Beck Preps New Album
Beck hasn’t released an album of his own in 2010, but he’s kept busy: In addition to penning punk tracks for the fictional band Sex-Bom-Omb in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Universe and giving new songs to the True Blood and Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtracks, the rocker has also co-written and produced Charlotte Gainsbourg’s IRM and covered the works of Skip Spence, INXS and Yanni with his all-star Record Club. But a new album is near — Beck tells Pitchfork he’s already laid down tracks for his first disc since 2008’s Modern Guilt. Now he just needs to figure out how he’ll release it.
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“I’m not sure if I’m going to put out 12″s or put the songs on my website,” Beck said, adding that he’s aiming to wrap recording this summer. “It’s just a matter of the songs being good enough and not embarrassing.” Beck says he started work on the album immediately after the release of Modern Guilt, but in the time that’s passed, “five other bands may have done something that felt really exciting and new two years ago. Like, the title of the record was going to be Rococo and now Arcade Fire have a song called ‘Rococo.’ ”
Beck also revealed he’s spent time in the studio with Stephen Malkmus recording songs for the Pavement frontman’s upcoming disc. “Within the first two days we had 90 percent of the album recorded. We just put it down live. I just talked to Steve, actually. We’re going to finish it up when he’s done touring,” Beck said.
Until Beck unleashes new music — he says he hopes to have at least a song out by summer’s end — fans can grab the Scott Pilgrim deluxe edition off iTunes to hear Beck’s own versions of the short punk anthems he wrote for Sex-Bom-Omb, including the single “Summertime.”