r
us. You'll like off us!
cut
I
20%
and do
with this ad
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KABUKI
1Widnite Vultures'
Experiment-minded musicians tend
to miss as often as they hit, and if
you don't believe me, just go back
and listen to some of your old
Talking Heads and David Bowie
records from start to finish. You'll
find spurts of brilliance, no ques-
tion, but you'll also encounter a fair
share of stinkers along the way.
Amazingly, though,
Beck Hansen some-
how rn.anages to sur-
prise us with his sonic
peregrinations without missing a
beat. His recently released album,
Midnite Vultures (DGC), is a
sophisticated melange of old-
school funk, Americana and tech-
no dance music --- it's unlike any-
thing you've heard before.
But this filler-free, 11-track
record is also instantly recognizable
and insistently Iiiimmable, too.
Risk and vulnerability lie at the
heart of Midnite Vultures. Beck
risks looking stupid and unhip
from start to finish, and as a result,
he comes off smelling like a rose.
"Nicotine Sc Gravy" opens with
a lazy, funk rhythm that sounds
like the perfect score to a blax-
ploitation film from the 1970s.
Mid-song, however, a distortion-
heavy bridge signals a dramatic
change, and we hear hip-hop beats
take charge. as Beck delivers a
haunting, falsetto chorus, "I don't
want to die tonight" over and over.
What does it all mean? Who
knows, but by the time the Middle
Eastern-inflected synthesizer strains
kick in, you're mesmerized.
The great thing about this
record, though, is that the innova-
tion and playfulness never stop.
"Mixed Bizness" is a disco-
friendly dance track that should
get tons of play in local dance
clubs. "Get Real Paid" channels
late-1970s Sugar Hill rap, com-
plete with faux-robotic vocals,
Spartan keyboard and yet more
falsetto phrasing from Beck.
"Peaches & Cream" sports the
coolest guitar riff of 1999; the
bouncy "Sexx Laws" somehow
makes a standard horn section and
a banjo solo seem very downtown;
and "Beautiful Way" proves that
Beck still knows what to do with a
slow, sullen ballad.
— Reviewed by John Godfrey
Copley News Service
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