Beck: "Elevator Music"

As the lone Guero (2005) fan on the CMG staff, this writer was expecting at least as much from The Information, especially considering Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, the gloriously produced Sea Change [2002]) is behind the boards. Or more like the boreds (Ed.: ugh), because that’s what you’ll be after a few somnolent minutes of this mess. Starting with opening track “Elevator Music,” which is quite possibly the most unfortunately titled song in the history of popular music (at least this year). The irony is annihilating. You get to wondering what the hell happened to this guy -- Scientology? Or merely tapping the bottom of a creative well? When I met him, briefly, at a screening of La Dolce Vita in 2003, he seemed dazed and befuddled. The Information sounds, three years later, like a return to murky form.

So, the track. “Elevator Music” is three-and-a-half minutes of beer can guitars and Godrich’s digital wizardry, with a few identifiable Radiohead tricks and questionable flanger use. The lyrics are nonsense, blue-eyed half-rapping that evokes Odelay without any of its substance. We’ve heard it all before, albeit with less Pro Tooling, but at this point, Beck’s finished off the horse and started beating his own head into the ground.