Pitchfork: Next Beck Album Delayed Until 2005

Next Beck Album Delayed Until 2005

Sometimes it's a good idea to get the bad news out of the way right upfront: After a year of near-updates on its progress, it has been announced that Beck's still-untitled eighth studio album will not be released on its originally planned street date of October 25th, as the Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter hasn't quite finished work on it. Although no one has stepped up to offer a new release date for the album, Beck, a noted studio perfectionist, is said to be continuing work on the disc with sights on an early 2005 release.

Beck has been slaving over this record, the follow-up to 2002's Sea Change, for roughly the past year, though no one in his camp-- including the man himself-- seems to have gone out of their way to offer much information about its progress or direction. Fortunately, the press has done enough poking and prodding by now to have uncovered a number of conflicting details, such as: 1) It'll be aggressive and guitar-heavy; 2) Correction: It will return to the junkyard funk of Odelay and Midnite Vultures; 3) Dan the Automator is producing; 4) No, wait, it's Nigel Godrich again; 5) Maybe it's both. Or neither; 6) We can, however, be certain it will not be released on Bong Load Records.

Luckily, those crazed insiders over at MTV seem to have gotten an Access: Hollywood-sized inside scoop on not just the sound of the album, but also on several songs being considered for inclusion. According to their report, "E-Pro" is likely to be its first single, and is one of the songs most closely related to Odelay. Meanwhile, "Gospel" (which Billboard has reported as the probable first single, in yet another contradiction) treads closer to the downbeat Sea Change. And then there's "Brazilica", which, predictably, is said to hit closer to 1998's tropicalia-influenced Mutations. So, basically: It's gonna sound like Beck.

The record is being produced by Tony Hoffer and The Dust Brothers (who were also responsible for much of Odelay), and though an actual tracklist is scarce, there are titles floating around for some of the 15 songs being considered for inclusion. And they are: "Guero", "Earthquake Weather", "Dance", "Scarecrow" and "Chain Reaction". Additionally, as previously reported, ever-popular gadabout Jack White recently joined Beck in the studio to record vocals for a song that is, as of yet, untitled.