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NEWS : STORIES
It's arriving a little later than expected, but after a few delays in song selection, Beck now plans to release his new album, Guero, on March 29 — or possibly sooner, to minimize the damage of an Internet leak. Initially due in
Produced by Odelay and Midnite Vultures collaborators the Dust Brothers, Guero (Mexican slang for a blond-haired, fair-skinned Caucasian) features 13 tracks that loosely act like a Beck mixtape — evoking the beat-driven material on Odelay, the acoustic tracks of 1998's Mutations and even the bluesy junk-shop textures of 1994's Mellow Gold. While a definite creative and spiritual link to his '90s records is apparent, the major distinction is in the relaxed manner and noticeable maturity. Guero is Odelay minus the over-caffeinated Moogs and ping-ponging video game bedlam of albums past. The album kicks off with "E-Pro," the album's first single, which features a beat seemingly jacked from a classic Beastie Boys record with a simple, heavy rock riff and marks a return to the Dadaist rhyming absent on the somber Sea Change. "Girls" also has radio-playability written all over it. A funky up-tempo jam, the sun-drenched track features "oohs" and "aahs," breezy acoustic guitars and Beck's lithe falsetto. "Hell Yes" features more rhyming and a minimal electro groove, robotic voices and females cooing, "Please enjoy," while Beck maintains, "My beat is correct." "Que Onda Guero" ("What up, whitey?") is a dead-ringer for vintage Cypress Hill in an East-L.A. barrio with its requisite Spanglish and low-rider beats. The latter half of the record becomes moodier and psychedelic with songs like the sad, celestial ballad "Broken Drum," the down-tempo "Earthquake Weather," the dusty "Farewell Ride" and the almost trip-hop vibe of "Emergency Exit." The White Stripes' Jack White plays bass on the shuffling and sparse "Go It Alone." A concept video for "E-Pro" has been shot, and an experimental pixilated video for "Black Tambourine," featuring a connect-the-dots dancing Beck, has also been made, but it's undetermined what that video will be used for. Tracks recorded that didn't make the final cut, possibly destined to be B-sides, include the distortion-heavy "Novacane"-esque "Chain Reaction," "Gospel" and an unnamed track that sports a riff reminiscent of "Devil's Haircut," only funkier. Guero track list, according to Beck's publicist:
This report is provided by MTV News
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