Beck releases an album you can't hear

smokedeels

Interesting experiment from Beck, he's releasing new material as sheet music.

It's different I'll give him that.

If it was an act I liked then I'd be disappointed, unless the sheet music was issued in addition to a recording of the material.

I like bands for their performance in addition to their songwriting.

Thoughts?

It's not really an album though!

Think I read in spin that while it's called an album, it's not yet. It will be an album, with people able to upload their versions of the recorded music and they'll be available online.

If that's true, that's an awesome idea

rcaz

I think it's cool, but it's kinda like Beck only doing part of his job... Beck is a recording artist, he's supposed to do one more step after he writes the songs :pac:

As a publicity thing it's perfect, you get people posting things all over the internet like "Beck releases and album you can't hear", instant controversy.

Also, Deerhoof did this in 2008. Except then they released an album afterward

wlzkelly

Deleted User wrote: »

It's not really an album though!

Think I read in spin that while it's called an album, it's not yet. It will be an album, with people able to upload their versions of the recorded music and they'll be available online.

If that's true, that's an awesome idea

I like that idea. It would be interesting to hear all the many different interpretations.

RikkFlair

Thats a pretty cool idea.

Its got me thinking of that time Queens of the Stone Age released Songs For The Deaf, and a group of deaf people turned up at their gig expecting to actually experience music you couldn't hear :pac:

bullpost

As a concept its superb - now where can I download it

TAlderson

I like it- it goes back to before the proliferation of recording technology when popular songs were just in sheet music form. Broadsides were the way people got music back in the day, and then they had to play it themselves. Wouldn't it be nice to get more people playing music instead of passively listening?

-Tyler

Da Shins Kelly

It's an interesting idea, but I'm kinda disappointed. I want to hear Beck playing his own music, not some random person on Youtube or something. Nobody does it better than the man himself.

notnumber

great title for the thread..wondered would people be stupid buy a blank cd?

rcaz

notnumber wrote: »

great title for the thread..wondered would people be stupid buy a blank cd?

Worked for Dangerhorse/Sparklemouse.

D1stant

Fantastic idea. I hope Jedward follow suit!

Sinfonia

Deleted User wrote: »

It's not really an album though!

Think I read in spin that while it's called an album, it's not yet. It will be an album, with people able to upload their versions of the recorded music and they'll be available online.

Well, album has been used to describe a collection of printed musical works, prior to recording technology, e.g.:



Supposing an official studio recording is never released, and this remains read-only, what are the implications for live performances? The possibility of actually hearing the songs would probably boost ticket sales..! That said, the first live bootleg would effectively become the 'official' recording..

blastman

For some reason, this story reminds me of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmxSMIN3-WI

Luis21

In fairness its not a bad thing we cant hear it because his last few albums have been, for a better word, ****e.

Scientology has ruined him.

Da Shins Kelly

Luis21 wrote: »

In fairness its not a bad thing we cant hear it because his last few albums have been, for a better word, ****e.

Scientology has ruined him.

Luis21

Luis21 wrote: »

In fairness its not a bad thing we cant hear it because his last few albums have been, for a better word, ****e.

Scientology has ruined him.

What are you on about?

He was raised a scientologist

And Modern Guilt and Guero are utterly fantastic!

Custardpi

When I saw the title of the thread I thought (based on the fact that Beck is a very creative, imaginative guy) that he might have been doing something with frequencies. The range of human hearing at best is between 20hz to 20khz, however typically anyone past their teens loses the ability to hear a lot of the higher frequencies, often cutting off at <15khz, so there's a huge chunk of sound most adults simply can't hear. I wonder has anyone ever tried to produce an album made up solely of frequency tones in that 15khz to 20khz range, so that while most children & teenagers would be able to hear the "music" (not sure how you'd manage to make it sound musical exactly but human creativity can do wonderful things), most adults wouldn't.

the_barfly1

Custardpi wrote: »

When I saw the title of the thread I thought (based on the fact that Beck is a very creative, imaginative guy) that he might have been doing something with frequencies. The range of human hearing at best is between 20hz to 20khz, however typically anyone past their teens loses the ability to hear a lot of the higher frequencies, often cutting off at <15khz, so there's a huge chunk of sound most adults simply can't hear. I wonder has anyone ever tried to produce an album made up solely of frequency tones in that 15khz to 20khz range, so that while most children & teenagers would be able to hear the "music" (not sure how you'd manage to make it sound musical exactly but human creativity can do wonderful things), most adults wouldn't.

nobody wants to hear an album consisting of just those frequencies. It'll literally be painful to listen to

Custardpi

the_barfly1 wrote: »

nobody wants to hear an album consisting of just those frequencies. It'll literally be painful to listen to

Not all art is created to pander to the tastes & expectations of its audience. An album that was painful to listen to could be seen as rebelling against the complacent, overly comfortable sensibilities of the listener so as to make him/her reexamine their understanding of what defined music & human relations with it, which could be quite inspirational for open minded & creative young people.

Manchegan

Custardpi wrote: »

Not all art is created to pander to the tastes & expectations of its audience. An album that was painful to listen to could be seen as rebelling against the complacent, overly comfortable sensibilities of the listener so as to make him/her reexamine their understanding of what defined music & human relations with it, which could be quite inspirational for open minded & creative young people.

Lou Reed called. Says he's sorry about Metal Machine Music. Says it was all a big mistake.

Custardpi

Manchegan wrote: »

Lou Reed called. Says he's sorry about Metal Machine Music. Says it was all a big mistake.

MMM was a great album. Not so much musically (what music??:D) but as an imaginative & eloquent way to piss off your record company it's rarely been equalled. The music industry needs that now & again.

rcaz

Custardpi wrote: »

imaginative & eloquent way to piss off your record company it's rarely been equalled. The music industry needs that now & again.

That and the fact that it's great music

steve_r

It's certainly something different...

Echoeing Custardpi, I was expecting something to do with audio frequencies as well.

We've seen loads of remix albums so I guess this is a logical progrssion.

(Still prefer more sea change tho!!)

Custardpi

rcaz wrote: »

That and the fact that it's great music

Each to his own I suppose, although I always understood the whole point of MMM as being a kind of "anti-music" album.

karaokeman

Another band that should do this is AC/DC.

Custardpi

karaokeman wrote: »

Another band that should do this is AC/DC.

Yeah Black Ice was a bit crap alright, no real stand out tracks on it & the mastering of it made if one of the worst examples of the "Loudness War" in recent years - resulting in a flat & lifeless sound, not a patch on the likes of Back in Black or Dirty Deeds.

rcaz

Custardpi wrote: »

Each to his own I suppose, although I always understood the whole point of MMM as being a kind of "anti-music" album.

Music is the art that comes from organising sound, how can an album of organised sound be 'anti-music'?

And compared to some of the music put out by lads like Stockhausen, Merzbow, Schoenberg, it's positively pop music.