Beck - Modern Guilt
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Free Music Notes for Modern Guilt
Free Music Review: Yet Another Great Record
Hit: 5 Stars
I love how he continues to make awesome records, it's well worth buying for any Beck fan.Free Music Review: One of the best.
Hit: 5 Stars
Beck has so many great and unique albums, and this is one of my top picks!Free Music Review: Beck - Modern Guilt 8/10
Hit: 4 Stars
The pairing of Americana-junk maestro Beck and radical producer extraordinaire Danger Mouse seems at first glance so obvious, so undeniably right, that it's hard to believe Beck didn't enlist the mash-up auteur sooner. One is a musician whose defined his career with taking genres apart and splicing them back together with the detritus of culture to create an amalgam that has made for a career as wildly disparate and creative as it is uneven, while the other is a visionary producer who gave remixers everywhere a new lease on life. While Modern Guilt isn't exactly the masterpiece fans might've hoped for, it is one of Beck's most tightly focused records in years and one that forebodes well for the duo's partnership.
Modern Guilt is, at first listen, neither as immediately accessible as 2005's Guero or as sprawling and erratic as 2006's The Information. Beck's more expansive urges have been reined in by Danger Mouse's production, and the result is a concise record that spares no seconds in pointless instrumentation or unnecessary filler. Lyrically and at times musically the album recalls Sea Change's morose depression, focusing on themes of war, suicide, confusion, and essentially a good number of the world's problems. Beck's lyrics have always been a little hard to interpret, but while the songs here are clearly not the most optimistic in Beck's catalog, they're nowhere near the self-flagellating grief of Sea Change.
The first half of the record is fantastic, a series of some of the best, most incisive songs Beck has put down. "Orphans" starts off softly with a garage drumbeat and an acoustic guitar strumming along as Beck questions "how can I make new again what rusts every time?" Following song "Gamma Ray" is just as sparse but turns out to be the poppiest song Beck has recorded since Guero's "Girl," a chugging surf-rock guitar propelling a simple yet effective chorus. "Chemtrails," the longest song on the record at 4:38, is anchored by a cascading drum rhythm and some of the trippiest vocals on the album. Strangely enough, it reminds me of something would fit right at home on The Flaming Lips' Yoshimi record.
The title track and "Youthless" continue the album's strong run, the former a folksy shuffle about the generally bad direction the world is going in spiced up with a few electronic bleeps and a string part, while the latter is an up-tempo, bass-driven jam that is effectively catchy in its skimpy simplicity.
The second half tends to slow down as some of the momentum drops off, but Beck still has a few tricks up his sleeve: namely, the immediately memorable junk-drum and wailing synths on the chorus of "Walls" and the thumping, Western-outlaw vibe of "Soul Of A Man" with its squealing guitar lighting up the track.
"Replica," however, trips itself up with an out-of-place beat that jitters and jives to the point of exasperation and never really seems to develop beyond its beginnings, while "Profanity Prayers," mires itself in a boring driving guitar rhythm before redeeming itself with a far more interesting outro. Closer "Volcano" is a slow tale in the mold of "Emergency Exit" from Guero, built on top of a ticking drum machine and an anti-climatic ending that ends Modern Guilt on a melancholic, weak note.
Beck has never been one to be caught empty-handed of fresh ideas, and Modern Guilt proves that his songwriting abilities are still in sharp form. Danger Mouse's varied and consistently accomplished production makes for an album that is nearly uniformly good while ensuring that Beck's excesses were funneled into something constructive. Timely and more layered than much of what Beck has recorded in the past few years, Modern Guilt is a promising indication of a great partnership in the making.
Free Music Review: Modern Guilt
Hit: 4 Stars
If this album was released by any other band I would love it, but because it's Beck it's a bit different. Beck has released great album after great album, and this album is more of an okay album. Beck fans may be disapointed by this album, but if you just want to buy a good album I say buy this.
The album is a sort of blend of the darkest 60's songs and the most upbeat modern music. The sound quality itself has a 60's feel to it, almost like listening to a vinyl. The whole album fits together very nicely. My major complaint about this album, however, is how short it is. It is a little over 33 minutes long. The album before this, the information, was over an hour long. So after listening to this album I always want to hear more, it just doesn't feel like it should be that short.
Orphans - the beginning of this song sounds like where The Information left, then it becomes a spacey up-beat folk song. There is a lot going on in this song, yet it's really relaxed at the same time. Many instruments in this song it sounds like. Acoustic guitar, a thumping bass, electronic drum beats, clapping, piano... It's all very cool. Oh, and Cat Power sings in this, but you can barely hear her so theres really no need metioning it.
Gammaray - psychedelic surf music. The guitar, the drum beat.. very 60's. And then you have all these backwords sounds flying at you. It's really cool. It's a very exciting song. Near the end there's a little break-down with drums and piano. This song sounds like a hit. If it isn't playing on radio stations everywhere it should be.
Chemtrails - This was the first song I heard from this album, and I couldn't tell if I thought it was the coolest song I've heard in a while or if I was really disapointed. Somehow it's a little bit of amazing and disapointing. I think it must be Beck's lazy voice over exciting music that makes it like that. Well, anyway, the song is really mellow and then really, like I said, exciting.
Modern Guilt - If you take away the effects and the loud drums, it's a pretty straight foward blues song. The guitar makes the song sound really nice. The drums help the song not sound too sad. So it's kind of a mix of a happy and sad song in one. It's a good song.
Youthless - I'd say this is a dance song, but with Beck's vocals sounding sad and tired I'm not quite sure what to make of it. The music is a repetitive, yes, dance beat. At first I don't really like it, but then when the keyboard comes in it sounds a lot better.
Walls - This is probably the coolest sounding song on the album. The lyrics, on the other hand, are probably the least impressive. But if you ignore that, it's a really neat song. And Cat Power is on this track, this time with a much better part.
Replica - The first thing that comes to mind when I listen to this is Radiohead. Not saying Beck is trying to be Radiohead. But the combination of an insane drum beat with a mellow keyboard track sounds very Kid A. Not the best track on the album, but by far the most interesting.
Soul of a Man - Hard rock blues. Nothing really more to say about it. It's just kind of a filler trak, but a good one! (This is the only time I can think of Beck throwing in a filler, by the way.)
Profanity Prayers - This might be the best song on the album, or at least second. It's everything good about the album. It's catchy, it's cool, it's original, and of course it just sounds really good. My favorite part is when the music suddenly stops and an acoustic slide guitar joins in.
Volcano - Okay, maybe this is the best song on the album. It's a great way to end it. Once it's done I always want to listen to it again. It's kind of haunting.
Free Music Review: Electronic Psych-rock
Hit: 4 Stars
If you have any experience with Beck's music you know his lyrics are always interesting and unlike most other musicians. This album is no different offering Beck's obscure lyrics, explosive sound, and synthesized beats. Several of the songs have a psychedelic feel to them including the opener Orphans. Gamma Ray, one of my favorites starts off like the theme to a James Bond film then kicks into an infectious groove. Chemtrails starts off slow, with a soft vocal then opens up into a rockin' drum track. Modern Guilt is also one of my favs, starts off with a distorted drum beat, adds piano, a mellow vocal then includes a cool guitar riff. Youthless is next with all kinds of synthesized beats wrapped around lyrical melodies. Beck uses words that rhyme together to fill the vocal track alot, but it works. The next two tracks are my least favorite with Walls being just over 2 minutes. On Soul of a Man it starts out with a odd mix of bass & drum which takes a few listens to get into, this became one of my favs quickly. Profanity Prayers is one of the best tracks on this record... it begins with a hammering drum track followed by Beck singing about spiritual concern, in midsong breaks into a slide guitar solo then crosses to electric guitar riffs and finishes out strong. The final track slows down from the rest of the album, with a song that tells us about someone who's at a breaking point in their life and possibly on the verge of soul searching.
To sum up... essential Beck with more of a rock sound overall. The usual beeps, synth sounds, and out of the world lyrics. Also very hard hitting bass different than previous albums. When played on an amplified system the bass sometimes seems too much, although it fits the rest of the record. Compared to Becks last album 'the Information' which has a much smoother sound, Modern Guilt brings out the electronic rock that has been heard on a handful of tracks from Beck's older records. Maybe not the best album he's put out recently but definitely superior to most music that's being produced these days.