Beck (musician)

Bek David Campbell (Los Angeles, California, July 8, 1970), known in the artistic world as Beck Hansen or Beck is a musician, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from the United States. With his experimental sound, Beck rose to fame in the 1990s with his lo-fi style, becoming known for creating musical collages in a wide range of styles. His recordings span all kinds of styles including folk, funk, soul, alternative rock, hip-hop, electronica, country, and psychedelia. Beck has released twelve studio albums, as well as several non-record singles and a book of sheet music.

Beck, who wasn't too interested in academic studies, grew up listening to a myriad of different sounds, whether folk, blues, country, rock, pop, psychedelia or jazz, something key to his development as a musician. In the mid-1980s he began performing at venues in his hometown and recording his first home productions, such as the demo Banjo Story. In New York, he had promoted the anti-folk movement, a series of artists trying to revive this traditional music, essentially acoustic, with punk attitudes.

Beck –like others such as Jeff Lewis, Adam Green, Ben Kweller or Regina Spektor– joined this current. He moved to the Big Apple in 1989 and there he shaped his career as an artist. A short time later she returned to California to perform folk music played with his hat, acoustic guitar and harmonica. She soon caught the attention of Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf, who put her in the hands of producer Karl Stephenson (producer of the Geto Boys) to record several songs on Bongload Records.

With a wide variety of musical styles, tongue-in-cheek lyrics, postmodern arrangements incorporating samples, drum machines, instruments and live sound effects, Beck has been acclaimed by critics throughout his musical career as one one of the most creative and idiosyncratic musicians of the 1990s and 2000s. A four-time platinum-winning artist, he became popular in underground culture with his early works, which combined social criticism (as in "MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack& #34; and "Deep Fried Love") with musical and lyrical experimentation.

He first gained wide public attention for his 1994 hit single "Loser". Two of Becks most popular and acclaimed recordings are Odelay (1996), and Sea Change (2002).. This album also received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Both Odelay and Sea Change appeared on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In February 2014, Beck released the album Morning Phase, with which he won the Grammy Award in the Album of the Year category, on February 8, 2015. Soon after in 2017 he would release Colors which would have won 2 Grammys in 2019 as best alternative music album and best album arrangement, non-classical. In 2019 he would launch Hyperspace, in collaboration with the American rapper and musician Pharrell Williams. Soon after in 2020 he would release a special edition of the same album called Hyperspace (2020), however, that same year he had to cancel several concerts and reschedule them to a later date due to the COVID-19 pandemic.. To this day it is his last work so far.

Early Years

Beck was born on July 8, 1970 in the city of Los Angeles, California (United States). His real name is Bek David Campbell, adopting his maternal surname when his parents separated. From an early age, Beck was influenced by his father, David Campbell, a bluegrass busker, conductor, and music arranger. Beck's mother is the visual artist and administrative employee, Bibbe Hansen, daughter of the poet and showgirl Audrey Hansen and the artist Al Hansen and a member of the Andy Warhol factory who, before conceiving Beck, Bibbe had starred in a short film. by the New Yorker entitled “Restaurant” (1965).

Living with his mother and brother, he grew up in suburban Los Angeles, where he absorbed the growing hip-hop scene as a breakdancer. His father is of Scottish origin and his mother is half Norwegian, one quarter Jewish and one quarter Swedish. Beck also lived in Kansas with his grandparents (his paternal grandfather was a Presbyterian minister) and his maternal grandfather, the artist visual collage from the Fluxus school of art, Al Hansen, in England.

Los Angeles, where Beck was born.

When his parents separated when he was ten years old, Beck stayed with his mother and brother in Los Angeles, where he was influenced by the city's diverse musical offerings — everything from hip hop to Latin music to the scene. his mother's artistic heritage. Beck got his first guitar at age 16 and became a street musician, often playing Lead Belly covers in Lafayette Park.

During his teens, Beck discovered the music of Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore and X, but remained uninterested in most music outside of folk. The first contemporary music to make a direct connection to Beck was hip hop, which was first heard on Grandmaster Flash records in the 1980s. Growing up in a predominantly Latino neighborhood, he found an only white kid at his school, and quickly learned to breakdance.

Beck grew fascinated after listening to a Mississippi John Hurt record at a friend's house, and would spend hours in his room, trying to emulate the country blues guitarist's finger picking. Soon after, Hansen had explored blues and folk, discovering Woody Guthrie and Blind Willie Johnson.

Dropping out of high school in 1987, during his freshman year, attributing it to his circumstances, Beck believes that school was important, but that he felt unsafe there. He applied to the new performing arts high school but was rejected.He frequented Los Angeles City College and its library, records and books and sheet music. He got a fake ID in order to sit in class, and befriends a poetic literature instructor and his wife. After leaving school at the age of 16, he moved to New York in 1989, although it was not possible for him to join that city's punk scene. For this reason, Beck returned to Los Angeles and made his first appearances at clubs such as Raji's and Jabberjaw.

Career

1993: Beginnings

Beck started out as a folk musician, switching between country blues, delta blues and more traditional folk. He began playing on city buses, often covers of Mississippi John Hurt along with original, sometimes improvisational compositions.. He was also in a band called Youthless that hosted events in coffee shops around town. In 1988, he recorded a cassette, Banjo Story, which has only been available in unauthorized editions ever since.

After leaving high school in the mid-1980s, Beck traveled to Europe and developed his musical talents as a busker. In Germany, he spent time with his grandfather Al Hansen. In the late 1990s he returned to New York, where the punk-influenced Anti-folk movement was developing. In 1989, at the age of 17, Beck caught a bus to New York City with just over eight dollars and a guitar.

After a breakup with his girlfriend, the poet Rain Spurlock, he spent the summer trying to find a job and a place to live with little success. Beck eventually began to frequent Manhattan's Lower East Side and stumbled upon the end of the first wave of the East Village folk scene.

Beck became involved with the loose crew of acoustic musicians—including Cindy Lee Berryhill, Kirk Kelly, Paleface and Lach, led by Roger Manning—whose irregularity and eccentricity set them outside the acoustic mainstream. Inspired by that freedom and by the unabashed realism of Manhattan spoken word performers, Beck began writing surreal songs about pizza, MTV, and working at McDonald's, allowing even the most seemingly trivial thoughts to become songs. Hansen he was roommates with Paleface, sleeping in his bed and attending open mic nights together.

Frightened by the prospect of another winter of homelessness in New York, Beck returned home to Los Angeles in early 1991; he lived in a shed and did a series of low-paying jobs (including working once as a leaf collector and at a video store in Silver Lake), while continuing to develop his music. During this time he wandered all over Los Angeles, from punk clubs to coffee shops—Al's Bar, Raji's, and Jabberjaw—and even busked, alongside other underground artists like Ethyl Meatplow and That Dog. Also around this time, he met Chris Ballew (founder of The Presidents of the United States of America), with whom he busked for a time. Some of his earliest recordings came from working with Tom Grimley at Poop Alley Studios, a part of WIN Records.

Virtually unknown to the public and an enigma to those who knew him, Beck would take the stages of local "punk dives" to play "strange folk songs" accompanied by "what could best be described as performance art" while sometimes wearing a Star Wars stormtrooper mask, Hansen found someone who offered to help him record demos in his living room, and he began passing out cassette tapes.

Eventually, Beck gained key drivers in Margaret Mittleman, West Coast director of talent acquisitions for BMG Music Publishing, and the partners behind the independent label Bong Load Custom Records: Tom Rothrock, Rob Schnapf and Brad Lambert. Schnapf saw Hansen play in Jabberjaw and felt that he would be a good fit for his small company. Beck had expressed a loose interest in hip-hop, and Rothrock introduced him to Carl Stephenson, a producer for Rap-A-Lot Records. In 1992, Hansen visited Stephenson's home to collaborate. The result — the slider-sampling hip hop track "Loser" — It was a unique experiment that Hansen departed from, returning to his folk songs, making his own home tapes, and releasing several independent singles.

In 1993 Beck released his first studio album, Golden Feelings, on Peter Hughes' Sonic Enemy label. It was initially only released on cassette (although later on CD in limited numbers).. It is estimated that only between 500 and 750 copies were made, which has made it a rare item.

1993-1996: "Loser", Mellow Gold, and independent albums

In 1993 Bong Load Custom Records (owned by Tom Rothrock, Rob Schnapf, and Bradshaw Lambert) signed Beck. At the time, Beck was living in a rat-infested shed near a Los Angeles alley with little money. His first release for Bong Load was "Loser," a collaboration between hip hop producer Carl Stephenson and Beck. The single was released in March 1993 on 12" with only 500 copies in print. Beck opined that "Loser" (in Spanish & # 34; Loser & # 34;) was mediocre and only agreed to release him at Rothrock's insistence.

The song was featured on Santa Monica radio station KCRW's flagship show Morning Becames Eclectic by its host Chris Douridas becoming a sensation. The song was then spread to Seattle via KNDD and KROQ-FM began playing the song almost every hour.

As Bong Load struggled to press more copies of 'Loser', more exposure and the subsequent live performance on July 23, 1993, led to a bidding war between record companies to sign Beck.. In November, during the fierce war to hire him, Beck spent several days in Olympia, Washington, recording material with Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening, which would be released the following year under the name One Foot in the Grave, by the label K Records (belonging to Calvin Johnson himself).

Beck in Pancho Villa Taqueria, San Francisco.

Ultimately, Beck chose Geffen Records, who offered him terms that included a subsidy for the release of independent records under contract. Of all the companies that offered Beck a contract (Warner Bros, Capitol, etc), Geffen's offered him the least amount of money, but the most creative freedom, allowing him to release material through independent labels like Flipside. In early 1994, Beck released a ten-inch EP called A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight on Fingerpaint Records, and on February 22 of the same year, Flipside Records released Stereopathetic Soul Manure. A 25-track album containing fan favorites "Satan Gave Me a Taco", "Rowboat", and "Thunderpeel", as well as spoken tracks, recordings of noises, and live recordings. Johnny Cash would later record "Rowboat" and would include it on his 1996 album Unchained. "Satan Gave Me a Taco" was recognized by Allen Ginsberg as one of his favorite contemporary works of pop music poetry. In March 1994, Geffen released Beck's major-label debut album, Mellow Gold.

The album, created by Bong Load's Rothrock as well as Carl Stephenson, made Beck a mass phenomenon. the recording topped the charts in Robert Christgau's Spin magazine, Rolling Stone's Album Guide, and AllMusic. The album included the aforementioned single "Loser". Back then, "Loser" it was already in the top 40 and its video on MTV's Buzz Bin. The song quickly rose up the charts in the United States, peaking at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the Modern Rock Tracks chart. it achieved popularity also in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and throughout Europe. Critics, feeling it as the sequel to "Creep" of Radiohead, dubbed "Loser" as a Generation X anthem, though Beck furiously denied such an accusation.

Beck suffered an inevitable backlash, with skeptics seeing him as a self-indulgent fake and the last marketing opportunity. By the summer of 1994, Beck was struggling and many of his fellow musicians believed he had lost his way. Combined with the song's music video and world tour, Beck reacted believing the attention couldn't last, thinking it would just turn out to be a one-hit wonder. On June 27, Beck's 1994 third album, One Foot in the Grave, was released by Olympia, Washington-based independent label K Records.

The recording featured several notable musicians from the independent music scene, including Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening, Chris Ballew of The Presidents of the United States of America, and Built to Spill members Scott Plouf and James Bertram. Sam Jayne, who played in the Olympia Lync band with James Bertram, also appears on the album. Beck had a 1994 world tour, followed by a spot on the main stage at the 1995 Lollapalooza tour.

Beck earned the respect of his peers, such as Tom Petty and Johnny Cash, and created a whole wave of bands determined to recapture the Mellow Gold sound. Feeling that his previous releases were just collections of demos recorded over the course of several years, Beck desired to go into the studio and record an album in a continuous linear fashion, which eventually became Odelay.

1996-1999: Odelay and Mutations

When it came time to record the follow-up to Mellow Gold, Beck hired Rothrock and Schnapf as producers and began recording an album of moody, low-key acoustic numbers to showcase his compositions. Beck mixes country, blues, rap, jazz, and rock on Odelay, the result of a year and a half of feverish "cut, paste, course, dub, and, of course, samples". Each day, the musicians started from scratch, often working on songs for 16 hours straight.

The concept for Odelay began on an unfinished studio album that Beck first undertaken following the success of "Loser," a chronicle of the difficult times he experienced: &# "There was a cycle of everyone dying around me," he later recalled. He was constantly recording and eventually putting together an album of somber, orchestrated folk songs, something that, perhaps, "could have been a commercial bombshell along with the similarly themed works of the Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails and Nirvana." 3. 4;. Instead, Beck left a single song from the project on Odelay—"Ramshackle"—and shelved the rest. Ultimately, Beck deferred the album and sought a more upbeat approach.. It was thus that he hired The Dust Brothers, producers of the Beastie Boys' album Paul's Boutique, whose cut-and-paste, sample-heavy production was Beck's fitting vision for a funniest and most accessible album.

The result, Odelay, released on June 18, 1996, was a huge success and received critical acclaim. The single, ''Where It's At'', received a lot of airplay, and its video was heavily aired on MTV. Before the year was out, Odelay was lauded by Rolling Stone magazine, appeared on countless "Best of" lists, was chosen by critics at Pazz & Jop as "Album of the Year," and won several industry awards, including two Grammys for Best Alternative Music Album, as well as another for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for "Where It" 39;s At'. In addition to "Where It's At", three other singles from the album were released: "Devils Haircut", "Jack-Ass", " Sissyneck", and "The New Pollution". In the course of a hectic week in January 1997, he earned his Grammy Award nominations, appeared on Saturday Night Live and on the Howard Stern Show, and did a last-minute jog on The Rosie O'Donnell Show.

Beck enjoyed it, but was, like several executives at Geffen, puzzled by the success of Odelay. He would often admit it to himself in public, which made him feel strange. 'It's weird. It doesn't feel good. It doesn't seem natural to me. I don't think I was born for that. I was never good at it," he later said on Pitchfork. Odelay sold 2 million copies and puts critics who considered Beck a one-hit wonder to rest. During this time, he contributed to the song & # 34; Deadweight & # 34; on the soundtrack of the film A Life Less Ordinary (1997).

Having not been in a proper studio since "Deadweight," Beck was anxious to "get in there and do some stuff real quick" and began by compiling various songs he had had for years, some dating back to early 1994. Odelay was followed by the release of Mutations in 1998. It was recorded in little more than of two weeks, during which Beck and his bandmates recorded one song a day, eventually producing fourteen songs, though only twelve remained on the album. The album was produced by Beck and Nigel Godrich (producer of Radiohead's OK Computer album the previous year) and is believed to have been intended as a stopgap for the upcoming album. Godrich was leaving the United States for England within a short time, which led to rapid production on the album — "Not looking back, not altering a thing". The goal of the record was to capture the performance of the musicians live, a far cry characteristic of Odelay's cut-and-paste aesthetic. Mutations was a departure from the density Odelay electronica and shows strong folk and blues influences. Although the album was originally scheduled to be released by Bong Load Records, Geffen stepped in and released the album against Beck's wishes.

The artist then tried to void his contracts with the two record companies, and in turn the labels sued him for breach of contract. The litigation dragged on for years and it is still unclear to this day whether it has been fully resolved. Beck later received the award for "best alternative music performance" by Mutations at the 42nd Grammy Awards.

1999-2002: Midnite Vultures

Beck photographed by Oliver Mark, Hamburg 2000

Midnite Vultures, Beck's next studio effort, was originally recorded as a double album, and more than 25 completed songs were left behind. In the studio, Beck and the producers studied contemporary hip hop and R&B, specifically R. Kelly, in order to embrace and incorporate those influences in the way that Al Green and Stax records had done decades before. In July 1998, a group of musicians began to meet at Beck's home located in Pasadena, California: bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen, keyboardist Roger Joseph Manning Jr., and producer-engineers Mickey Petralia and Tony Hoffer. Dozens of musicians played on the sessions, including Beck's father, David Campbell, who played viola and arranged some strings.

In November 1999, Geffen released the highly anticipated Midnite Vultures, which attracted confusion: "fans and critics mistakenly worried whether (the album) was serious or not. a joke', and as a result, The New York Times wrote that the album 'never caught the audience it deserved'. The record was supported by an extensive tour. For Beck, it was like going back to the high energy performances that had been his trademark at Lollapalooza.

The live set included a red bed lowered from the ceiling for the song "Debra," and the traveling band was complemented by some brass instruments. Midnite Vultures was named the "Best Album" at the 43.os Annual Grammy Awards.

In the year 2000, Bill Gates and his company Microsoft were preparing to launch their new operating systems Windows 2000 and Windows ME, and along with them the new player Windows Media Player 7. Beck signed Bill Gates so that the song Beautiful Way from the album Midnite Vultures was partially included in the new version of the show, along with a banner link to Beck's website; it is also in the later version Windows Media Player 7.1.

Beck released several B-sides and soundtracks, including "Midnite Vultures" (curiously, not on the album of the same name), David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs” for the movie Moulin Rouge!, and a cover of the band The Korgis " Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime, which was featured in 2004's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the final episode of the first season of Dollhouse. In 2000 the album Stray Blues: A Collection of B-Sides was released, a collection of B-sides only available in Japan. He is also credited with vocals on the songs "Don't Be Light"; and "The Vagabond" (as well as the harmonica on the latter) on the 2001 album 10 000 Hz Legend by the French band Air. He sang a duet with Emmylou Harris on the song “Sin City” on Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons. The same year, the EP Beck (also called Beck.com B-Sides) is released, consisting of B-Sides from the Midnite Vultures era. . The EP was only available on Beck's website, and only 10,000 copies were pressed.

2002-2004: Sea Change

In 2000, Beck and his fiancée, hairstylist Leigh Limon, ended their nine-year relationship. Beck entered a period of melancholy and introspection, during which time he wrote the somber, acoustic tracks later found on Sea Change. Beck steered away from the songs to avoid talking about his personal life, as well as concentrating on the music and "not spilling my luggage in the public lobby".

Eventually, however, he found that the songs spoke of an experience (a relationship breakup) that is common, and that it would not seem self-indulgent to record them. In 2001, Beck veered into the songs and calls his frequent producer Nigel Godrich.

In 2002, Beck launched Sea Change. Analysts initially predicted that the album would not receive radio support due to its style, but it turned out to be a hit and became Beck's first US Top 10 album, peaking at No. #8. The album also received critical acclaim, earning five stars on Rolling Stone (the magazine's highest ranking) and placing second on the Pazz & Jop in 2002. Rolling Stone said about the record: "The best album Beck has ever made [...] an impeccable album about the truth and light of the end of a love story. This is his Blood on the Tracks". The album features string arrangements by Beck's father, David Campbell, and a dense mix sonically reminiscent of Mutations.

Although some singles were released to radio, no commercial singles were released. In August 2002, prior to the release of Sea Change , Beck embarked on a solo acoustic tour of small theaters and venues, during which he performed several songs from the forthcoming album. In the post-release period of Sea Change, The Flaming Lips were the opening and backing band. Beck was playful and energetic, at times playing improvised covers of The Rolling Stones, Big Star, The Zombies and The Velvet Underground. This same year he writes with Sia & # 34; The Bully & # 34;

Upon its release, Beck felt that his most recent compositions were sketches for something more evolved in the same direction and wrote nearly 35 more songs over the next few months, keeping the demos in a suitcase. During his solo tour, the tapes were left behindstage during a stop in Washington, D.C., and Beck was never able to retrieve them, which was discouraging for the musician. As a result, Beck took a break from writing original compositions in 2003. Though sensing it would take him a while to "get back into that [songwriting] territory," he entered the studio with the Dust Brothers to complete a project dating back to Odelay. Nearly half of the songs had been around since the 1990s. Beck co-wrote the song 'Feel Good Time' with William Orbit; which was recorded by singer Pink for inclusion on the soundtrack to the 2003 film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Beck also recorded the Bruce Haack song titled "Funky Lil Song" for the album Dimension Mix.

2005-2007: Guero and The Information

Beck in 2006.

In 2004, Beck returned to the studios to work on his sixth studio album. It recorded the span of nine months during which several significant events occurred in his life: his girlfriend, Marissa Ribisi, became pregnant; they married; his son, Cosimo, was born; and moved from Silver Lake. The record, Guero, was produced by the Dust Brothers, who were notable for their use of high-tech measures to achieve a low-fi sound, Tony Hoffer and features a collaboration with Jack White of The White Stripes; this album marked a return to the sound of the Odelay era. It was initially scheduled to be released in October 2004, but due to delays it did not come out until March 2005. It enjoyed good reviews from the press, earning four out of five stars from Rolling Stone magazine, as well as recognition &# 34;Critics' Choice" from New York Times. The album received a less than enthusiastic response from Pitchfork Media, who managed a tepid and disappointing 6.6 out of 10; it also received poor reviews from Q, Dusted, and Mojo magazines. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard chart, pushing 162,000 copies in the first week and giving Beck his best week ever in terms of commercial sales and charts. Since the release of Guero, the first single from the album, "E-Pro" (containing a drum sample of The Beastie Boys' song 'So What'cha Want'), has been well received by the rock community, receiving considerable radio airplay. The second single, 'Girl', received decent airplay on major radio stations. The third and final single from the album was "Hell Yes". The deluxe DVD edition of the album included over 100 videos; viewers could use the two additional video sequences and four subimages to create their own visual remixes for each track. The DVD package was so advanced that a small percentage of DVD players were unable to access certain tracks, due to the complicated nature of the technology used by D-Fuse video artists.

On February 1, 2005, Beck released an EP featuring four remixes of Guero songs by independent artists using sounds from various 8-bit video game devices such as the Game Boy. The EP, GameBoy Variations, contained "Ghettochip Malfunction" [Hell Yes] and "GameBoy/Homeboy" [Qué Onda Guero], remixed by the band 8 Bits and also had "Bad Cartridge" [E-Pro] and "Bit Rate Variation in B-Flat" [Girl], the last two being remixed by Paza {The X-Dump}. A music video for "Gameboy/Homeboy" was made by Wyld File. Also at this time, Beck released A Brief Overview, a promo album featuring songs by Guero, Sea Change, Mutations, Midnite Vultures and Odelay. This build also includes "Ghettochip Malfunction" and two versions of "E-Pro", the first single from Guero. On December 6, 2005, the album Guerolito was released, featuring remixes of all the songs from Guero remixed by acclaimed musicians as well as artwork by Marcel Dzama.

Beck playing at the Sasquatch! Music Festival in George (Washington). The screens show puppets that emulate the band throughout the recital.

Beck played at the Bonnaroo Arts and Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee on June 17, 2006, with an ensemble that included many songs by Guero. In addition to his band, Beck was accompanied by a troupe of puppets, dressed as himself and his band members. Live video of the puppets was broadcast on screens to the audience. The puppet show was included throughout his 2006 world tour. Beck's seventh studio album, The Information, which reunited him with Nigel Godrich, was released on October 3, 2006. The album reportedly took over three years to make and has been described as 'quasi-hip-hop'. Beck built a studio in his garden, where, with Nigel Godrich, they wrote many of the tracks. Beck described the recording process as "painful", noting that he has constantly edited the songs and recorded the album three times in a row. For the release, Beck allowed himself for the first time to fulfill a long-standing desire for a unconventional release: he made low-budget videos to accompany each song, packaged the album with a sheet of stickers, which are used so people could 'make their own album art'. Because of this, The Information was disqualified from entering the UK Albums Chart, but in the US it gave Beck his third consecutive Top 10 spot on the Billboard 200, peaking at number 7. single, "Náusea", was broadcast on radios on 5 September 2006. In the UK, the first single was "Cellphone's Dead".

The single "Timebomb" was released on iTunes on August 21, 2007 and the limited edition 12" was released on November 2, 2007, with an instrumental version of the song on the B-side. In December 2007, it was announced that the song "Timebomb" she had been nominated for a Grammy in the category of "Best Rock Solo Vocal Performance".

2008-2012: Modern Guilt and independent productions

In February 2008, Beck said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine that he had been working on a new album “with an unnamed producer" and that it expected to be released at the end of the year. In early March 2008, the unnamed producer was revealed to be Danger Mouse. Modern Guilt was released by Interscope in North America and by XL Records in Australia and the rest of the world. The single "Chemtrails" it was made available on MySpace and Beck's Web site. In early June, Beck performed several songs from the new album at The Echo (Los Angeles). Modern Guilt was released in July 2008. A full acoustic version of Modern Guilt, recorded in Japan, was posted as videos on Beck's website in 2009.

In an August 2010 interview with Pitchfork Media, Beck revealed that he wanted to release at least one song by the end of the summer. This culminated in songs written by Beck for the fictional band Sex Bob-omb, on the soundtrack of movie Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. On December 13, 2010, RCRD LBL premiered Beck's remix of Lykke Li's "Get Some", and in July 2011, it was announced that Beck was working on an album with country singer Dwight Yoakam and They already recorded some songs.

In February and March 2012, bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen announced on his Twitter that he was "working on new Beck material", though he gave no further details. On May 28, after a long wait, Beck releases his new single "I Just Sarted Hating Some People Today" through Third Man Records, Jack White's record label. It is a song in which Jack White collaborates and which they recorded in Nashville at the end of last year. The single has a country cut, but after three and a half minutes it takes an unexpected turn and acquires a funk sound. In addition to the song "I Just Started Hating Some People Today", Beck released a 7-inch record with another song: "Blue Randy". White produced both songs where he played drums and participated with some background vocals. On July 20, Beck hinted at the upcoming release of a new studio album in an interview with NME after claiming that he had been writing new material. Later in the week, Beck announced that he was working on a new LP. Beck also said that he was going to work with other musicians like Radiohead's Thom Yorke.

On August 8, it was announced that Beck's new album, Song Reader, would be released in December 2012. It was finally released on December 11 of that year. The album is a book of twenty musical sheets never before published or recorded. The project includes original art by Marcel Dzama (who created the Guero album cover), Leanne Shapton, Josh Cochran, Jessica Hische, an introduction by Jody Rosey (The New York Times), and a foreword. from Beck. The album is made up solely and exclusively of the scores of twenty unpublished songs.

2014-present: Morning Phase, Colors and Hyperspace

In 2013, after 5 years, Beck announced that he is working on 2 new albums: an entirely acoustic album and a more traditional one to be the successor to Modern Guilt. As reported by Rolling Stone, the acoustic album is a project that Beck started four years ago and that he wants to end despite the fact that he no longer feels that the material is relevant. In June of the same year, Beck independently released the singles "Defriended", "I Won't Be Long", and, on September 17, "Gimme".;, songs that will not be part of the acoustic album that Beck plans to release later in the year. In October 2013, it was announced that Beck signed with Capitol Records and has plans to release a new album called Morning Phase in February 2014. Morning Phase was released on February 21, 2014 through his new record label, Capitol Records, to high praise from music critics and, according to a press release, the album is a "companion" from their 2002 album Sea Change.

In January 2015, it was announced that Beck would headline the Boston Calling Music Festival in May 2015. On February 8, at the 2015 Grammy Awards, Morning Phase won three Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Best Rock Album and Best Arrangement for Album, Non-Classical, as well as being nominated for the song "Blue Moon" for the categories Best Male Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song.

On June 15, 2015, Beck released the first single titled "Dreams" from his upcoming thirteenth studio album. The song was reportedly made in order to have something lively to play while on tour. The song is expected to be part of the musician's next album, which Beck confirmed which would be ready during the second half of 2015 and of which he assured that it would be a "hybrid" work that will combine garage rock and dance.

On September 8, 2017, Beck released the single "Dear Life", which was quickly followed with the official release of "Up All Night" 18th of September. Colors was released on October 13, 2017. It was recorded at co-executive producer Greg Kurstin's Los Angeles studio, with Beck and Kurstin playing nearly all of the instruments themselves. The experimental pop-fusion record received generally positive reviews from critics. On July 18, 2018, Beck performed the title track Colors and the first single "Wow" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

On April 15, 2019, Beck released a co-produced single with Pharrell Williams titled "Saw Lightning" from his fourteenth studio album, titled Hyperspace. The song "Dark Places" was released on November 6, and the album was released on November 22. On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Beck among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. In May 2020, Beck canceled his 2020 tour dates. due to the COVID-19 crisis and rescheduled for a later date.

Collaborations and contributions

On June 18, 2009, Beck announced that he was starting an experiment called Record Club, in which he and other musicians would record covers of entire albums in a single day. Beck's first record covered by Record Club was by The Velvet Underground & Nico. Beginning June 18, the Club began posting covers of the album on Thursday nights, each with its own video. On September 4, 2009, Beck announced the second Record Club cover album, Songs of Leonard Cohen. Contributors include MGMT, Devendra Banhart, Wolfmother's Andrew Stockdale and Little Joy's Binki Shapiro. On the third Record Club project, Wilco, Feist, Jamie Lidell and Gadson James joined Beck to cover the album Oar by Skip Spence. The first song, "Little Hands", was posted on Beck's website on November 12, 2009. Record Club already has covers of the INXS and Yanni albums.

Beck in concert, October 7, 2006.

On June 19, 2009, Beck announced Planned Obsolescence, a weekly DJ set hosted by Beck or guest DJs. Shortly after, on July 7, Beck announced that his website features "extended informal conversations with musicians, artists, filmmakers, and just about everyone else"; in a section called Irrelevant Topics. Then, on July 12, she added a section called Videotheque, saying it could contain "promo videos for each album, as well as live videos, TV show appearances, and other rarities." Also in 2009, Beck collaborated with Charlotte Gainsbourg on her album IRM , which was released in January 2010. Beck wrote the music, co-wrote the lyrics, and produced and mixed the album. The first single, "Heaven Can Wait", is a duet by Beck and Gainsbourg.

In late February 2010, it was announced that Black Moth Super Rainbow electronic artist Tobacco had collaborated with Beck on two songs, "Fresh Hex" and "Grape Aerosmith", on their album Maniac Meat. Tobacco revealed that in the making of the album, Beck sent the vocal parts to him, and that they never really met. In March, Beck revealed that he had produced songs for Jamie Lidell's new album, Compass. In the summer of the same year, Beck contributed songs to the soundtrack of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, with "Let's Get Lost" (a duet with Bat for Lashes) and for the soundtrack of True Blood (HBO Original Series Soundtrack, Vol. 2), featuring "Bad Blood". He has also collaborated on the songs for the soundtrack of the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which was released in August 2010. Two of the songs Beck wrote specifically for the film were featured in the theatrical trailer.

In 2011, he collaborated with Seu Jorge on a track titled "Tropicália (Mario C. 2011 Remix)" for Red Hot Organization's latest album, Red Hot+Rio 2. The album is a follow-up to 1996's Red Hot + Rio. Proceeds from sales will be donated to raise awareness and funds to fight AIDS/HIV, health and social issues. He also contributed to the song "Attracted to Us" in Turtleneck & Chain, album by the band The Lonely Island. Also in 2011, Beck produced Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore solo album Demolished Thoughts. An album he produced for Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Mirror Traffic, was released in August 2011.

Beck has contributed three new songs—"Cities", "Touch the People", and "Spiral Staircase"—for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita video game Sound Shapes, released on August 7, 2012. He also contributed to two songs ("Silk Pillow" and "Bronchitis") by Royalty, mixtape by artist Childish Gambino.

In 2014, Beck collaborated with singer Sia on the song "Moonquake Lake," which is featured on the soundtrack to the 2014 film Annie.

In 2021, he collaborated with Paul McCartney for a new version of Find my way.

Personal life

From 1991 to 2000, Beck was in a relationship with designer Leigh Limon. Their split is said to have been the inspiration for their 2002 album, Sea Change; he wrote most of the songs for the album within a week of the breakup. Beck married actress Marissa Ribisi, the twin sister of actor Giovanni Ribisi, in April 2004, shortly before the birth of her son, Cosimo Henri. Ribisi gave birth to her daughter, Tuesday, in 2007. They would divorce soon after in 2019.

Scientology

Beck has been involved with Scientology for most of his life; his wife, Marissa, is also a second-generation Scientologist. Marissa and her twin brother, Giovanni, were given away by Beck's mother, Bibbe. Beck first publicly acknowledged his affiliation with Scientology in an interview published in the The New York Times magazine on March 6, 2005. Further, confirmation came in an interview with Sunday Tribune magazine on June 11, 2005, where he said: 'Yes, I'm a Scientologist. My father has been a Scientologist for about 35 years, so I grew up in and around it'.

- Question: You said you belong to Cienciology and you're also Jewish. How does religion influence your way of making music?

Beck: I don't know, I guess in a sense they're separate things... But no, because what influences one is to live life. When I write a song, music is just music, it's part of a tradition: I'm contributing to a sound that's been making for hundreds of thousands of years. And what influences it is Bo Diddley, Mozart, African tribal music... Everything that's part of that sound. What happens in my music is that partly is what I have inside, how I see something or what I want to say about a subject, but it's also just making art. And that's mysterious and nobody knows where it comes from. Definitely, when I was a kid, I was very influenced by the religious imagination of the blues of the Mississippi Delta. Songs like Skip James and Son House, those old blokes, they're so ancestral... Rock and roll comes from the music of the churches, of the Southern gospel, so that feeling is there: you can name it or say it comes from a certain source, but it's there. Anyway, I never feel methodically writing about my beliefs. I mean, I grew up celebrating Jewish Passover, but I never sat down to write about it. I never thought of it. And Cyencilology is not based on faith, there is nothing to worship, but it is like a body of knowledge, something more intellectual based on how things work. He's academic, not mysticism. In a sense, music is our connection to that, because we live in such a structured and plastic world that there is no real connection with anything higher or mysterious. Music is like our last link to “otherhood”, the part of us that we cannot explain: you can call it spirituality or what you think. Although, honestly, I prefer not to get so metaphysical!

Beck Hansen

On November 22, 2019, in an interview with an Australian outlet, Beck declared that he was not part of the Church of Scientology.

Media appearances

The 1986 punk rock musical Population: 1 features a young Beck in a small role opposite Tomata du Plenty of The Screamers. Beck also appeared in Southlander (2001), an independent American film by Steve Harris and Ross Hanft.

Beck has performed on Saturday Night Live six times, these shows were hosted by Kevin Spacey, Bill Paxton, Christina Ricci, Jennifer Garner, Tom Brady and Hugh Laurie. During his performance in the 2006 episode of Hugh Laurie, Beck was accompanied by the dolls that had been used onstage during his world tour. He has made two appearances as himself on Saturday Night Live: one in a skit about medical marijuana, and one in a parody of VH1's Behind the Music, which included "Fat Albert & the Gang Junkyard".

Beck lent his voice as himself on Matt Groening's series, Futurama, in the episode 'Bendin'; in the Wind & # 34;. He also made a brief appearance in the episode & # 34; Grift of the Magi & # 34;, of the animated series The Simpsons .

He appeared on episode 11 of the fourth season of The Larry Sanders Show, in which producer character Artie (Rip Torn) referred to Beck as a "hillbilly of the outer space". He also made a very brief voice appearance in the 1998 animated feature The Rugrats Movie, and also guest-starred as himself in an episode from the 1997 show Coast to Coast Space Ghost, titled "Edelweiss".

Beck has also made an appearance on Adult Swim's Mission Hill. Accepting an award, Beck appears on stage in the new trend of 'saucy pants'. Consequently, the main character starts throwing away all his "Beck" Through the window.

In an episode of Celebrity Deathmatch, Beck battles singer Björk in a "battle to be the greatest monosyllable musician of all time", which ends with the two killed by Bach, who appeared via a time machine.

On January 22, 2010, Beck appeared on the final show of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien as backup guitarist for Will Ferrell, performing the song 'Free Bird& #3. 4; by Lynyrd Skynyrd, featuring ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, Ben Harper, and O'Brien on guitar.

On March 1, 2014, Beck was the musical guest on an episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Jim Parsons.

Discography

Studio albums

• 1993: Golden Feelings
• 1994: Stereopathetic Soulmanure
• 1994: Mellow Gold
• 1994: One Foot in the Grave
• 1996: Odelay
• 1998: Mutations
• 1999: Midnite Vultures
• 2002: Sea Change
• 2005: Guero
• 2006: The Information
• 2008: Modern Guilt
• 2014: Morning Phase
• 2017: Colors
• 2019: Hyperspace

Awards and nominations