"I'm totally curious to see how the videos will add to the experience of listening to the album. Or maybe they'll actually detract from the experience. That would be funny."I spent a long time--too long--prejudiced against Beck. His "loser" album and music were so much an anthem of the slackers that I knew that I had no interest in listening. It took my friend and collaborator in art school, A.J. Niehaus, to actually get me to listen to him. "His parents were totally into DaDaesque art!" she claimed, and as we were at that time hip deep in Kaprow and DuChamp and Cage, I grudgingly decided to give it a chance.
"Banjos!" He had frikkin' banjos in his music! It was layered, it had interesting structure, there was humor, there was...there was an energy to this supposedly pop music that took it way beyond the Spice Girls genre.
So when I got a chance to listen to a 5-track EP of his "Guero" via iTunes, I clicked without hesitation--and was rewarded with versions that were all made using samples from video games for the tones. A simultaneous adult enjoyment of the music with the nostalgia of those hours spent in front of the Atari...he was my hero.
According to the new Wired article, he's done it again, with the start of an as-yet-untitled album to be released not just as music, but as interactive collage (each album cover will come with stickers for you to create your own) and he's also releasing a whole bunch of video to be re-mixed by the listener.
I'm trying to think of a time in art and performance history when someone has created a work of art...and then deliberately just let it loose to see what happens. It's inspiring, reading the article, at the lack of fear Beck displays. He's not worried (a la Metallica) that he's losing something by people sharing and re-mixing his music. He's not even threatened by his band starting a side project and getting some ear time from the fans through his shows.
This is open-source art, and it makes me very, very happy. And that might be why he's not worried; I've not bought a CD from a big-box store in several years, but this one I'll go and get. I'll spend time fretting over exactly what stickers to use, and I suspect several will end up on my next moleskine as well. I'll download the video and even though video is my day job, I'll try my hand at a remix or two. I'll share it with my daughters, my friends...and that is certainly worth the $14 I'll spend.
One can only hope the RIAA pays attention, and we see more like this.
If you like banjos, may I suggest Modest Mouse? One of the band members can play it, and being borderline indie they're not afraid to flaunt it.
Posted by: Dustin Walper | August 25, 2006 at 07:56 AM