Beck

About

From Wikipedia:

Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style, and became known for creating musical collages of wide-ranging genres. He has musically encompassed folk, funk, soul, hip hop, electronic, alternative rock, country, and psychedelia. He has released 14 studio albums (three of which were released on indie labels), as well as several non-album singles and a book of sheet music.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Beck grew towards hip-hop and folk in his teens and began to perform locally at coffeehouses and clubs. He moved to New York City in 1989 and became involved in the city’s small but fiery anti-folk movement. Returning to Los Angeles in the early 1990s, he cut his breakthrough single “Loser”, which became a worldwide hit in 1994, and released his first major album, Mellow Gold, the same year. Odelay, released in 1996, topped critic polls and won several awards. He released the country-influenced, twangy Mutations in 1998, and the funk-infused Midnite Vultures in 1999. The soft-acoustic Sea Change in 2002 showcased a more serious Beck, and 2005’s Guero returned to Odelay‘s sample-based production. The Information in 2006 was inspired by electro-funk, hip hop, and psychedelia; 2008’s Modern Guilt was inspired by ’60s pop music; and 2014’s folk-infused Morning Phase won Album of the Year at the 57th Grammy Awards. His 2017 album, Colors, won awards for Best Alternative Album and Best Engineered Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. His fourteenth studio album, Hyperspace, was released on November 22, 2019.

With a pop art collage of musical styles, oblique and ironic lyrics, and postmodern arrangements incorporating samples, drum machines, live instrumentation and sound effects, Beck has been hailed by critics and the public throughout his musical career as being among the most idiosyncratically creative musicians of 1990s and 2000s alternative rock. Two of Beck’s most popular and acclaimed recordings are Odelay and Sea Change, both of which were ranked on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The four-time platinum artist has collaborated with several artists and has made several contributions to soundtracks. […]

In 2015, Paul McCartney and Beck played together during the PETA’s 35th anniversary party.

In 2021, for the “McCartney III Imagined” project, Beck reimagined “Find My Way”. From Rolling Stone, April 15, 2021:

Last summer, Beck was at loose ends in Los Angeles. “My whole year was canceled, with the shutdowns and everything,” says the singer. “My engineer’s wife was having a baby, so he wasn’t available. I really hadn’t been making much music. My studio had been dark for a year.”. Then came word that Paul McCartney had a new solo album in the works — and that he’d asked for Beck to remix one of its songs. “‘OK, McCartney’s calling, let’s get in there and figure out how everything works!’” Beck recalls thinking. “It gave me something to do.”. Similar top-secret communiques went out to a select group of artists last year in the run-up to McCartney III. […]

I remember hanging out with Paul and his wife Nancy several years ago and Nancy mentioned that she wanted to go out dancing before calling it a night. We ended up at some club in West Hollywood and I remember noticing that Paul and Nancy were TEARING IT UP – really enjoying themselves more than anyone else on the dance floor. Last year when he asked me to remix this track, I remembered that night and wanted to try to recapture that amazing spirit I felt while watching him on the dance floor…sort of my little tribute to Paul “in his groove.” When I then heard the falsetto vocal in Paul’s original track I wanted to lean further into something really loose and funky – I pulled out my Hofner (because of course) and put down a few bass lines…and everything came to life from there. The best part of the entire experience, though, came just a week after I’d turned in the remix, when Paul called to tell me he’d been dancing in his kitchen to the track all week.

Beck – from Instagram, March 23, 2021

It’s the warmest time of year in L.A., a loose and lazy time of year, and the feeling of that was coming into the track. I wanted the whole thing to sound a little bit weathered and warped, almost like a lost groove from some other time. … And I wanted to make a track that would feel like that night [in reference to this night spent with Paul & Nancy McCartney in Hollywood] when we were all hanging out and having a good time.

Beck – From Rolling Stone, April 15, 2021

He just sent me that particular tune, so I just went right into it. The way I work with remixes is I’ll take the vocal and then I’ll just start from scratch. I’ll just build a whole new song. And that particular song, I actually changed it from major to minor, so I had to do a little bit of altering, but I think it served the groove a bit. And also Paul did the album himself as well, playing on the instruments. So it’s sort of done in the spirit of the record that he made. I think that’s, that’s what is great about remixes is completely take liberties and take the song completely somewhere unexpected.

Beck – talking to Zane Lowe for Apple 1 Music, March 25, 2021

Last updated on February 5, 2023