**This just in from the front lines on the U.S. release date of Modern Guilt**

Breathmint reports that his local Indie record store is giving away a 7″ (Side a: Chemtrails/Side b: Vampire Voltage No. 6) with the purchase of Modern Guilt.  Further investigation finds that this phenomena is probably widespread.  So, for some extra goodies, head over to your local Indie record store and pickup the new album.

Checkout http://www.thinkindie.com/ to find ant Indie record store to you.  And as always, it would be best to call and make sure the store has the bonus 7″.  Also, supply is most likely very limited, so move fast.

Happy Beck Day/Modern Guilt Day to you ALL!

**Update 7/9:  Even though websites for Indie stores have advertised this promotion, reports seem to point to a delay in shipment for these 7″s in the U.S.  When one of these turns up, let us know.

Modern Guilt will have a bonus track on iTunes, called “Vampire Voltage No. 6.”

All the songs are credited to Beck, except “Walls” which DangerMouse co-wrote, and there’s a sample on it by Piot & Guiot.

Still no idea what happened to “Beggar’s Shoes.”

Beck played two shows last week, and cancelled a third (due to illness).

A few new dates were added to the North America tour in August/September:

August 21 - Reno, NV with Devendra Banhart
August 22 - San Francisco, CA Outside Lands Festival
August 24 - Bend, OR
August 27 - Victoria, BC with Band Of Horses
August 28 - Vancouver, BC with Band Of Horses
August 30 - Seattle, WA Bumbershoot Festival
September 19 - San Diego, CA Street Scene Festival
September 20 - Hollywood, CA with Spoon and MGMT
September 27 - Austin, TX ACL Festival

hopefully more will get added soon… Europe tour starts in a week or so too…

So over the last week, there’s been a little bit of news here and there, thought I’d provide a summary.

Two weekends ago, Beck sold tickets on Saturday morning to a show here in LA Monday night. It was at his usual pre-tour warmup club, The Echo (he’s done this 3-4 times in the last few years). On Monday afternoon, the show was cancelled, citing scheduling conflicts. Also there were unsubstantiated rumors about that Beck was unhappy that there were scalpers scalping the tickets for obscene amounts. Either way, show didn’t happen.

Then last night, Beck and his new band finally played The Echo. There was not very much advance notice to fans, tickets weren’t sold. The LA Times, after the fact, called it “invitation-only.” They played a bunch of hits, and 4 of the new songs. I’ll put more on the show on Hijacked Flavors when I get a chance.

Beck’s new band is guitarist (Jessica Dobson (who makes music as Deep Sea Driver), Bram Inscore on bass, Scott McPherson on drums (who played with Elliott Smith), and Brian LeBarton is back on keys (until Wounded Cougar takes off again). Welcome to the new band members!

The album, by the way, is thus:

1. Orphans (with Cat Power)
2. Gamma Ray
3. Chemtrails (listen to it on beck.com!)
4. Modern Guilt (watch Beck play it live at the Echo last night here!)
5. Youthless (also the name of an old poetry zine Beck made as a kid)
6. Walls (with Cat Power)
7. Replica (apparently drum-n-bass-y)
8. Souls Of A Man
9. Profanity Prayers
10. Volcano

Not sure what happened to the song “Beggar’s Shoes” yet; it could be “Soles Of A Man” maybe?

Also… expect the album in about a month (or so I’m told; it could change).

newt (10:29:35): http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/50540-beck-signs-to-xl-recordings-in-the-uk

bebo (10:32:58): sounds dumb

bebo (10:33:05): i’m supposed to care?

newt (10:33:06): heh

newt (10:33:23): i think it’s interesting that he’s branching out to another label. i think his interscope contract is done

bebo (10:33:33): i don’t think it means that at all

bebo (10:33:45): he just needs a new distributor for the UK

newt (10:34:13): no i mean i think he had an agreement to do a certain number of albums with interscope, and i think that’s been completed. i’m not saying i think he’ll leave them

newt (10:34:26): but maybe he’s curious and now experimenting with dating other labels

bebo (10:37:53): but

bebo (10:38:06): was that not an agreement for distribution only?

bebo (10:38:14): and how do we know he’s almost donw with interscope?

bebo (10:38:19): where did you get that info

newt (10:38:52): i don’t know if it’s for distribution only, but xl is a label, right? not just a distribution company?

newt (10:39:15): and about the interscope thing, i kinda remember people talking after info came out, saying that was the last album he was committed to doing for them

newt (10:39:21): and if he wanted he could leave after that

newt (10:39:29): but i’d have to look it up, i don’t actually know for sure

According to HARP Magazine and confirmed by Brian Lebarton and JMJ, Danger Mouse will be producing Beck’s new album.

Brian @ stewoo:

Was waiting for you all to find out already!!! I was seriously beginning to doubt your detective work…

Some of us popped in at different times, don’t know exactly who. I was there for two fun filled days. Picture a supergroup album of Yanni, John Tesh, Michael Bolton, Kenny G, Phil Collins, David Hasselhof and Donny Osmond and you can kind of get an idea of what the record won’t sound like.

JMJ @ stewoo:

Boo-yah. There it is.

I think it’s gonna be a sick record. Danger is really enjoying working with B. And yes, my connection is that I was the musical director for Gnarls Barkley; I put that band together and played bass at The Roxy and Coachella, before I had to bail and start all the work for “The Information” tour. That’s when our boy Cedric from Remy Zero took over as bass player and occasional stormtrooper.

Sorry we were a bit late on this, still trying to sort some things out over here. Thanks to everyone who emailed.

some reports from various people about extra crap that comes with odelay deluxe:

• breathmint notes that there is a limited series of 5 (or maybe more) “mexican style calendars” that are being handed out if you buy your odeluxe at an indie record shop - while supplies last
• theonlyrodable says that odeluxe comes with 4 postcards if you buy it at best buy

any others?

i just went to a couple stores and can confirm that there is no deluxe edition of odelay in stores in canada. at least, not today.

at hmv i was able to find out that there are some supposedly coming in next tuesday feb. 5 (this is kind of up in the air, though - hmv’s release dates are often iffy with this kind of thing). however, at a price of $40, and keeping that delay in mind, it seems like these are probably just american copies that are being imported. that means most stores won’t get them, and most that do will only have a few copies.

so fuck you, canada!

UPDATE: thanks to magnolia, who points out in the comments that umusic.ca, universal’s canadian site, lists a feb. 5 release date for odelay deluxe. so i guess it’s not an import, it’s just coming out a week later here.

according to this one (stupid) review, there will be some expanded liner notes in odeluxe:

Or you can try to enjoy the liner notes by Thurston Moore, or the fact that Dave Eggers uses the booklet to interview a bunch of teenagers about whether they know who Beck is (Hey! Guess what! Not really!)

could be good, but maybe not. we’ll see.

Our good friend Kristofer has recently acquired some previously-unknown Beck demos! Yeah! These are four-track tapes that are possibly - and this is Kristofer’s belief - the original tapes Beck recorded onto. They feature a number of songs that we’ve come to associate with the 1992 Demo and Don’t Get Bent Out of Shape, which appear to be compilations of this and other material (kind of like Fresh Meat & Old Slabs).

The first tape is labeled Are ??? U Positive. There’s a pic below - can anybody figure out what the mystery word is? Kristofer suggests “feeling”, as in “are you feeling positive”. What do you guys think?

Tracklist:

1. Are You Postive
2. I’ve Just Seen a Facelift
3. Trash Can
4. Mmmmmmmmmm
5. Fuck You Up & Get High
6. Tough Fuckin Shit

The second tape is labeled R-Marcel or R-Maxcel or B-Marcel or B-Maxcel or something like that. Any suggestions on this one?

Tracklist:

1. Satan Was Way Cool
2. Don’t Believe the Joke They Put on You
3. In This World
4. A Man Named Will
5. Whiskey Be Your Lover
6. Don’t Get Bent Out of Shape

Some other notes about the tapes:

• They seem to be from 1992, though R-Marcel or whatever might be from eariler.
• Both sleeves feature pictures of a young Beck. Are You Positive’s sleeve is regular paper, R-Marcel’s is regular paper covered in tape.
• It’s unclear at this point whether these songs are the exact same versions that we already have from other tapes. Kristofer will confirm shortly after the holidays.
• Kristofer will eventually share these on the hub, once he’s able to digitize them.

Post your questions, comments and suggestions and we’ll try to get everything answered!

Odeluxe January 29th woot

From rollingstone.com:

On January 29th, Beck will release a double-disc deluxe version of his 1996 album Odelay that includes sixteen B-sides and compilation tracks that haven’t seen U.S. release before, as well as two never-before-released songs from the album’s original sessions produced by the Dust Brothers: “Inferno” and “Gold Chains.” The second disc also includes remixes by Aphex Twin, Mario Caldato Jr. and U.N.K.L.E., plus “Burro,” a Spanish-language rendition of “Jackass” recorded with a mariachi band.

Woo! Inferno! Yes! Gold Chains? Ok, cool!

I’m hoping there’s more new stuff than that (original Debra?), but I’m happy enough that we finally get Inferno.

UPDATE:

From marketwire.com:

Disc One of “Odelay - Deluxe Edition” adds to that original album two never before heard Dust Brothers-produced tracks from the “Odelay” sessions, “Inferno” and “Gold Chains,” and “Deadweight” from the film “A Life Less Ordinary.” Disc Two’s 16 selections include “Thunder Peel,” co-produced by Mario Caldato Jr.; the U.N.K.L.E. (featuring James Lavelle) remix of “Where It’s At,” and Aphex Twin and Mickey P. remixes of “Devil’s Haircut” (titled “Richard’s Hairpiece” and “American Wasteland,” respectively). Also heard are the once international-only b-sides “Clock,” “Electric Music and The Summer People,” “Lemonade,” “SA-5,” “Feather In Your Cap,” “Erase The Sun,” “000.000,” “Brother,” “Trouble All My Days,” “Strange Invitation,” “Devil Got My Woman,” (a cover of the Skip James classic recorded at the original Sun Studios in Memphis before they closed their doors) and “Burro” — a Spanish language version of “Jackass” recorded with a mariachi band.

That pretty much covers the whole tracklist, so it looks like the only new material is Inferno and Gold Chains. I guess we’ll have to keep waiting on that original Debra track.

Speculative tracklist based on above:

DISC ONE

1. Devils Haircut
2. Hotwax
3. Lord Only Knows
4. The New Pollution
5. Derelict
6. Novacane
7. Jack-ass
8. Where It’s At
9. Minus
10. Sissyneck
11. Readymade
12. High 5 (Rock the Catskills)
13. Ramshackle
14. Inferno
15. Gold Chains
16. Deadweight [short version]

DISC TWO

1. Thunder Peel [New Pollution single version]
2. Where It’s At (U.N.K.L.E. Remix)
3. Richard’s Hairpiece
4. American Wasteland
5. Clock
6. Electric Music and the Summer People [New Pollution single version]
7. Lemonade
8. SA-5
9. Feather In Your Cap [subUrbia / Stray Blues version]
10. Erase the Sun
11. .000.000
12. Brother
13. Trouble All My Days
14. Strange Invitation
15. Devil Got My Woman
16. Burro