PN aera Sa i

 

Vince Yim, OP Contributor

In an effort to prevent music piracy and illegal downloading,
musicians and music companies have tried a variety of tech-

niques to try to encourage music listeners to buy their
albums. Surely, there are benefits to be had by owning the
original CD, which won’t be subject to hard drive crashes
and can be used in just about any source, preferably one
with a better set of speakers. But, that evidently isn’t
enough for some people, so music companies have to be a
little more inventive.

Some use copy protection schemes which ended up ren-
dering them unplayable in car stereos, while others have
used more punitive measures, such as Sony / BMG’s infa-
mous DRM (Digital Rights Management) rootkit, which
actually made computers vulnerable to hackers, and attracted
some very bad press. Others add little extras, such as multi-
media content such as music videos and links to exclusive
web content, such as ringtones and MP3s, unlockable only
to those who own legitimate copies of the CD.

Beck has gotten a little more creative with his latest
release, The Information, which not only has a DVD filled
with music videos, but a random assortment of stickers and
a non-descript CD insert card for the purpose of designing
your own album cover. For people that collected stickers at
a younger age (or maybe for those that still do), this is a
pretty neat little novelty addition. Certain sacrifices were
necessary for this, such as a lack of a lyric sheet. Oddly
enough, the unusual album artwork also made The
Information ineligible for the UK music charts.

The most welcome addition is the DVD. This is not

8 THE OTHER PRESS OCTOBER 19 2006

Beck: The Information

 

entirely new, as many artists have included a DVD with a
few music videos. What is unprecedented is that Beck has
included music videos of every track on the album. These
are largely done specifically for The Information and not nec-
essarily for MTV, as there are already plans to release videos
by the likes of Michael Gondry (Ezernal Sunshine of the
Spotless Mind director who started in music videos).

The videos have a certain aesthetic to them, in that they
have extremely high cheese content. Making excessive use
of long dissolves, solarization effects, and 80’s fashion and
hair, the videos are often hilarious. To a very large degree,
these videos are done on the cheap, many of which were
directed by Beck himself, as well as his producing partner
Nigel Godrich. Not much more and nothing less than a
bunch of guys who got together with a camera and decided
to have fun, it’s still fun to watch.

And then there’s the most important gimmick of all: the
CD doesn’t suck. Beck has proven most of his initial critics
wrong by shaking the one-hit wonder status early in his
career and earned critical and commercial raves in the
process. With The Information, he continues the tradition
with a brilliant mix of musical genres, touching bits of alter-
native rock, electronic, folk, and hip hop. Between the
infectiously head-bopping madness of the lead single
“Nausea” and the rapid-fire lyrics of “Elevator Music,” the
album is one of the more listenable albums to come out this
year and a worthy addition to any collection.

Perhaps more musicians should be adopting this gim-
mick?

 

   
 

The
Decemberists -
The Crane Wife

lain W. Reeve, Assistant Editor

There is a certain stigma in the indie music community about
signing with a big label. People always point to the change frot
do-it-yourself writing, recording, and touring to giving up som
control to the man as being the end of the pure creative
process. There is often some truth to this, the pursuit of bigge
sales has caused some bands to go the wrong way, but in the
case of one of the Pacific Northwest's best groups, there is
nothing to fear.

The Decemberists made their big break into the public’s
consciousness with last year’s collection of sea yarns and tales
of lost love, Picaresque. Since then they have toured endlessly,
signed with EMI, and returned to the studio to present us witl
The Crane Wife. While the band has managed to maintain their
old charms, evoking images of ships at sea, maidens clutching
single flowers standing on a cliff, and unshaven rabble lurking
in the shadows of some Dickensian English borrow, a slew of
new influences make this effort a more diverse journey.

Kicking off with the “get up and raise your arms” tri-
umphant tone of The Crane Wife, we are soon sent into a 12
minute adventure which at first can be likened to Pink Floyd
with rolling organ and drums, with a three part sea epic startin
with The Island: Come and See. Watch out for an uncontrollable
otgan/acoustic guitar interlude which lead singer Colin Meloy
follows with some intense falsetto. New sonic ground is also
broken in the nigh-disco hip swayer The Perfect Crime #2. It IS
the perfect, the perfect, the perfect crime. If that’s not enough
the band somehow manages to pull off being seriously hard-
rocking with When the War Came, a slow and steady rocker witt
soaring vehicles courtesy of my favourite “stuck in the 19th
century” bard.

Of course there is lots here for fans of the band’s usual
bygone era inspired mischief. Yankee Bayonet is a duet telling tl
story of two lovers separated by oldy-times war, you know, thi
kind with bayonets and gangrene. On the similarly gory side, \
have the dank lurching sea chantey Shankhill Butchers, who we
are assured are going to “cut you away.”

The whole shebang is topped off with another fantastic 11
minute epic, parts one and two of the title track, and the infec
tious sing-along-song Sons and Daughters. Singing with the
Decemberists is kind of like singing Row-Row-Row Your Boa
but is less likely to get you beat up by the big kids at
camp...well, maybe not.

I’ve never been one to judge an album before it comes out
especially based on whether or not the artist is signed with a
major label, or still hanging with the indie crowd; good music
good music. The Crane Wife is good music, played by a great
band who will continue to make awesome music that makes
you laugh and cry and sing and scream. Don’t believe me?
Check them out live in Vancouver at the Commodore on
November 18 and 19. If, after you go, you can tell me you did
n’t have too much fun I'll take it all back. Wait, no, P’ll call you
filthy liar and run away. It’s a crazy world...