636 Beck - Midnite Vultures (1999)

 636 Beck - Midnite Vultures (1999)

Studio Album - Electro-Funk



About the Act:

Beck is an uncategorizable artist from the USA. He has produced music in many different styles, in fact that seems to be his "thing" - versatility. He is also known for blending samples with real instruments. He plays quite a few instruments himself, and writes the songs, sings the songs and produces the songs, and produced other people's work. He has released 14 studio albums, starting in 1993 and is still active. Critics love him and his music sells well too.

About the Album:

This was his 7th studio album. Most critics loved it, some hated it. It sold fairly well but not as well as Odelay.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

To call this funk is a little misleading, but I don't really know what else to call it. The rhythms are funky and the attitude. There are some classic "funk" sounds like a clavinet, and brass. Other than that there are a plethora of sounds, stacked together in a dense way that is rhythmic. There are a lot of electronic noises and sounds like early drum machines, and very early synthesisers, and a good number of real instruments. Some sounds are sound effects, and the production is meticulous. The vocals are reminiscent at times of Word Up by Cameo, a kind of forced robotic sound. The end result is a kind of mash-up between funk (fairly modern funk) and heavily sample-base electronica. It feels like a collage of interesting noises. And it is quite varied, there is the gentle Beautiful Way, and the eclectic Get Real Paid, and some guitarry rock parts too.

The lyric subjects are diverse and often unusual. Most are pretty cryptic, but there are more transparent bits. It is an interesting world inside Beck's head.

I'm with most of the critics on this one. Some thought it was robotic, but I felt like there is a good feel to the album, and unusual composition. It strangely reminded me of some Tom Waits' more experimental stuff, in that the experimental elements are more about sounds used than about harmony or rhythm.

So yeah, I liked it, quite a lot, actually, mostly for it being an engaging kind of unusual.

8/10 


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5Mk8LGoWoPg0igqQXprzfR

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0h3PLWTaMECPUZBxthFSBXkLx5P8bSbu

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnite_Vultures


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