BECK - Hell Yes (One Shot Version)

I have always been a fan of Beck's. I guess I got on the bandwagon about the same time everyone else did with Loser and the Mellow Gold album. But Beck has always managed to impress me with his ability to subvert expectations and create a unique sound with every new release.

I felt that this wasn't so much the case for Beck's latest offering, Guerro. The envelope wasn't pushed quite as far as it had been in the past. I won't go on too much as this is an old album already and you already feel the way you feel about it. I just was hoping for a little more Kenny G and little less Odelay. Yeah, I was hoping for Kenny G.

That is not to say I dislike this album, it's alright... The stylish cover art was done by Marcel Dzama a graduate from my university and the most successful U of M Fine Arts alumni in recent history. Tho I think the crown still has to go out to the members of General Idea (I digress).

Today's video offering is Hell Yes (One Shot Version). It's worth noting that there are at least three different official videos to this song. The first video features a lo-fi 8-bit remix and animation to complinent, which is cool but not groundbreaking for Beck. The second video gets it closer by featuring Sony's now discontinued QRIO robots. I love these little robots and would say that this is easily the best of the two videos but the final video uses the QRIO element in a much more interesting way. It's very minimal (one static shot thruout) and really focuses on the way these guys move. Beck manages to join them for a guitar solo and a verse which really plays with the perspective and scale of the scene. And they are REAL ROBOTS! The video isn't full of flashy CGI sequences, it's full of actual robots that really are doing what you're seeing them do. took programmers three weeks to program their choreography. I dunno how you feel but I never thought I'd see that in my lifetime.

I'm totally sure that this is the least popular of the three videos but it's my favorite an' I ain't no MTV so suck on it.