The new Beck is coming! The new Beck is coming! The new Beck is coming!
Apparently the new Beck record, Guero, which will be released on March 29, was accidentally leaked to the Internet. Popadopalis has the title track.
I’ll admit that I was a bit nervous about Beck’s reunion with the Dust Brothers. Odelay is a fascinating record, but it’s never been my favorite, and I’ve preferred the soulful Beck of Mutations and Sea Change. I was concerned that Beck, now a married father and a Scientologist, might come out with a rehash of a record, an overproduced trifle.
Guero, at least, is nothing like that. A Spanglish funk groove, it manages to sound immediately like Beck, but with all kinds of twists and flavors that feel new. Beck grew up in a Mexican part of Los Angeles and has long played with Mexican sounds, the most obvious such experiment being Burro, a full-on mariachi version of the song Jackass that I prefer to the original. This new track calls to mind both Beck of the Odelay era and WAR without sounding like either. Check it out.
Also published on Medium.