I’m guessing they would include performing at a Tibeten Freedom Concert in that statement?  Who knows.  Anyways, Chinese Beck fans hang in there and feel the Beck love.

http://orphans.modernguilt.com/

So far, the dates look like:

2008-08-21 Grand Sierra Theatre, Reno, NV, United States (w/ Devendra Banhart)
2008-08-22 Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA, United States (Outside Lands Festival)
2008-08-24 Les Schwab Ampitheater, Bend, OR, United States (w/ Cold War Kids)
2008-08-27 Royal Theatre, Victoria, BC, Canada (w/ Band Of Horses)
2008-08-28 Orpheum, Vancouver, BC, Canada (w/ Band Of Horses)
2008-08-30 Seattle Center, Seattle, WA, United States (Bumbershoot Festival)
2008-09-19 San Diego, CA, United States (Street Scene Festival)
2008-09-20 Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, CA, United States (w/ Spoon & MGMT)
2008-09-22 Dodge Theatre, Phoenix, AZ, United States (w/ MGMT)
2008-09-23 Kiva Auditorium, Albuquerque, NM, United States (w/ MGMT)
2008-09-25 Abraham Chavez Theatre, El Paso, TX, United States (w/ MGMT)
2008-09-27 Zilker Park, Austin, TX, United States (Austin City Limits Fest)
2008-09-29 Uptown Theater, Kansas City, MO, United States (w/ MGMT)
2008-09-30 Wilkins Auditorium, Minneapolis, MN, United States (w/ MGMT)
2008-10-02 Aragon, Chicago, IL, United States (w/ MGMT)
2008-10-03 Aragon, Chicago, IL, United States (w/ MGMT)

Pre-sale passwords… sign up at beck.com, or whatnot for those.

There’s more dates coming too, probably as he makes his way to the Northeast (and hopefully South?).

1. Golden Feelings
2. A Western Harvest FIeld by Moonlight
3. Stereopathetic Soulmanure
4. Mellow Gold
5. One Foot in the Grave
6. Odelay
7. Mutations
8. Midnite Vultures
9. Sea Change
10. Guero
11. The Information
12. Modern Guilt

It was about 9.5 hours of music that took about 12.5 hours to listen to, including all my breaks. It was epic. A couple people asked me if doing this gave me any special insight into Beck’s music and career. The answer, I told them, is yes. Here are those insights:

1. The first three albums form a pretty harsh block. It’s not bad exactly, but it’s hard to listen to. Word of warning: these albums may drive your girlfriend out of the apartment in anger.
2. Midnite Vultures is probably my favourite Beck album. It’s brilliant.
3. One Foot in the Grave -> Odelay is a crazy weird transition.
4. The worst Beck album tracks are ‘Round the Bend’ off Sea Change and ‘Earthquake Weather’ off Guero.
5. Doing this won’t make you as sick of Beck as you would expect.

That’s it! Nothing terribly profound, but it did alter how I perceive the albums and a bunch of the tracks. If you have the time, I definitely recommend it.

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 should be out now everywhere, except in Japan. A few places apparently have a bonus 7″ with an extra track (”Vampire Voltage No. 6″) so if you’re interested keep an eye on that. I don’t honestly know all the details about what/where, maybe Newtron has been keeping better track, or you can share what you got and where in the comments here.

The European tour has been going strong, you can see some setlists for some of the shows over on Hijacked Flavors here (including some YouTube clips that I’ve linked to on the show pages). If anyone has any bootlegs or information about the shows that is missing, email us computergirls [at] whiskeyclone.net.

Enjoy the album, and remember, you can only listen to Beck music today!

Anyway I’ll try to be regular with the tour show round-ups, as the tour goes on. If anyone’s at any of these shows and wants to send in setlists, pictures, recordings, or whatever, email us computergirls@whiskeyclone.net

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…

Hi,

Just wanted to let you know that Insound has pre-orders up for the new Beck album “Modern Guilt”

The CD can be pre-ordered here: http://www.insound.com/search/showrelease.jsp?from=22564&p=INS46525

The LP can be pre-ordered here: http://www.insound.com/search/showrelease.jsp?from=22564&p=INS46605

If you’d like you can post this coupon for your readers to recieve 10% off at checkout. Coupon Code: modernguilt10.

In addition to the new album there is also a pre-order for the deluxe 4xLP expanded verion of Beck’s classic Odelay.

4xLP: http://www.insound.com/search/showrelease.jsp?from=22564&p=INS46055

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Andy French
Marketing Coordinator
INSOUND

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).