I'd like to underline that statement about beck being fake. I was pretty confused by this article, I'm really not sure what he's trying to say. It seems to me that he may be saying in the end, Beck's downfall is his inauthenticity. But if that's true then the article is self-defeating. He admits pretty early on that authenticity in music is a sham, and that's so true. ESPECIALLY in Beck's case. I talked with thenewgreen a few days ago about Bob Dylan, who's one of my favorites regarding what it means to be genuine and whether or not we should care. "Bob Dylan" is an artificial identity, his voice is the source of a lot of criticism but it's also a conscious choice by Zimmerman. But his audience doesn't give a shit. Thenewgreen believes him, I and countless other people believe him, and his name (Dylan, not Zimmerman) is listed along with Guthrie, Seeger, etc. So I guess what I'm saying is that authenticity as an analytical framework is useless. It's a question that comes up so often, but why should we care as long as we find value in the music for our own identities... Whether beck is a sad guy who's sometimes funny or a funny guy capable of sadness doesn't really matter. We have no way of knowing which is genuine and even if we did it wouldn't change our understanding of the music enough to matter.
I've been listening to this album more and I agree with Meriadoc that this is its own album. At first I definitely felt it was Sea Change part 2 -mostly because the intro tracks are so blatantly similar but upon a deeper listen there are new things here for Beck. New vocal styling sand some new sounds too. It's funny to me that the similarities in sounds should dissuade anyone from listening. It's cool when a musician or band carves out their own sound, we don't knock other bands for having a continuity of sound in their body of work, why do we with Beck? I'm digging the album and feeling inspired by it. -I need a banjo.
I'm going to pick up a banjo and start learning as soon as I'm able. We can learn it together. I'm glad that post had you listen to it again. It was actually a battle with hubski's markup for a few days to get ittthrough without 502'ing, so I'm glad it was worth it in the end. Beck's a really fantastic musician that always seems to get the shaft for reasons unknown.
Beck won album of the year tonight. Apparently Kanye didn't approve. I just vowed to not buy any more of kanye's music.
It was just his code for "Black people should get more grammies." They didn't even televise the hiphop/rap awards this year. But as usual Kanye went about it his Kanye way. Though I think he's doing it on purpose at this point. Can't wait six months from now when someone instagram's Kanye and Beck in the studio together.
He needs a new "code," his current one is tired and lame. I can't imagine working as hard as someone like Beck must have on a piece of artwork, that frankly is a deserving piece of artwork, and having it culminate in a moment like that to be stolen by a jackass like Kanye. You think it's about justice/race? I think it's about Kanye. He's done one hell of a job cultivating his brand, that's all this was. But yeah, they'll likely work together now.
Naaaah. #1 Kanye stan here, I can say that what he said was stupid, but it wasn't "planned" (I know I said I think he's doing it on purpose, but I was just being obnoxious). Dude was drunk as fuck, for starters. He considers Beyonce to be his sister, is another. He takes it as a Rap/R&B vs. the World sort of scenario, which puts him even more on the defensive. People think everything Kanye does is some sort of publicity-stunt, including marrying his fucking wife, it's really creepy. I do think he thinks it's about race, yeah, he just picked the wrong time to do it. Fucking Eminem won an award based on name recognition and skin color, because his album in 2014 was shit. Had he commented on that, people wouldn't have been as up in arms about it. ...Or they still would have, because Kanye is Kanye, and he provides views because people hate on him even though they don't really know why they're supposed to through clickbait articles about the guy. The dude has straight up referenced a Beck song in one of his albums, it's not like he's ignorant to the guy's body of work. That being said, he did apologize, and I think he's allowed to speak his mind if it's what he thinks, even if it's super stupid for him to do so, especially in terms of timing. Dude keeps it real. I respect that.He's done one hell of a job cultivating his brand, that's all this was.
Dude, everyone is allowed to speak their minds, there is a way to do it that isn't being an asshole though. I like his music, I think he's an ass. I've seen a number of interviews with the guy, he's a solid artist, no doubt but he comes across as very self important and his actions at the award show reinforce as much. But there's a reason they put him in the front row, they want him to do this shit. It gets us all talking and tweeting etc and helps the Grammys become "must see" live tv again. The powers that be at the Grammys that he is railing against, must be drinking champagne and toasting his name right about now.