SOUND BITES

Once hailed as a vanguard of alternative music, Beck's penchant for going against the grain and offering a counter to the conventional sounds of the times has slowly regressed in recent years. As his creative output has gone from a torrent to a trickle, he's gone from the bold outsider to the willing conformer. If that's perceived as too harsh a criticism on Beck, enter Colors ; the promised more upbeat album that he was already working on in a preliminary fashion when Morning Phase came out three and a half years ago has taken a long time to surface, finally hitting shelves more than two years after singles started to trickle out ( Dreams is given a new and more sanitary mix here which replaces "stop fucking with my dreams" with "stop dragging down my dreams", but is otherwise pretty much the same song). While there's no denying that this is a much brighter and upbeat record than Morning Phase , it's also perhaps much more derivative than a...

Sometimes, without good excuse, I'm simply too lazy to pull together proper reviews. It can be especially futile this time of year, as my thoughts turn toward summer vacation, relaxing and, thanks to the spectacle that is E3, video games. However, as difficult as it can be to muster up the headspace, there's always a little time for tunes. With that spirit in mind, allow me to introduce you to Nibbles. Instead of forcing myself to write reviews for albums that either aren't really albums (Fucked Up), didn't hold my attention (Heartless Bastards, KENmode), or aren't streaming on Google Play, my go-to source material (Third Eye Blind), Nibbles gives me the chance to talk about new releases without the need to commit to repeat listens that take time or half-assed reviews penned without giving the music a fraction of the effort that went into making them. This is also an excellent place to give props to one-offs, hot new singles and the like, the kind of stuff y...

Two of my fondest memories from 1994 involve Mellow Gold . The first takes place in January, as I'm on my couch watching music videos on TV (which, I swear kids, is something you could do any time of day in 1994); the nonsensical lyrics, the scuzzy cheerleaders, the stop-motion coffin journey and the accumulated weirdness of the Loser video caught me unawares. Struck dumb by the effortless awesomeness of it all, I decided to seek his album out. The second happens in June, specifically prom night of my senior year. To save much of the detail and cut to the important part, my date thought it would be a good idea to drop acid; my recollections of that night, so special for so many, are mostly rooted in disappointment, but I do have one moment of sheer bliss. After leaving prom, we left for a bite to eat en route to the after party. During the commute, I was listening to Mellow Gold . Suffice to say, Soul Suckin' Jerk made her trip balls SO HARD. The terror in her voice as ...

Of all the varied and eclectic of Beck's albums, perhaps none was more of a left turn than 2002's Sea Change . When it was released, critics stood agape at its rawness and emotion. Go figure: after almost a decade of pushing limits with slacker folk, warped hip-hop and gonzo disco groove, his serious singer/songwriter turn was the one that they didn't see coming. Still, Sea Change is arguably Beck's most well-received album; a heartbroken and haunted set of tunes, it (perhaps more than any other Beck album) demands a specific mood. It won't have any of your good times, optimism or foot tapping, as there's nary an upbeat number to be found. The songs are pulled off wonderfully, but they're almost alienating in their relentless sullenness. As someone who prefers bold, genre-defying Beck to moody, despaired Beck, it's not one of my favourites even though I respect its vision. So, when Morning Phase was heavily compared in advance press to Sea Change ,...