Burton makes the ultimate endgame sound like a party you’d still want to be invited to — one that even Beck might enjoy, despite himself.
So Beck is finally fun again, and you suspect the person most surprised by how well Modern Guilt turned out is the guy who made it.
Modern Guilt adds Danger Mouse and Cat Power to Beck's roster of collaborators, with spectacular results.
So does the pairing work? The answer, from the first, strutting beats of Modern Guilt's opener, 'Orphans,' is a gleaming Yes.
All this adds up to Beck’s darkest record to date, one that captures the uncertainty of 2008 as well as Mellow Gold distilled apathy in 1994.
Here, they deliver enough substance and style to make Modern Guilt an effective dosage of 21st century paranoia.
2008 requires more focus and more grace. Modern Guilt delivers both.
The concept of a modern type of guilt is probably supposed to imply the effortlessly achievable comfort and depressed humility with which much of the album is sung. Perhaps ironically, the best way to enjoy Modern Guilt is with blinders on to this sort of temporal perspective.
Odelay this surely isn't, but Beck it surely is—a chameleon who changes colors just enough to keep himself interested.
Modern Guilt doesn’t quite make it to that flashpoint, but it certainly points the way to a musical future brighter than the endless, mirrored hall of “Devils Haircut” rewrites that songs like “E-Pro” suggested was coming. And that is a sea change worth waiting for.
The only conclusion one can draw from a close examination of the lyrics on Modern Guilt is that it’s all one big downward spiral; he’s apparently disintegrating from the inside while the world around him does the same.
Though Modern Guilt is more direct and consistent than his last two scattershot LPs, it also finds the disillusioned L.A. hippie struggling to balance his deathly outlook with his more crowd-pleasing inclinations.
In a scant 30-plus minutes, Modern Guilt modestly proves that it's still restlessness, both artistic and personal, that drives the only living boy in Los Angeles.
With Danger Mouse on production duties, Modern Guilt is at its best when the rhythm is allowed to dominate.
Despite moving away from the unabashed fun and unique timbres one is accustomed to with Beck, this new clutch of songs give their own lasting, unpretentious impression.
Modern Guilt feels like a vanity project: there is no attempt to reach out, none of the classic pop singles Beck has been revered for, just 10 inward-looking, unlovable tracks.
Everything moves in linear fashion backwards, with only Danger Mouse’s bold battering saving Beck from a horrifying relapse into dreary Sea Change melancholia.
Beck goes for an interesting approach on this one. He applies his sound to a more Psychedelic kind of direction while also mixing it with a little bit of garage rock and even surf rock. I think gamma ray is the highlight track that sticks out the most, as well as the underrated closer Volcano. Some sections seem a little bit Unfinished and messy at times. It's not Becks best but it's still worth a good listen
This album is a bit underrated in the Beckography combining modern Beck production with 60s tropes with more emotional depth as well and a shortened tracklist?!!? Basically everything I've been hopin from Beck out of Guero & The Information. Some songs do feel a bit lacking here and there but this is overall a very good release and even reminds me a bit of Spoon through-out.
1 | Orphans 3:15 | 86 |
2 | Gamma Ray 2:56 | 87 |
3 | Chemtrails 4:40 | 85 |
4 | Modern Guilt 3:14 | 84 |
5 | Youthless 2:59 | 82 |
6 | Walls 2:22 | 84 |
7 | Replica 3:25 | 78 |
8 | Soul of a Man 2:36 | 72 |
9 | Profanity Prayers 3:43 | 85 |
10 | Volcano 4:28 | 87 |
#8 | / | Rolling Stone |
#15 | / | Spin |
#19 | / | MOJO |
#23 | / | PopMatters |
#23 | / | Q Magazine |
#24 | / | Beats Per Minute |
#27 | / | Treble |
#38 | / | NME |
#40 | / | Consequence of Sound |