bitterisataste . . . words and ramblings . . . v.6.0

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

this entry brought to you by art brut, "my little brother"

I was listening to Mellow Gold a little while ago, grinning ear-to-ear while singing along to "Loser". The song's kind of a hall-mark, really, a supposed slacker theme for a supposed slacker generation. Really, what was so refreshing about it was that the chorus cut through bullshit with its self-deprecating, half-sarcastic, half totally honest, half totally stoned chorus. Of course, the verses didn't make any sense, but the fucked-up-on-shrooms stream-of-conscious rambling gave it charm. What's more amazing listening to it, though, is fathoming that Beck, an artist that by all means should have been a one-hit wonder, deservedly became one of the most seminal, adored artists of his generation.

Guero is, in a lot of ways, a culmination of Beck's raise from slacker/stoner to a musical icon; a perfect mix of old-school Beck and new school. It is dreamy, goofy, and white-boy funky, but, like Sea Changes and Mutations, his two most recent pre-Guero output, it is introspective, wistful, and honest in a way that still says absolutely nothing about the artist. It's his first record produced by the Dust Brothers since 1996's Odelay, which itself was a spot-on record that was a bit like a house party thrown by hipsters for the sake of celebrating found art. His latest, Guero, gives the feeling of being a throw back on its first spin. It feels, initially, like exactly the sum of its parts; once-folky Beck deciding to get back together with his producers-in-crime to get back to the old funkiness his fans knew him for. The album starts off peppy enough with "E-Pro", which feels like definitive Beck with its dirty, driving guitar line and Beastie Boys sample (which feels like cheating, since the Dusties also produce for the Beastie Boys); "Que Onda Guero", a loving, funky, multi-culti tribute to his barrio and his utter whiteness; and "Girl", the catchiest stalker song since "Every Breath You Take", except blasting from the stereo of every suburban white kid in the summer; the middle of the album is punctuated by "Hell Yes", with its "please enjoy" chibi coo, by far the best hip-hop song of the year that Kanye West didn't do. They all feel like classic Odelay-era Beck, only with more self-assured maturity.

Listening to Guero is like sitting down and talking to a friend that, ever since he broke up with his long-time girlfriend and slipped into that funk, kind of drifted from you-- or maybe, more likely, you from him-- and now he's cleared his head and ready to get down with hanging out with his friends again. What at first perhaps feels like toned down Beck: the dark, sweeping, creeping under your skin beauty of "Missing"; "Black Tambourine" and "Go it Alone" (the latter which features Jack White on bass) are both subtle, more minimalist funk with mostly percussion, bass, and Beck's mumbling; the slow, plodding, chain-gang singalong "Farewell Ride", soon become the meat and potatoes of the record. The partyish vibe given by the first songs on the record are an assurance to his friends that haven't hung out with him in a while since Odelay that he is indeed the same guy we loved. The slightly muted, downplayed songs show that he's grown up since last we paid attention, and he's even better for it. There's more to him now, more to sit back and enjoy, dig teeth into; and this is coming from a guy who was always deceptively deep to begin with.

Again, Guero comes off exactly as the sum of it's parts at first, and may be initially passed off as just another Beck album, but after multiple listens it starts, as a whole, to unravel multiple layers, and you realize that isn't just the return of your old friend Back, it is a gorgeous, definitive statement of Beck's genius, a casual, self-assured declaration of why the music world needs him.
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with love from CRS @ 7:57 PM

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

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