“Guero,” CD by Beck Hansen
Interscope Records. In stores now
The latest from Napoleon Dynamite prototype Beck Hansen starts with a simple premise: All music is derivative. It’s not your influences but what you do with them that count.
With “Guero,” Beck has come up with a grab bag of sounds, styles and electronic samples. Among them: buzz-saw guitar riffs, heavy beats, poppy AM radio choruses, even Eastern-tinged violins.
The predominant theme comes from Beck himself: 1996’s quintessential “Odelay,” which introduced his offbeat style of mishmash rock to a wide audience.
That’s apparent from the opener “E-Pro,” the distorted guitar riff and driving beat of which recall “Devils Haircut” from “Odelay.”
The CD takes its name from the second track, “Qu & #233; Onda Guero,” Spanish for “Where are you going, white boy.” The rap, somewhat trite but still amusing, is a slice of Beck’s young days in Chicano East Los Angeles: “Rancheros on cheap guitars, abuelitas with plastic bags walking to church with their Spanish candles.”
“Girl” is a catchy song that mixes a Casio keyboard intro with a chorus that distantly echoes The Beach Boys, of all things. “Missing” showcases Beck’s talents beyond novelty technique with its Latin backdrop, lofty vocals and violins a la Led Zepplin’s “Kashmir.” The song also recalls Beck’s introspective, folkie “Sea Change” CD of 2002. Ditto for “Broken Drum.”
Traces of Beck’s 1999, tongue-in-cheek R & B; romp “Midnite Vultures” also find their way into “Guero” on “Hell Yes” and “Go it Alone.”
For “Scarecrow,” Beck puts on his trucker hat for a slide guitar send-up set against a honky-tonk bass line, harmonica bursts and clanky beat. Not far off is “Farewall Ride,” a cowboy dirge that conjures up mental images of blowing tumbleweeds, though in Beck’s case they’re probably fake and painted fluorescent green.
Then there are the Beckisms, quirky, clever turns of phrase such as “Takin’ me as far, far as a rental car can go” and “Code red cola war conformity crisis.”
Like “Odelay,” “Guero” has moments of instant appeal. Be forewarned, though, Beck still is an acquired taste. The CD has a designer drug feel to it with its concocted warmth and digital aftertaste. The upside is that the CD is full of solid songwriting craftily assembled with the help of electronica whizzes The Dust Brothers.
,Michael Lyster
RATING: FOUR BRIEFCASES (out of four)
