Beck

Stereopathetic Soulmanure (Flipside)
by Nik Rainey

Expect no Odelay here; this is more like Mr. Hansen’s Origin of Species, a haphazard genealogy littered with low-fi fossils of noise-folk, folk-noise, softcore punk, slide-rule guitar, gut-busting silliness and a touch of reverence (“Rowboat” is a country shuffle genuine enough to be covered by the Man In Black), all predating Beck’s discovery of hip-hop as a means to cohere such disparate junk-fragments into definitive statements. As an album, it refuses to add up like his already-classic full-lengths; as a sonic notebook and collection of brilliant fragments, it’s a valuable footnote, almost a ’90s Trout Mask Replica without the jazz discharge party hats. “I love you, Ozzy!”