Modern Guilt BY Beck Reviewed by Adam D. Miller    Beck hasn’t had a commercial hit since 1996’s Odelay and its accompanying singles “Where It’s At,” “Devil’s Haircut” and “The New Pollution,” but his lack of mainstream attention since then has hardly gotten in the way of his productivity. The artist’s more recent albums – from 2002’s melancholic Sea Change to this year’s Modern Guilt – have been critically acclaimed by the music press and well-regarded by his devoted fans.Modern Guilt follows 2006’s The Information, which was produced by Nigel Godrich but incorporated some of the influences The Dust Brothers had been more associated with having on Beck’s overall sound. The album, while enjoyable, was one of the first in Beck’s career of surprises that didn’t sound all that surprising. Beck had been like a modern-day Neil Young in the sense that he’d shift rapidly between mellow acoustic albums and louder, more chaotic outings. So it was surprising hearing something that seemed very much old hat. It’s not entirely surprising, then, that what separates Modern Guilt from the rest of the Beck catalogue is its co-producer, Danger Mouse. Beck has subtracted the Dust Brothers and/or Nigel Godrich from his production team for the first time since 1995’s One Foot In The Grave, and in doing so has effectively created a new sound for himself. Danger Mouse has been nothing short of a household name, since teaming with Cee-Lo Green to form Gnarls Barkley and delivering hits like 2006’s “Crazy,” and his mark is all over Modern Guilt. On many of the album’s tracks, he and Beck are the only musicians credited. Beck often provides the vocals and the guitar parts, leaving the rest to Danger Mouse and his own musical genius. We can immediately hear the producer’s touch in the loops and rhythms of “Orphans,” the album’s opening track, as slight musical flourishes add a textural layer to the song. We hear even more of this treatment on “Gamma Ray,” which features haunting vocal effects and other noises. One of the album’s best tracks, “Walls,” comes across as digitally enhanced Eastern music. String parts are played with and mixed with a drum loop to create a very exotic ambiance, and guest vocalist Cat Power (who also appears on the aforementioned “Orphans) is barely audible, but just there enough to add a tremendous effect to the song. Danger Mouse manages to be a major influence on the sound of Modern Guilt without diminishing the Beck we know and love. “Chemtrails,” for instance, would not have sounded out of place on Sea Change. The song starts out slow and tender before drums give way to a sound one might associate with Radiohead. Like 2005’s Guero and 2006’s The Information, Modern Guilt is an album that takes a little time to grow on the listener. But when it finally penetrates, it delivers something quite different from what we’ve heard from Beck before - even as an artist with whom we’ve come to expect something different at every turn. |
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