Club, which should be wrapping up soon (there’s one track left on the album, unless they did some of the CD bonus tracks). I’m told there will be a fourth Record Club, but have no idea who is on it or what they covered. I have some theories based on who was in Los Angeles 6 months ago, but we’ll wait and see. :)

Lidell first entered Beck’s circle when he opened one of the Information tours. Lidell would often play with the band, as well as doing sets with them in spontaneous bar shows. Since then, the two have recorded together occasionally (we know about this and this but both are unreleased). Nothing had been released until Record Club 3. Also appearing on Compass is Brian LeBarton, James Gadson, Feist, and Nikka Costa (who is married to Wounded Cougar guitarist, Justin Stanley, so I’m hoping more WuCu is on there too).

UPDATE: A couple of hours after I wrote this, Beck.com notes a bit more about what his involvement was with this record: “Beck worked last year with singer Jamie Lidell on his new forthcoming album The Compass. He produced, recorded and co-wrote songs, as well as performed on several others. Sessions began early last year and continued in the summer. The album will be out in May but you can hear the first song “The Compass,” which was recorded by Beck at Oceanway Studios (where Sea Change and Mutations were done) and features him on acoustic guitar and percussion. “

Harry Partch

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

So earlier this year, Radiohead released a song called “Harry Patch (In Memory Of).” It was only sold online, and was about the last surviving British veteran of World War I. Then earlier this month, the dude from the Fiery Furnaces went on an anti-Radiohead rant, which included some nonsense about how stupid it was they wrote a song about Harry Partch. Partch is an experimental composer and musician. He concluded his rant by saying “I’d make fun of Beck too, but I’m afraid of Scientologists.” All for press right? But since nobody gives a shit about the Fiery Furnaces and their lame novelty albums, everyone promptly ignored it. Except Beck, who is showing them who rules around here. He apparently wrote a song about Harry Partch and it will be on beck.com later today. Cool!

Charlotte Gainsbourg MRI

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

The album that Beck produced and cowrote with Charlotte Gainsbourg is called MRI and will be out on November 30. The first single is out in September, called “Master Hand” (or maybe “Master Hands”). Another single, “Heaven Can Wait” is a duet with Beck, and a video was shot for it last week in LA. Other tracks on the album include “In The End” and (maybe) “Paradisco.”

Upcoming Musics

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

A summary, in no particular order:

1. Record Club continues. After the VU & Nico album, it is unclear what is next. There are two Record Clubs recorded–one with MGMT and Devendra and the guy from Wolfmother (not clear what album, one report said Talking Heads) and Skip Spence’s Oar album with Wilco. (The VU & Nico tracks come out weekly, so far on Thursdays. Though “All Tomorrow’s Parties” got out a few days early.)

2. Modern Guilt Acoustic – over on beck.com/videotheque there is an acoustic run-through of the whole album. This was recorded with the live band after the last tour (Brian, Bram, Jessica & Joey). (Tracks are uploaded one a week, so far on weekends — Sat or Sun.)

3. Charlotte Gainsbourg album – supposedly out at the end of this year, Beck wrote and produced much of her record. Tracks may include “Paradisco.”

4. Scott Pilgrim soundtrack – Beck recorded a few songs for the soundtrack to this movie, as apparently the band Sex Bob-omb. Tracks may include “Indefatigable.”

5. Sonic Youth’s EVOL – similar to record club, but for SY. They needed something for some project they’re doing; Beck recorded all of EVOL with his band for it. No idea when it’s going to be released

6. some song with Devendra Banhart for some soundtrack. (Beck mentioned this vaguely in a recent Pitchfork interview).

7. also in the Pitchfork interview Beck mentioned that he has another album knocking around that was started before Modern Guilt.

8. the second K Records release… more info on this was promised a few months back, but nothing new about it yet.

These are the main things that I believe are upcoming and the most recent. There’s a few other things that I think are a bit older and maybe lost to time (his straight-to-vinyl records with Jamie Lidell, etc.), but who knows. Lots of things happening, it’s a fun time to be a Beck fan.