Beck’s Modern Guilt — Mellow But Not Gold
July 24th, 2008
A few weeks ago before Beck’s Modern Guilt was released, I heard the first single to hit the air on KEXP and I loved it. It was mellow, trip hoppy and had a new sound which got me excited to check out the album in its entirety. This hasn’t happened for me when it’s come to Beck in like, I dunno, 10 years or so. After Mutations, the ride on the Beck wave pretty much ended. His music went from quirky, catchy and original covering many genres to the same ol’, same ol – it all started to become indistinguishable from one song to the next. In other words, it’s been a long time since Satan Gave Me a Taco.
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Well yesterday, I got to take my first spin through Modern Guilt. And for the life of me, I cannot find that song that reminded me of trip hop favorites: Massive Attack, Zero 7 and Tricky. Huh? What was I smokin’? And now that I’ve listened to the disk like 10 times, I still can’t identify it. What I did find was a collection of 10 polished tunes, mostly standard Beck while others were good getting decent rotation during my peak listening hours. Pretty much, the sum of all parts equals good background music when shuffle is hit on my iPod. But will it make my top 2008 list, probably not.
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This time around, Modern Guilt is co-produced (along with Beck) by Danger Mouse who’s been making his rounds this year (The Black Keys’ Attack & Release, Gnarls Barkley’s The Odd Couple…). Modern Guilt starts off with Beck’s trademark sound: Orphans and Gamma Ray. Both could easily fit somewhere in between Midnite Vultures and Guero. It then weaves itself into Chemtrails, reminiscent of Brian Wilson with its 60s vintage surf rock sound. My favorite, and to really no surprise, is the title song: Modern Guilt. I can almost imagine Britt Daniel slipping nicely into the lead vocals and it becoming Spoon’s next big hit. Youthless and Walls come in at a close second. Both have an ease and groove about them that make it smooth like butter listening too.
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All in all, Modern Guilt is like putting on an old glove, fits comfy and snug but doesn’t have the wow factor of something new and super sparkly. However on the flip side, if this was Beck’s first crack at the music limelight, well, I would be talking a whole different story. This reviewer gives it a 6 out of 10 stars.
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July 24th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Ahndrea Wilson said:
Very well put. This album was the only cd I had on vacation the other week, and as a result it played over and over and over in the car. I kept thinking it would grow on me, but all in all the album, IMHO, has provent to be nothing more than mediocre. Having said that, I do like Gamma Ray and Youthless :) Nice call on the Spoon reference to the title track, I totally hear it now that you say it.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
misterlevitan said:
I third your words.
Too mellow, nothing funky. I had to cue up “The Information” to see what “Modern Guilt” was missing. “We Dance Alone”? “Nausea”? “Cellphone’s Dead”? Each song has more hook-y funk than all of the new album. It’s like “Sea Change” with the edges rounded off of it.
I blame Danger Mouse.