We all know that Beck is a genre-hopping favourite; his 11-album, 20 year plus discography flaunts all manner of sounds and styles. But have you ever wondered what the musical chameleon actually enjoys listening to in his downtime?
Wonder no more, as the 43-year-old alt music favourite has shared an insight into his (tasteful) listening habits with a 31-strong mixtape that runs through as many eras and musical genres as Beck’s own tunes. (But, of course).
Just as a the similarly intriguing playlist from Parisian robots Daft Punk did, the new Beck playlist arrives courtesy of popular streaming service Spotify, as Consequence Of Sound points out.
So while the likes of Atoms For Peace’s Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich, Amanda Palmer, and David Byrne aren’t too happy about Spotify’s business model, Beck is happy enough to lend a mix of his favourite musical cuts with the Swedish born music service, which recently celebrated its 5th anniversary.
Simply entitled ‘Beck’, the mixtape kicks off in suitably eclectic fashion with ‘Ho Renomo’, the opening cut to the 1977 collaboration between German electronic group Cluster and English ambient musician/uber-producer Brian Eno.
There’s a few more left-field selections to warm up, including modern ambient masters Stars Of The Lid and Laurie ‘Ms. Lou Reed’ Anderson’s experimental ‘Let X=X’, and the minute-long ‘Yum Yum Cult’ by Tobacco.
There’s plenty of more familiar artists on the playlist too, albeit their more obscure selections and deeper album cuts rather than the singles including the likes of Neil Young (‘Transformer Man’), Stevie Wonder (‘Golden Lady’), David Bowie (‘Lady Grinning Soul’), and Joni Mitchell (‘Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire’).
Beck is also a big Scott Walker fan, including two selections from the avant-garde singer – ’30 Century Man’ and his Wally Stott collab, ‘Montague Terrace (In Blue)’ – and of indie label 4AD, featuring the influential British record company’s roster of This Mortal Coil, Cocteau Twins, as well as more recent neo-RnB signees, Inc.
There’s also a tilt to modern folkies like Laura Marling (‘Pray For Me’), Devandra Banhart (‘Now That I Know’), a little film score work with Ennio Morricone (‘De Copalama from La Cugina), and modern American contemporaries Wilco (with ‘Radio Cure’ from the deathless Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album).
The real question is how any of this might filter into the sound of Beck’s own forthcoming album, Morning Phase. The album is the first as part of the musician’s new deal with Captiol records and expected to be released early 2014, and has been described as a companion piece to Beck’s poignant 2002 album Sea Change (which celebrated its 10th Anniversary last year).
Morning Phase will feature many of the same musicians of Sea Change, who are also part of Beck’s current live lineup, including Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Joey Waronker, Smokey Hormel, Roger Joseph Manning Jr., and Jason Falkner.
It’s technically the first album of new material from Beck since 2008’s Modern Guilt, though the last 12 months have seen him issue the sheet-music only release Song Reader, a double-A side with Jack White, and more recently, a string of new singles in ‘I Won’t Be Long’, ‘Gimme‘, and ‘Defriended‘.
Spotify users can listen to Beck’s curated mixtape below:
