Beck’s ‘Planned Obsolescence’ Rethinks Digital Mixtape

Beck has been keeping busy.
Beck has been keeping busy.

All summer Beck has been slowly trickling out tracks from his Record Club as he Nigel Godrich and cast of other friends and musicians have covered The Velvet Underground & Nico in its entirety. He has also been releasing ‘acoustic’ versions of his 2008 album Modern Guilt, interviewing Tom Waits and Will Ferrell and unearthing found music. And just last night he unveiled his second Record Club effort, Songs Of Leonard Cohen, accompanied by MGMT, Devandra Banhart, Binki Shapiro (of Little Joy) and others.

Needless to say, the dude’s prolific.

One of the other main projects on his revamped website is Planned Obsolescence, in which he releases a new mixtape or DJ set of sorts. Perhaps because I was distracted by the other goodies, I overlooked most of these. But the latest effort, “No. 9: Sapphire Metallic And Silicone For Michael Jackson” really blew me away last night.

No. 9: Sapphire Metallic And Silicone For Michael Jackson by planned_obsolescence

Fusing together a mix of dance music, ambient and industrial electronic, hip hop, funk, a bit of indie rock and 60’s psychedelia, these sets are a great way to hear some new music, stuff you’ve heard before and some curios. It’s a great juxtaposition hearing all of this seamlessly mashed up, and truly mimics the feeling of scanning the car radio dial looking for a decent song.

Unlike other single song remixes or Girl Talk-esque uber-mashups with dozens (hundreds?) of cluttered samples that change just as soon as you figure out what song it’s from, Beck’s sets breathe much easier. It’s all a bit less frantic and the songs play out for just the right amount.

These DJ sets are worth hunting down, as they’d make a great playlist for a party, workout mix or even an early morning commute.

Also be sure to check out “No. 7 Summer Tapes,” all devoted to summer songs, including an inspired highlight where Beck segues a cascades through several versions of “Summertime Blues.”

No. 7: Summer Tapes by planned_obsolescence

Reblogging: Icons and Record Club

Had a couple new things go up on the NPR blogs in the last week or two, but thought I’d continue to share them here as well.

Last week, I interviewed the filmmakers behind a fantastic new jazz documentary Icons Among Us. In part one, I talked with one of the co-directors Michael Rivoira for NPR’s jazz blog, A Blog Supreme.

In part two, I talk with the executive producer, John Comerford.

On the All Songs Considered blog I wrote a quick bit about a new Beck project, where he and bunch of musicians and friends will start covering albums in their entirety, starting with the classic The Velvet Underground and Nico. You can read that, and see the first song “Sunday Morning” here.

Since I heard Beck cover this song, I have been revisiting this album, and even learning to play “Sunday Morning.” It’s such a great simple pop song. Check out this cool, rare footage video of an early version of the song:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cWzxJvgWc8[/youtube]

UPDATE 6/26: Beck has posted the second song from The Velvet Underground and Nico, “Waiting For My Man:”