Beck Brings The Sleepy Psychedelia That Half His Fanbase Has Been Craving

ARTIST: Beck
TITLE: “Chemtrails”
WEB DEBUT: May 19, 2008

ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: The first taste of Beck’s upcoming album with Danger Mouse, Modern Guilt, “leaked” via semi-official channels today, and if you’d told me that “Chem Trails” was a collaboration between Rod Argent and the Beta Band, I would have 100% believed you. But hey, Midnite Vultures is my favorite Beck album so I’m obviously in the minority when it comes to his fanbase. Folks might eat this snoozy Odessey & Oracle stuff up.

WHERE TO FIND IT: Beck’s official site.

 

  • Tenno

    I suppose it's ironic that Danger Mouse is the production for 3 of my fav albums this year.... and that Beck track sounds awesome.

  • brasstax

    I'm on board with the Midnite Vultures love. Since then, none of his albums have been entirely bad nor overwhelmingly good. I guess "pleasant" would be an appropriate term.


    "Chemtrails" sounds promising, though.

  • iantenna

    although i think seachange and mutations are his best albums it's amusing to me that midnite vultures has actually stood the test of time a shitload better than his presumed masterwork odelay.

  • OJS

    MV for me, too. I thought his last one was gonna be more like that than it wasn't.

  • natepatrin

    I still think that Beck's 1994 -- Mellow Gold, One Foot in the Grave and Stereopathetic Soulmanure -- is one of the weirdest, most creative one-year runs of the last 20 years.

  • Marth

    I seem to be one of the few who believe he peaked with Mutations.


    So it goes.

  • thearcanemodel

    uh, you know what also sounds kinda like zombies-meets-beta band? caribou. that said, while there are some uncanny similarities, it's still definitely a beck track (or at least not a total rip-off). regardless, it makes my ears really happy.


    i have been reappreciating dude's whole oeuvre lately, after being too cool or too distracted to spend much time with each album for a while. and, although each album definitely has its own great (or genius)-to-skippable ratio, it's been satisfying. for instance, i don't love it start-to-finish, but the information turned out to be a total grower the second time around. i have to agree with iantenna that parts of odelay sound kind of hokey nowadays, but it's still really inventive and wicked fun.

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