Songbird
Nov
26
An Ode To Beck
Filed Under Music Mix Up
Beck has 11 official album releases, 6 demos, 32 singles and a 177 compilations!!!! Holy shit…All together whiskeyclone.net documents a total of 286 releases and 706 songs. But it isn’t about how many releases he has or how many albums he can sell…It’s about the music he makes. His music transcends genre, in one song he mixes alternative rock with electronic, folk, blues and hip-hop. His funky style you can’t help but groove too and at the same time his music is much deeper than that…
“One of the reasons I’m a musician is because music isn’t divisive. It’s a medium where you don’t have to abide by divisions. The whole idea is anarchy and the best music just doesn’t give a fuck. And too much music is just so conservative these days. So I really don’t want to be careful about anything. And there’s so much music that’s trying to be offensive these days, trying to be aggressive and abrasive. But it’s just cheap and manipulative. So if I can offend someone in a good way and challenge their belief system, then I think that’s positive. I mean, I wonder what their problem with it is? I don’t have a problem. Wanda Coleman doesn’t have a problem with me singing like that.” -Beck, when asked, “Why be a musician?” -Ashare, Matt, ‘Slow Jamming: Beck reveals his inner soul man’, The Boston Phoenix, Nov. 1999
Beck is real and honest, he has remained true to himself, for that alone I admire him. But I think the honesty he pours into his songs is why he is loved by the 22 year old rebel and by the 40 year old white-collar. All people can relate to his music…
With his new release, The Information, a 15 track album which explores…pretty much everything it can. Of course this has been taken two ways. Stylus Magazine’s review of the album was mixed, they gave it a B- saying it just didn’t seem like the album molded together well. Where NME.com had nothing but praise, saying his use of technology helped him to explore the outer limits and how far he can push his music.
And to touch on the topic of the Scientology influence being at the core of the album, and I think he is very subtle with this influence. If anything Scientology has been the stepping stool for Beck to launch The Information into outer-space, the album picks up where Guero left off. And that is the point right? To progress one’s music , to evolve? I think Beck does this with each new album, I am always excited to listen to a new release of his and this album is no different , it is an experience through Beck’s own atmosphere . A funky space trip through all the crevices of Beck’s mind accompanied with futuristic fantasies along the way.
So in honor of Beck a little mix…
(mp3 expired) Dark Star – The Information (2006)
(mp3 expired) It’s All In Your Mind (Live Acoustic) – Bridge School Concerts, Vol. 1
also available on Sea Change (2005)
(mp3 expired) Derelict – Odelay (1996)
(mp3 expired) Broken Drum (Remix by Boards of Canada) – Guerolito (2005)
(mp3 expired) Black Tambourine – Guero (2005)
(mp3 expired) Lazy Flies – Mutations (1998)
(mp3 expired) Bogusflow – DGC Rairities, Vol. 1 (1994)
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15 Responses to “An Ode To Beck”
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Rachel - Music, FilmAggregator Love
Ah, a lovely peck o’ Beck from the lovely Rachel! Indeed, he is truly one-of-a-kind.
However, am I a stick-in-the-mud to admit that “Loser” is still my favourite track of his, after all of his prolific output? “Soy un perdidor, I’m a loser baby” makes me giggle every time.
That’s a terrific call on track selection Rachel – and there is a lot to choose from as you indicate! Beck is one of a kind.
Well done… I dig the new track, too. (It was worth the work)
I still love “Debra.” I’d give her a ride in my Hyundai any old time.
FiL, I love Loser as well, it is a fantastic track, I was considering including it within this mix but I decided to go with tracks that were not as obvious. hehe :)
w.a. fading, thanks I am glad you enjoyed. It wasn’t easy but your approval says a lot :)
drainpip, indeed it was worth the work…And yeah by far Dark Star is my fav from the new album as well.
Rich, Debra was in the running…But I decided to go with Bogusflow, just because I am sure not as many are as familiar with it. ;)
Oh, full marks for the mix decisions! Including Loser would have indeed been a bit obvious…
I have to say I’ve never loved Beck, always finding him a little emotionally distant, or perhaps like it gets overwhelmed by his talent. But that said, this mix of yours is making me rethink it a bit–esp. the acoustic track.
p.s. Isn’t Odelay from the ’90s?
Thanks FiL!!! :)
fb, my oh my, thank you for drawing my attention to the incorrect date on Odelay, you are correct and I must have been looking at a different album when I typed that in. :) I am pleased that this mix has shown you a different side of Beck, possibly one you can relate with a bit more. :) Thanks!
You HAVE to go see Beck live at the moment
The puppets are sooooo cool – one of the best live performers I’ve ever seen!
Good choice on the mix. I seriously need to buy his latest.
hi rachel, you done with thanksgiving yet? i just finished yesterday ;-)
thanks for the beck! i really need to get the information as well…was hoping a buddy of mine would pick it up and share it with me, but alas he has let me down so far. dig your picks though, but (obviously?) “everybody’s gotta learn sometime” holds a special place in my heart
coxon, I know I am dying to see him, you would think since we both live in the same city that I would have seen him by now…But alas I have not.
But I am making it a priority now. :)
tad, yes I have officially brought Thanksgiving 06′ to a close. Hope you had a lovely weekend.
I am pleased you enjoyed the selected Beck. I recommend picking up a copy of The Information it is a definite trip.
And “everybody’s gotta learn sometime” is by far my favorite but I had just posted it here
so this is why I chose to leave it off of this mix. :)
i love that line–“a funky space trip through all the crevices of beck’s mind . . .”
fil–loser, always, #1, i agree. and thank you for clearing up those words–i never could figure out what he said right before “i’m a loser baby” and now i know why–it was in spanish!
“tropicalia” and “nicotine and gravy” also among my faves, as is “nobody’s fault but my own.”
Just a thought – when putting mixes together sometimes “obvious” is OK, isn’t it? Or is that breaking an official or unofficial blogger rule? :)
at first, i didnt like the new beck album. i thought it completely lacked feeling and emotion, but after repeated listens and hearing his kcrw session for this record, it really grew on me.
sea change is still my favorite tho…
and this text message from the g.f. is the best text message in the history of text messaging when taken out of context:
“…cause only you got the thing i got to get with. i wanna get with you and your sister…i think her name was debra…”
Thanks mjrc! Nicotine and Gravy is good indeed.
w.a.fading, well I don’t think there is a “official” rule about posting the obvious…But for me I TRY to select songs that haven’t been killed by being over-played…Most of the time I prefer the songs which are less obvious but sometimes the obvious are my favorite. But I gottcha ya. ;)
Don’t need anything, you know it usually takes me awhile to really get into his albums…accept for Sea Change (that album was just easy to love) but I think his music is so intricate that it takes awhile to digest all of it. His music is certainly the kind of music that ages like a fine wine.
As for the text messaging…That one flew over my head…you will have to fill me in.