Beck – The Information
Beck has always in my mind, been one of the most peculiar artists of our day. Whether you’re listening to “Devil’s Haircut” or “Little One” you’re in for a wild ride unlike any other. I’ve found with most of Beck’s work you have to uncover a few layers to discover its true beauty. For instance, on his new album “The Information” several of the beginning tracks were slow in my mind and weren’t on par with Beck’s other material but after a few listens and singling out of instruments I’ve come to realize their true magnificence. This is a fairly basic concept and like most albums you have to do this but Beck has always been a special case in which you have to dissect a song separating the bizarre sounds with the mildly bizarre sounds to uncover the gold.
Generally “The Information” has a very likable sound to it; this is due to the slew of songs that all sound different from one another and present new ideas the further you get into the disc. For example you’ve got “New Round” which exemplifies a textbook case of a soft song compared to the track before it “Nausea” which in itself generates a catchy in-your-face tune that aims at keeping you alert rather than tame. This is not to say it’s a bad song in any way, it’s just different than a lot of the album, especially “New Round”.
One of the reasons I keep coming back to Beck over and over again is for his ability to craft a world with his music. He generates an atmosphere that cannot be attained any way other than to listen to his music and for that I love it. I’m well aware that everyone has their own ideas on how Beck creates atmosphere but for myself its always been the vast selection of sounds and instruments he uses. He’s the guy you go to if you want something original, and fortunately for this fans his newest album is filled to the brink with originality. Besides the aid of numerous instruments he tends to stick to a pulsating, moody beat approach to a lot of the album. This can be heard on “We Dance Alone” and “No Complaints” to name a few.
Like most albums this one has its highs and lows. For the majority of its playtime it’s mostly highs though I can assure you. You’ll find yourself liking “Cellphone’s Dead”, “Soldier Jane”, “The Information”, “Movie Theme”, and the final track on the album that stands out at the ten minute mark “The Horrible”. Its worth commenting on the final track because of the irregularity it portrays. Like I said at the beginning of this review, he’s a peculiar artist and “The Horrible” Really exemplifies this.
As I said there are some lows to this album. For “The Information” its not really singular tracks that stand out as being different or bad, it’s more like portions of the good tracks that are lacking. You can see examples of this peppered across the entire album, parts where you’ll be giving it a thumbs up and parts where you’ll be giving it a thumbs down. The only track that didn’t do it for me in any degree was 1000BPM. It never really developed (as hard as it did try) into a song worth listening to. Instead it just flopped around like a soon to be dead fish counting down the seconds. I can’t help but realize the fact it’s the shortest song on the album, I think Beck even knew it was garbage and wanted to get it over with.
When it’s all said and done the album comes out strong, but far from a lot of his pervious efforts. If you walk into listening to it with limited expectations then you won’t be disappointed. Just don’t think its going to be the best thing since sliced bread. Being a Beck fan from way back I can safely say it’s a refreshing experience. I found that when the album neared its end there tended to be a slight influence by the A3 (Alabama 3) in the way he presented his vocals. It worked for me and that’s the reason why the end of the album is better off then the beginning in my eyes. I urge everyone who’s even remotely interested in Beck to get out there and make the purchase; it serves as a refreshing listen compared to a lot of the music out there nowadays. I’d say this album would be somewhere between a 3.5 and a 4, great stuff from Beck.
