Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T20:57:10.242Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Who is Beck? Sonic markers as a compositional tool in pop production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2016

Eirik Askeroi
Eirik Askeroi*
Affiliation:
Arnes vei 2, 0488 Oslo, Norway email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Throughout the history of music recording, the use of certain technologies and instruments has left distinctive marks on recordings – marks that imply an intrinsic relationship between an era and a sound. At the same time, producers and artists have taken advantage of this relationship, constructing and otherwise exploiting what I have elsewhere conceptualised as sonic markers. This study explores how Beck's use of sound as a compositional tool constructs sonic markers that have in turn contributed profoundly to the formation of his musical identity. First, I take into account Beck's use of various pop aesthetics to explore how sonic markers are constructed through appropriation. Second, I offer an assessment of the ways in which Beck's musical identity has been formed from his play with the sonic markers of other eras. Third, I provide an analytical account of ‘Sexx Laws’ (1999) to illustrate how Beck's play with sonic markers of time also informs individual song structure and composition.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , October 2016 , pp. 380 - 395
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Aiken, K. 1999. ‘Review of Beck: Midnite Vultures’, Uncut (December)Google Scholar
Askeroi, E. 2011. ‘No love in modern life: matters of performance and production in a Morrissey song’, in Morrissey: Fandom, Representations and Identities, ed. Devereux, E., Dillane, A. and Power, M. (Bristol, Intellect Books), pp. 207–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Askeroi, E. 2013. ‘Reading pop production: sonic markers and musical identity’, PhD thesis (University of Agder)Google Scholar
Blashill, P. et al. 2003. ‘500 greatest albums of all time ’, Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/beck-odelay-20120524 Google Scholar
Bowman, R. 1995. ‘The Stax sound: a musicological analysis’, Popular Music, 14/3, pp. 285–320 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burns, L., Lafrance, M., and Hawley, L. 2008. ‘Embodied subjectivities in the lyrical and musical expression of PJ Harvey and Björk’, Music Theory Online 14/4. http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.08.14.4/mto.08.14.4.burns_lafrance_hawley.html Google Scholar
Clarke, E.F., and Dibben, N. 2000. ‘Sex, pulp and critique’, Popular Music, 19/2, pp. 231–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowley, J. 1981. ‘Really the “Walking Blues”: Son House, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and the development of a traditional blues’, Popular Music, 1, pp. 57–72 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Danielsen, A. 2008. ‘The musicalization of “reality”: reality rap and rap reality on Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet’, European Journal of Cultural Studies, 11/4, pp. 405–21Google Scholar
Dombal, R. 2011. ‘Beck: 15 years’, Pitchfork. http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/8026-beck-15-years/ Google Scholar
Erlewine, S.T. 2006. ‘Beck: the information’. http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-information-r859047/review Google Scholar
Fricke, D. 2002. ‘Beck: Sea Change’, Rolling Stone, 3 OctoberGoogle Scholar
Frith, S. 1996. Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music (Oxford, Oxford University Press)Google Scholar
Gracyk, T. 1996. Rhythm and Noise: An Aesthetics of Rock (Durham, NC, Duke University Press)Google Scholar
Hawkins, S. 2002. Settling the Pop Score: Pop Texts and Identity Politics (Aldershot, Ashgate)Google Scholar
Hawkins, S. 2009. The British Pop Dandy: Masculinity, Popular Music and Culture (Farnham, Ashgate)Google Scholar
Hawkins, S. 2011. ‘“You have killed me”: tropes of hyperbole and sentimentality in Morrissey's Musical Expression’, in Morrissey: Fandom, Representations and Identities, ed. Devereux, E., Dillane, A. and Power, M. (Bristol, Intellect Books) pp. 207–24Google Scholar
Hawkins, S., and Niblock, S. 2011. Prince: The Making of a Pop Music Phenomenon (Aldershot, Ashgate)Google Scholar
Hesmondhalgh, D. 2000. ‘International times: fusions, exoticism, and antiracism in electronic dance music’, in Western Music and Its Others: Difference, Representation, and Appropriation in Music, ed. Born, G. and Hesmondhalgh, D. (Berkeley, CA, University of California Press)Google Scholar
Hoskyns, B. 1997. ‘The mix-up kid’, Mojo (March)Google Scholar
Hoskyns, B. 1998. ‘The shock of the old: Beck and the new roots explosion’, Mojo (December)Google Scholar
Hoskyns, B. 2005. ‘Beck: Guero’, Uncut (March)Google Scholar
Jarman-Ivens, F. 2006. ‘Breaking voices: voice, fragmentation, and subjectivity in popular music’, PhD thesis (Newcastle University)Google Scholar
Jovanovic, R. 2000. Beck!: On a Backwards River: The Story of Beck (London, Virgin)Google Scholar
Katz, M. 2004. Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music (Berkeley, CA, University of California Press)Google Scholar
Kemp, M. 1994. ‘Beck: folk futurist’, Option Google Scholar
Lacasse, S. 2000. ‘Listen to my voice: the evocative power of vocal staging in recorded rock music and other forms of vocal expression’, PhD thesis (University of Liverpool)Google Scholar
Lewisohn, M. 1988. The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years (London, Hamlyn)Google Scholar
Lipton, B., and Bee, M.. 1998. ‘Beck interview with robot’. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBk5tNrxXC0 Google Scholar
Maher, D. 2008. ‘Beck’, Pitchfork, 2 September. http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/7524-beck/ Google Scholar
Middleton, R. 1990. Studying Popular Music (Milton Keynes, Open University Press)Google Scholar
Mitchum, R. 2005. ‘Beck: Guero’, Pitchfork, 27 March. http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/621-guero/ Google Scholar
Moorefield, V. 2005. The Producer as Composer: Shaping the Sounds of Popular Music (Cambridge, MA, MIT Press)Google Scholar
Pareles, J. 2002. ‘Beck: Midnite Vultures’, Rolling Stone, 27 November. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/midnite-vultures-20021127 Google Scholar
Payne, C. 2015. ‘Who is Beck?’. Billboard (15 February). Available at http://www.billboard.com/articles/events/grammys-2015/6465674/who-is-beck-grammy-2015-album-of-the-year-beyonce-morning-phase Google Scholar
Rambarran, S.D.A. 2010. Innovations in Contemporary Popular Music and Digital Media, and Reconstructions of the Music Industry in the 21st Century (Salford, University of Salford Press)Google Scholar
Toynbee, J. 2000. Making Popular Music: Musicians, Creativity and Institutions (London, Arnold)Google Scholar
Walser, R. 1993. Running With the Devil: Power, Gender and Madness in Heavy Metal Music (Hanover, NH, University Press of New England)Google Scholar
Warwick, J. 2009. ‘Singing style and white masculinity’, The Ashgate Research Companion to Popular Musicology, ed. Scott, D.B. (Aldershot, Ashgate)Google Scholar
Zak, A. 2001. The Poetics of Rock: Cutting Tracks, Making Records (Berkeley, CA, University of California Press)Google Scholar
Beck, ‘Cellphone's Dead’, The Information. Interscope, B000IHZIX4. 2006 Google Scholar
Beck, ‘Cold Brains’, Mutations. Geffen Records, B0000241S1. 1998 Google Scholar
Beck, ‘E-Pro’, Guero. Interscope, B0007U1NTA. 2005 Google Scholar
Beck, ‘Loser’, Mellow Gold. Geffen Records, B000003TB2. 1994 Google Scholar
Beck, ‘Lost Cause’, Sea Change. Geffen Records, B00006F7S4. 2002 Google Scholar
Beck, ‘Sexx Laws’, Midnite Vultures. Geffen Records, B000033JZU. 1999 Google Scholar
Beck, ‘Where It's At’, Odelay. Geffen Records, B000006SU7. 1996 Google Scholar
Beck, ‘Cellphone's Dead’, The Information. Interscope, B000IHZIX4. 2006 Google Scholar
Beck, ‘Cold Brains’, Mutations. Geffen Records, B0000241S1. 1998 Google Scholar
Beck, ‘E-Pro’, Guero. Interscope, B0007U1NTA. 2005 Google Scholar
Beck, ‘Loser’, Mellow Gold. Geffen Records, B000003TB2. 1994 Google Scholar
Beck, ‘Lost Cause’, Sea Change. Geffen Records, B00006F7S4. 2002 Google Scholar
Beck, ‘Sexx Laws’, Midnite Vultures. Geffen Records, B000033JZU. 1999 Google Scholar
Beck, ‘Where It's At’, Odelay. Geffen Records, B000006SU7. 1996 Google Scholar