Pitchfork

[Posted Thursday, September 11th, 2003 04:30:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Will Bryant and Josh Bauchner report:
According to his official website, Beck is returning to the studio next week to start on a new record with Odelay collaborators The Dust Brothers. Although a recent Rolling Stone report stated that the follow-up to last year's Sea Change would be dominated by "aggressive" and "loud" guitar sounds, it appears their reporter might have read a little too much between the lines. "[Beck] hasn't decided exactly what it will be yet or what it will [or] will not include from previously recorded material," Beck webmeister Truck posted recently to the singer's official bulletin board. "That [Rolling Stone] article doesn't really represent what he wants the record to be... he didn't know that's what the focus of the article was going to be. You can look forward to his own assessment in his own words soon."

The site has been posting a journal written by Beck since last March, mostly covering his touring adventures with his new band, The Black Keys and Dashboard Confessional (sample entries: "Poplockin' Beats From Orlando," "Corporate Bagpipe Deco Wetdreams," "Two Jeff Tweedys and a Microphone"). Now that the Sea Change tour has wrapped, the journal will periodically be updated with tidbits from the studio.

Beck's original touring/recording band have splintered to concentrate on other projects, leaving Beck on his own for this album: Justin Medal-Johnsen and Joey Waronker have formed IMA Robot; Smokey Hormel has been recording with Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori as Smokey and Miho, and Roger Manning, Jr. has joined forces with Jason Falkner in the new-wave outfit TV Eyes. As previously reported, Beck also has a backlog of tracks recorded prior to Sea Change with Dan "The Automator" Nakamura and wicka-wicka wizard Timbaland.

In keeping with his busy fall, Beck will also be shooting three videos this month for a planned Sea Change DVD. Beck plans to direct one himself and collaborating with old friend Steve Hanft on two others. Hanft has previously directed videos for "Loser," "Pay No Mind," and "Jackass" for Beck, as well as the indie film Southlander, which co-starred Beck in a semi-autobiographical role and will be released on DVD October 7th through Music Video Distributors.

BBC Radio 1 will also be broadcasting a new Beck acoustic session this month-- no new original material, unfortunately, but he does cover the Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize?" and Big Star's "Kangaroo." Beck apparently has a love-hate relationship with the marsupials, as evidenced by this journal entry from March: "My first run-in with a kangaroo was in '95," Beck writes. "I rented a van and was way out in the Australian outback about three hours [outside of] Perth. I saw a trail and pulled off the road. I walked through the dirt for a while until suddenly a six-foot kangaroo jumped out of a shrub into the path in front of me. He was decidedly not cute... he had sharp teeth, long claws... he looked like he could rip your arm off! I was envisoning one of those animals-gone-berserk videos... he looked me over, jerking his head around, then eventually hopped back into the bush." Crikey, Beck... just be thankful he didn't take your wallet like that CGI-animated Jerry Bruckheimer 'roo.

No tour dates are scheduled at the moment, but give the guy a break, he's been touring the whole summer. It's time to get back to school.