Finding diamonds, eating pizza, getting attacked...

January 28, 2005 11:49 AM

Hell Yes... It's time for some Friday Flash Fun! (Well sort of, since even though this video was probably created in Flash, it's delivered in crap-tacular streaming format) Anyway, everyone's favorite white-boy (or "guero") hip-hop superstar is back in action with a new video [rm] [asx] for his forthcoming album. The video was created by Flash maestro Mumbleboy, and for those that found Beck's last outing a little vanilla for their tastes, it signals a welcome return to the man's Chunky Monkey roots. Enjoy!
posted by idontlikewords (18 comments total)

it looks less like Flash and more like cheesy early 90s computer graphics... boring really. An adult did this?

The music is decent though.
posted by inthe80s at 12:17 PM on January 28, 2005

Bleck.

Got nothin' on Ninjai Chapter 11...
posted by pmbuko at 12:23 PM on January 28, 2005 [1 favorite]

hey, Beck, that "Hey Ya" song was huge a few years ago ... can't you make something like that?

the song is unimpressive. is the rest of the album more of the same? anyone heard the leaked version?

Little Ninja is pretty cool. thanks for wasting the rest of my day. ;p
posted by mrgrimm at 12:36 PM on January 28, 2005

Oh my word...
posted by homunculus at 12:45 PM on January 28, 2005

The leaked lo-fi version of this song was, imo, a lot better than this electro-sounding version. Seek it out if you can...
posted by Robot Johnny at 12:50 PM on January 28, 2005

Re: Hey Ya, I read somewhere that Beck described the (new) song "E-Pro" as "a Nelly song, but with a garage band." And having heard it, I have to agree with him! Anyhow, I think the new album sounds fun, and where Beck is concerned, I'm not so sure "unimpressive" is a bad thing. His best work has always been dripping with slack after all.
posted by idontlikewords at 12:51 PM on January 28, 2005

In terms of design, Odelay beat the mix-n-match retro thing way before its time, and today's excess and sleazy throwbacks (The new Prodigy video, the Darkness) could be first found on Midnite Vultures.....but this doesn't seem as forward. It's not such an unoriginal idea, but it comes from a sort of unoriginal place.
Music's still good though. Viva the proclaimed King Of Mtv!

Note: I'm not saying that I won't buy this album the morning of the 29th.
posted by dougunderscorenelso at 12:58 PM on January 28, 2005

Lets all start reviewing an album that we haven't heard yet! Hooray!
posted by buriednexttoyou at 1:16 PM on January 28, 2005

Beck is the new Prince. He laid the groundwork for everybody else to rip off and now that they have even his good songs are not as noteworthy.
posted by FeetOfClay at 1:17 PM on January 28, 2005

Beck is the new Prince.

Funk... Check
Falsetto... Check
Oddball Religion... Check

It's true!
posted by idontlikewords at 1:30 PM on January 28, 2005

For those of you who like the music, check out the robots who made it: 8-Bit. They're an interesting group of fellows from LA who dress as robots, beat eachother up on stage, and use old Nintendo tracks for their beats. Quite a bit of fun.

They're some pretty cool guys too. Show 'em some love!
posted by twjordan at 1:53 PM on January 28, 2005

Everybody's a critic.

Just to let you know, this track is a "remixed overhaul" of the real track, so be patient and await the finished album track.
posted by BloodyWallet at 2:01 PM on January 28, 2005

Actually this track is from a digital-only EP coming out next week on itunes and a few other places. The real abum (Guero) comes out in March and I don't think this song is going to be on the album, but I could be wrong about that.
posted by chaz at 2:16 PM on January 28, 2005

I guess I'm on the wrong side of the hipness curve. I never much cared for Beck, but I definitely dig this song, and the "cheesy early 90s computer graphics."
posted by Wolfdog at 3:10 PM on January 28, 2005

Chaz, I don't know if you were referring to my comment, but Hell Yes is a track on Guero, but it's a different version than the one on this video. You're right, this remixed version is going to be released separately.
posted by BloodyWallet at 4:50 PM on January 28, 2005

This video isn't working for me, but the version on the leaked album is really good.
posted by mosch at 8:57 PM on January 28, 2005

This video looks a lot like the video for Move Your Feet by Junior Senior and for SHTML by Portland, OR laptop band YACHT. The 8-bit aesthetic (in music, video, and everything else) is here to stay so get used to it. Kind of like how terrible digital reverb is nostalgic for people who were pre-teens during the early 80s. This is for those of us who were pre-teens during the late 80s early 90s.
posted by AtDuskGreg at 9:24 PM on January 28, 2005

"Move Your Feet" probably wouldn't do anything for me if it wasn't for that video, which I saw via iTunes a while back. Something about that one just works for me, probably the combination of weird sight gags.
posted by Songdog at 7:35 PM on February 1, 2005