Beck's "Guero"

So, the new Beck album "Guero" officially hit stores this week. It has been available online for illegal download for over a month now. Not that I'm suggesting you should be illegally downloading Beck's music...I'm just saying some people have already heard it enough times to know how awesome it is. Including me.

Oh, cut me a break. I work at a video store! I'm paid my salary in free rentals and discount microwave popcorn!

Anyway, "Guero" features very strong work from Beck. That's not surprising considering what an overall strong career he's had, and the remarkable consistancy in quality of his music. I mean, not only have the last few Beck albums been overall great, but it's difficult to find even a bum song on the last few collections.

"Midnite Vultures," "Mutations" and "Odelay" are wall-to-wall goodness, albums I listen to straight through without skipping a single track. I can't even say that for every Radiohead album, and they're my favorite working band.

And even "Sea Change" and "Mellow Gold," on which I'm not quite as hot, contain far far more appealing, enduring songs than filler.

So, yeah, the fact that almost all the songs on "Guero" are terrific isn't surprising. What's surprising is how approachable the songs are, how breezy and effortless it seems for Beck to once again mix genres and shift styles.

As you've probably heard, this is the Beckmeister's second time working with The Dust Brothers. The Brothers Dust are best known for their producing duties on the Beastie Boys absolutely 100% certified genius "Paul's Boutique" double album, but they also produced Beck's smash hit 90's classic "Odelay." While I can't say they bring the same inspiration and originality to Beck's most recent effort, they provide probably the most Beck-like album the man's ever produced. It's designed as a crowd-pleaser and it delivers.

Mr. Hansen's a musical chameleon, taking on different genres and morphing his songwriting style to fit them. He's always Beck, and certain aspects of the songs remain consistant (the nonsensical Beckisms, the bouncy hooks, the odd combination of hip-hop, country and folk, etc.), but with each album his persona seems to shift, his influences seem to coalesce and break back apart.

"Midnite Vultures" was a funk party album and "Mutations" a collection of folky, bluesy ballads. "Guero" doesn't fit quite so neatly into a single concept. Much of the album is made up of "Odelay"-throwbacks like "Girl" and "Hell Yes," but Beck makes time for straight-up hip-hop songs like "Que Onda Guero" and even a tropical-flavored track, "Missing," eerily reminiscent of a 90's Beck radio hit, "Tropicalia."

It's strange to hear a new Beck album that's so, well, familiar as "Guero," but I don't really mean that in a bad way. In fact, some of the songs on here rank among his most impressive, catchy and effervescent, particularly the infectious "Broken Drum." That's my favorite song on the album for now, but that may change in a few days.

Okay, I'm out of stuff to say about how much I've enjoyed this album. "Guero" along with The Decemberists' "Picaresque," Bloc Party's "Silent Alarm," the unreleased but masterful new album from Fiona Apple and the debut from Louis XIV, 2005 is shaping up as something of a strong year in music.