Last night on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show Beck peformed “Waking Light” and then did “Say Goodbye” for the web.
Both are from his new album, Morning Phase.
“Waking Light”:
Beck performs ~ Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show by HumanSlinky
“Say Goodbye”:
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We’ve been waiting six years for a new album from Beck.
Now Morning Phase, Beck’s long-awaited followup to Modern Guilt, is here.
You can stream it now, a week in advance of release, at NPR’s first listen.
In his discussion of the album at the NPR website, Tom Moon writes:
The thumbnail summary already circulating for Beck’s 12th full-length album goes like this: It’s a sequel to Sea Change, the brooding 2002 record frequently mentioned as his masterpiece.
This is useful, to a point, for placing Morning Phase in a general neighborhood. But, like so many descriptors flying around, it doesn’t convey much about the work itself — especially since “sequel” is often shorthand for “copy,” which this most certainly is not. To get a sense of the latest turns in Beck’s journey, go directly to “Wave,” one of several pieces from Morning Phase built on the entrancing string orchestrations of David Richard Campbell, the singer-songwriter’s father. Here, you’ll find no conventional strumming, no weepy pedal-steel guitar, no drums at all — just low strings droning in support of a disconsolate, almost detached vocal. Through the somber haze comes a melody defined by strangely upturned half-steps, culminating in unsettling repetitions of the word “isolation,” over and over.
“Wave” has little in common with what most think of as pop music — and, for that matter, with what most think of as Beck music. Even those who know Sea Change will be surprised by the song’s stark sense of drama. In a recent All Songs Considered interview, Beck describes the long interval between Morning Phase and 2008’s Modern Guilt as a process of rediscovery. He was contending with personal issues, including a serious back injury that prevented him from performing, and when he found it difficult to write for himself, he devoted his energy to covers of classic records and writing for other artists (his 2012 Song Reader, the sheet-music folio, is one byproduct). It took him a long time to develop the new album, he says, because he’d been challenging himself to write in different ways — and didn’t always believe that the results were worth sharing.
Listen to the album here.
Listen to Back talk about Morning Phase here.
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New Beck song, “Waking Light,” off his upcoming album, Morning Phase, due February 25, 2014.
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Beck’s “Blue Moon” is the first song off his upcoming album, Morning Phase, that we get to hear in full.
Morning Phase will be released February 25, 2014. I can’t wait to hear the new album.
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Dig on this taste of “Blue Moon,” a song off Beck’s Morning Phase, which is due February 25, 2014.
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This year isn’t over yet of course, but already Stereogum is hitting us with their list of much anticipated 2014 albums.
Check it out:
100 Bruce Springsteen – High Hopes (Columbia, 1/14)
99 The Rentals – TBD (Polyvinyl)
98 Broken Bells – After The Disco (Columbia, 1/14)
97 Empress Of – TBD (Terrible/XL)
96 tUnE-yArDs – TBD
95 Schoolboy Q – Oxymoron (Interscope/TDE, 2/25)
94 Thee Oh Sees – TBD
93 MØ – No Mythologies To Follow (Chess Club/RCA Victor, 2/24)
92 You Blew It! – Keep Doing What You’re Doing (Topshelf, 1/14)
91 Bleeding Rainbow – Interrupt (Kanine, 2/25)
90 The New Pornographers – TBD (Matador, Late Spring)
89 Sisyphus – Sisyphus (Asthmatic Kitty, 3/18)
88 Wu-Tang Clan – TBD
87 Drive-By Truckers – English Oceans (ATO, 3/4)
86 Mastodon – TBD
85 Phantogram – Voices (Republic, 2/18)
84 Wolves In The Throne Room – TBD (Southern Lord, Winter)
83 Meek Mill – TBD (MMG)
82 Mogwai – Rave Tapes (Sub Pop, 1/21)
81 Pusha T – King Push (Def Jam)
80 Actress – Ghettoville (Werkdiscs/Ninja Tune, 1/28)
79 Rick Ross – Mastermind (MMG/Slip-N-Slide/Def Jam, Early 2014)
78 The Horrors – TBD
77 ceo – Wonderland (Modular People, 2/4)
76 Johnny Cash – Out Among The Stars (Columbia/Legacy, 3/25)
75 Black Lips – Underneath The Rainbow (Vice, 3/18)
74 Da Mafia 6ix – TBD
73 Best Coast – TBD (Spring)
72 The Men – Tomorrow’s Hits (Sacred Bones, 3/4)
71 My Morning Jacket – TBD (ATO)
70 Belle And Sebastian – TBD (Matador, Late Spring)
69 Neneh Cherry – Blank Project (Smalltown Supersound, 2/25)
68 Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Piñata
67 The Notwist – Close To The Glass (Sub Pop, 2/25)
66 FKA Twigs – TBD (Young Turks)
65 G-Side – Gz To Godz
64 Perfume Genius – TBD (Matador, Fall)
63 Death Cab For Cutie – TBD
62 DIIV – TBD
61 Lily Allen – TBD (Warner Bros.)
60 Liars – TBD (Mute, March)
59 Parquet Courts – TBD
58 Sampha – TBD (Young Turks)
57 Godflesh – A World Lit Only By Fire (Early 2014)
56 Pallbearer – TBD (Profound Lore, August)
55 The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – TBD (April)
54 The Hold Steady – TBD (Vagrant, Winter)
53 Twin Shadow – TBD
52 Caribou – TBD
51 Wye Oak – TBD (Merge)
50 Tombs – Savage Gold (Relapse, Spring)
49 Dum Dum Girls – Too True (Sub Pop, 1/28)
48 Linda Perhacs – The Soul Of All Natural Things (Asthmatic Kitty, 3/4)
47 Flying Lotus – TBD
46 Pharrell – TBD (Columbia)
45 Amber Coffman – TBD
44 Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence (Interscope)
43 Angel Olsen – Burn Your Fire For No Witness (Jagjaguwar, 2/18)
42 The Bug – Angels And Devils (Ninja Tune)
41 Warpaint – Warpaint (Rough Trade)
40 Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Wig Out At Jagbags (Matador, 1/7)
39 Katy B – Little Red (Rinse/Columbia)
38 James Blake & Chance The Rapper – TBD
37 Damon Albarn – TBD (Warner Bros.)
36 U2 – TBD (April)
35 Hamilton Leithauser – TBD
34 Real Estate – TBD (Domino)
33 Julian Casablancas – TBD
32 Alcest – Shelter (Prophecy, 1/21)
31 Migos – Y.R.N. 2 (January)
30 White Lung – TBD
29 EMA – The Future’s Void (Matador/City Slang, Spring)
28 Sam Smith – In The Lonely Hour (Columbia, 5/26)
27 Bat For Lashes – TBD (Warner Bros.)
26 Jessica Pratt – TBD
25 The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream (Secretly Canadian, 3/18)
24 Modest Mouse – TBD
23 Wilco – TBD (dBpm)
22 Future – Honest (Epic)
21 Sun Kil Moon – Benji (Caldo Verde, 2/4)
20 St. Vincent – St. Vincent (Republic, 2/25)
19 Charli XCX – SuperLove (Atlantic, Spring)
18 Titus Andronicus – TBD (XL)
17 Grimes – TBD
16 Swans – TBD (Young God)
15 TV On The Radio – TBD
14 Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 2 (Fool’s Gold)
13 Fleet Foxes – TBD
12 Fucked Up – TBD (Matador, Spring)
11 Robyn – TBD
10 Spoon – TBD
9 Against Me! – Transgender Dysphoria Blues (Total Treble, 1/21)
8 Taylor Swift – TBD
7 Agalloch – TBD (Profound Lore, April)
6 The Wrens – TBD
5 Joanna Newsom – TBD
4 Cloud Nothings – TBD
3 Frank Ocean – TBD
2 Beck – Morning Phase (Capitol, 2/14)
Beck performed “Wave” off the new album at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles this past November.
1 Kanye West – TBD (Summer)
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Beck returns with his first new album in five years in February 2014. The new album, Morning Phase, is, according to a press release, along the lines of the acoustic, ballad filled Sea Change, released in 2002, which had a Nick Drake vibe at times.
For the new album Beck utilized many of the same musicians who played on Sea Change including Joey Waronker, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Smokey Hormel, Roger Joseph Manning Jr. and Jason Falkner.
The album will be Beck’s first for Capitol Records. He previously recorded for Geffen Records.
Here’s a video for “The Golden Age” off Sea Change.