By Kyle Francis
With his smoke-ring smile, plastic eyeballs and spray-painted vegetables, Beck is back with another non sequitur delight: The Information. The lyrics still don’t make any sense, but like always, it works.
As an artist often more concerned with the sound of words than their meaning, the obtuse metaphors on The Information hardly sound out of place at all. Unlike the folky, unambiguous introspection on Sea Change, Beck’s gotten back to the funky, white-boy college hip-hop that made him famous. Complete with a sticker book to design personalized album art, The Information is just as eclectic as any other Beck offering and just as inspired.
In fact, if there’s one downfall, it’s Beck himself. While the album is closer musically to the zanyness of Midnight Vultures or Odelay, the strongest tracks on the album are those that throw back to the somberness of Sea Change. Simply put, the guy’s getting older, but continues to push the “wild party boy” stylings on almost every track.
That said, The Information is a competent, extremely fun ride with some delightfully surreal imagery. It’s usually nice to see an artist’s music grow up with them, but the static nature of Beck’s style hasn’t hurt his sound in the slightest.