New Music from Beck

Do artists uninspired by profit who simply love to make music exist in the mainstream?

It appears so. The recording artist Beck released another Record Club video last week on Beck.com, a cover of Skip Spence’s Dixie Peach Promenade.

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, Beck’s Record Club is an experiment of sorts where various artists are invited to his studio to remake a classic album. The goal is not to replicate the album, rather it is a interpretation; as such, many of the songs are not akin to their originals.

The latest release is more of an updated information-bonus version of the original Skip Spence masterpiece. Backed by Beck, Wilco lends his vocal prowess to this recreation, check it out.

The question remains, is Beck making these videos for fun? He is certainly not aiming to sell records or merchandise or, anything really.

So why is he taking on these ambitious projects? For kicks? For Buzz? Or could it be that he simply enjoys making music? Especially that music which once inspired him and may serve to inspire future artists.

In an interview regarding his previous album, Modern Guilt, Danger Mouse explains the work ethic of our enigmatic and oh-so prolific recording artist, ““He’s like a machine. I always got tired before he did. I stayed pretty late, but I’d usually hear the next day how late it went.”

Furthermore Beck goes onto explain, ““I know I did at least 10 weeks with no days off, until four or five in the morning every night.”

If Beck, a platinum selling artist in both the physical and digital age of music distribution, can set an example for up and coming artists it is this: make music you love and love to listen to, do not create music for the masses, don’t try and sell records, and simply express yourself.

Put credence in these words for if this ideology of how to survive in the music world has served beck well, it will do the same for you.

Just in case you missed it, here is the first installment of the Skip Spence Record Club and my personal favorite, Books of Moses.