Pray that Beck never stops making music. From his first major label record "Mellow Gold" to his more recent efforts, this artist has successfully managed to reinvent himself each time.
With his latest release, "The Information," Beck has broken free from the contemporary construction of music in his genre and created a brand new sound.
Released Oct. 3, "The Information" is a collection of tracks somewhat advanced for their time. But before delving into the music, which is nothing short of spectacular, the innovative packaging and the controversy it evokes must be addressed.
The album comes packaged in a standard compact disc casing with a blank graph paper cover. Nothing special. However, the treasure enclosed is waiting patiently to be unraveled.
Inside, a foldout booklet of over 60 high-quality stickers lets album owners create their own versions of cover artwork. The designs are samples from American and European artists handpicked by Beck, and each CD contains one of four different booklets. Some stickers are random images, such as a log or an elevator. While there is only one sticker of Beck, there is an interesting sticker of Jimi Hendrix's figure with orbs in place of his face.
This ideology transforms the album from a piece of plastic into an interactive selection of art, and puts new significance on physical albums in an age of MP3s.
Unfortunately, because of Beck's forward thinking, the UK's Official Chart Company has decided to ban the album from any billboards in the UK. Their claim is that self-constructing artwork and the bonus DVD - an entertaining, homemade visual accoutrement to all 15 tracks on the album - creates an unfair advantage for Beck and would misconstrue album sales, which should be based only on the music. Whatever, dude.
But now onto the meat and potatoes of "The Information" - the music.
From the first words uttered, "One, two, you know what to do," listeners will know right away that the disc is going to be really, really good.
The album's second track, "Think I'm in Love," pulls from a groove similar to Beck's previous hit, "Devil's Haircut."
"The Information" uses the traditional vocal, bass, guitar and drums setup sparingly. Most tracks are made mechanized by use of synthesizers, keyboards, sampling and drum machines. But don't think any less of the album because of it.
"Strange Apparition" is a perfect representation of the album's dexterity. The entire track is animated, but flows very smoothly and seems like it could compare to late Beatles, only Beck-style.
Other tracks such as "1000 BPM" are something that must be left to listeners to decide over. It could possibly be classified somewhere between electro-funk and barber shop reggae.
The title track, "The Information," bursts to life with a tasty drumbeat layered with Beck's soothing vocal melody. Deliberately repetitive, this song was designed to be hypnotic.
While "The Information" has just about an even mixture of slow numbers and tracks that pull from country, funk and upbeat dance tunes, Beck made sure to include a two-minute outro of an interesting conversation between two people regarding space travel, depending on how listeners decide to interpret it.
"The Information" is everything that past fans and new listeners could expect from Beck at this point in time, and probably a little more. The album is an amalgam of over-exaggerated, innovative righteousness, truly another Beck gem.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
