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Written by Benjy Eisen
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Thursday, 12 October 2006 |
Beck
The Information
Interscope
There was a time when being Beck meant not being Beck—like Neil Young, he’d periodically reinvent himself, creating a signature sound that somehow transcended whatever it was he happened to be playing at the time. If it was “Loser” he was a geek rapper with a six-string; if it was “Golden Age” he was a folkie with a pop band. But nowadays, a family man midway through his 30s, Beck is starting to sound like Beck by being Beck.
That means The Information flows like a natural companion to last year’s Guero, as opposed to veering off like a reactionary statement. Both discs retain their own identity of course—The Information is catchier whereas Guero was more dense—but, surprisingly, there are just a few surprises here. Always a practitioner of juxtaposition and a master synthesist, Beck’s acoustic chugs alongside manufactured beats (“Elevator Music”), retro keyboard tones bleep over white-boy raps (“Cell Phone’s Dead”), and occasional tinges of country-rock peep out from a hipper mosaic (“Strange Apparition”). “I’m a seasick sailor on a ship of noise,” Beck sings on the obvious single, “Nausea,” perhaps indicating that, in more ways than one, he is finally settling down. Benjy Eisen
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Last Updated ( Monday, 08 January 2007 )
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