Ever since his thrilling 1994 debut with Mellow Gold, each new Beck album was a genuine pop cultural event, since it was never clear which direction he would follow. Kicking off his career as equal parts noise-prankster, indie folkster, alt-rocker, and ironic rapper, he's gone to extremes, veering between garishly ironic party music to brooding heartbroken Baroque pop, and this unpredictability is a large part of his charm, since each album was distinct from the one before. That remains true with Guero, his eighth album (sixth if you don't count 1994's Stereopathetic Soul Manure and One Foot in the Grave, which some don't), but the surprising thing here is that it sounds for all the world like a good, straight-ahead, garden-variety Beck album, which is something he'd never delivered prior to this 2005 release. In many ways, Guero is deliberately designed as a classicist Beck album, a return to the sound and aesthetic of his 1996 masterwork, Odelay. After all, he's reteamed with the producing team of the Dust Brothers, who are widely credited for the dense, sample-collage sound of Odelay, and the light, bright Guero stands in stark contrast to the lush melancholy of 2002's Sea Change while simultaneously bearing a knowing kinship to the sound that brought him his greatest critical and commercial success in the mid-'90s. This has all the trappings of being a cold, calculating maneuver, but the album never plays as crass. Instead, it sounds as if Beck, now a husband and father in his mid-thirties, is revisiting his older aesthetic and sensibility from a new perspective. The sound has remained essentially the same -- it's still a kaleidoscopic jumble of pop, hip-hop, and indie rock, with some Brazilian and electro touches thrown in -- but Beck is a hell of a lot calmer, never indulging in the lyrical or musical flights of fancy or the absurdism that made Mellow Gold and Odelay such giddy listens. He now operates with the skill and precision of a craftsman, never dumping too many ideas into one song, paring his words down to their essentials, mixing the record for a wider audience than just his friends. Consequently, Guero never is as surprising or enthralling as Odelay, but Beck is also not trying to be as wild and funny as he was a decade ago. He's shifted away from exaggerated wackiness -- which is good, since it wouldn't wear as well on a 34 year old as it would on a man a decade younger -- and concentrated on the record-making, winding up with a thoroughly enjoyable LP that sounds warm and familiar upon the first play and gets stronger with each spin. No, it's not a knockout, the way his first few records were, but it's a successful mature variation on Odelay, one that proves that Beck's sensibility will continue to reap rewards for him as he enters his second decade of recording.
Its Friday night and I'm feelin awright. I'm a huge Beck fan but I havent posted any of his stuff cuz I know almost everyone on here loves him already. Anyhoo, this track here is dedicated to all the Moggers who are ready to say goodbye to their bosses and hello to a kickass weekend. Lets make this one count. Turn it up yo.
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Pointillism is the late 1800s compositional technique of using tiny dots ("points") of paint, rather than blending, to create colors in a work of art. From a distance, you see the colors of the paintings as solids-- the colors "blend" in your eye-- but as you get much closer you see the individual component dots. (TV uses this method as well.) It developed from the Impressionist style of using...
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Trailer for "INLAND EMPIRE":David Lynch's "INLAND EMPIRE" finally came to my dear little hamlet & I've been waiting for months now. Was it worth the wait? Yes & No! As you can probably tell by the posting title I'm a little confused by his latest. As some of you may recall I've professed my love of all things Lynchian. I'd have to, to sit through his latest 3 hr. freakfest! I'm telling you, the...
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Wow.If you've never seen a song performed with just an acoustic guitar and two guys drumming on dinnerware...you're missing out. I caught the end of an old SNL episode from maybe middle of '05 with Beck playing 'Clap Hands' from the deluxe version of Guero . There are no words to describe it. It sounded so natural, I wanted to get up and dance. Like every band in the world should embrace pe...
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last night+ the wiltern+ beck+ puppets+ spoons= amazingness.last night was the first of two sold out shows at the wiltern for Beck. the crowd was really mellow and a little less "scene" than some of the shows i've been to lately and i was definitely grateful. sort of similar to the crowd that went to the Charlatans UK show, very positive vibe. We were in just after 8 and apparently that's no...
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Trailer for "INLAND EMPIRE":David Lynch's "INLAND EMPIRE" finally came to my dear little hamlet & I've been waiting for months now. Was it worth the wait? Yes & No! As you can probably tell by the posting title I'm a little confused by his latest. As some of you may recall I've professed my love of all things Lynchian. I'd have to, to sit through his latest 3 hr. freakfest! I'm telling you, the...
More >
Its Friday night and I'm feelin awright. I'm a huge Beck fan but I havent posted any of his stuff cuz I know almost everyone on here loves him already. Anyhoo, this track here is dedicated to all the Moggers who are ready to say goodbye to their bosses and hello to a kickass weekend. Lets make this one count. Turn it up yo.
More >
Pointillism is the late 1800s compositional technique of using tiny dots ("points") of paint, rather than blending, to create colors in a work of art. From a distance, you see the colors of the paintings as solids-- the colors "blend" in your eye-- but as you get much closer you see the individual component dots. (TV uses this method as well.) It developed from the Impressionist style of using...
More >
last night+ the wiltern+ beck+ puppets+ spoons= amazingness.last night was the first of two sold out shows at the wiltern for Beck. the crowd was really mellow and a little less "scene" than some of the shows i've been to lately and i was definitely grateful. sort of similar to the crowd that went to the Charlatans UK show, very positive vibe. We were in just after 8 and apparently that's no...
More >
I prayed heaven todayWould bring its hammer down on meAnd pound you out of my headI can't think with you in itI dragged all that I ownedDown a dirt road to find youAnd my shoes worn out and usedThey can't take me much fartherOhhhSomething always takes the place of missing piecesYou can take and put together even thoughYou know there's something missing
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Pancho Villa is a a taqueria on 16th st in SF this is nor me writing belowTaqueria Mariachi for a Night:Last night Melanie and I went to Pancho Villa for the award-winning deliciousness. As you may know, it's not unusual for somebody to be standing in the back playing a guitar. However, the dude playing the guitar last night was Beck. The normal mariachi guy was there and was looking PISSED (I ...
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Wow.If you've never seen a song performed with just an acoustic guitar and two guys drumming on dinnerware...you're missing out. I caught the end of an old SNL episode from maybe middle of '05 with Beck playing 'Clap Hands' from the deluxe version of Guero . There are no words to describe it. It sounded so natural, I wanted to get up and dance. Like every band in the world should embrace pe...
More >
| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 E-Pro |
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| 2 Qué Onda Guero |
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| 3 Girl |
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| 4 Missing |
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| 5 Black Tambourine |
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| 6 Earthquake Weather |
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| 7 Hell Yes |
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| 8 Broken Drum |
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| 9 Scarecrow |
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| 10 Go It Alone |
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| 11 Farewell Ride |
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| 12 Rental Car |
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| 13 Emergency Exit |
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© 2006-2009 Mog Inc. All Rights Reserved
 "Guero")
