> A mini-review of Beck's "Odelay" in Jazziz notes that the album was
> co-produced by the Dust Brothers. I haven't heard anything by Beck. What's
> this one like? The review makes it sound pretty unusual: "Call it Dada
> Jazz. Call it Martian Blues. Call it Extraterrestrial Twang."
When Beck first came on the scene a couple of years ago, I dismissed him
as 'some lame Kurt Kobain wannabe' but the more I learned about him (He's
a native of Los Angeles' 'Eastside'; like me - yeah!) and heard some
tracks from "Odelay" (it actually means the Spanish word "Orale'"
("ora-lay"; with the "r" sounding like a "d" a little bit) and it just
trips me out. I'm sure the Dust Hermanos get a lot of the credit for the
sound, but was really Beck's choice to break out of the "Lollapaloozer"
mold and explore some musical ground. The tune "Where It's At (Two
Turntables and a Microphone" just trips me out; I saw him perform that
tune live on "Late Show With David Letterman." - they even did the Afrika
Bambataa-esque vocoder break in the middle! There's other good stuff in
there as well like the Beatle-inspired yet somewhat funky "New Pollution".
Props to L.A.'s KCRW-FM (and Quango co-owner) DJ Jason Bentley for pushing
these tracks on his nightly radio show "Metropolis" (it usually features
Drum N Bass, TripHop, Ambient and Acid Jazz in the playlists). He's a big
fan of the Dust Bros., and a good friend and fan of Beck as well, so the
new album is perfect material for his show.
E
-30-
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Elson Trinidad, Los Angeles, CA * elson@westworld.com
http://www.westworld.com/~elson
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