Beck Announces New “Album”, Beck Hansen’s Song Reader, Which You Need to Play Yourself to Hear

We’ve been watching for Beck to release an album. Instead, he’s been busy collaborating with Childish Gambino, or writing music for video games. But we finally – FINALLY – have some news. Beck’s new album will be in the form of Beck Hansen’s Song Reader (via Pitchfork). So what the hell does that mean exactly? The 20 songs exist only as sheet music, whatever the hell that is. Not only have these songs never been release – they have never been recorded. Um, okay?

So if you want to hear songs such as “Do We? We Do,” or “Don’t Act Like Your Heart Isn’t Hard,” you need to perform them yourselves! What the hell, Beck – and I thought I was fuckin’ lazy! From the website:

“BECK HANSEN’S SONG READER features original art from Marcel Dzama (who created the imagery for Beck’s acclaimed Guero), Leanne Shapton, Josh Cochran, Jessica Hische, and many more, as well as an introduction by Jody Rosen (Slate, The New York Times) and a foreword by Beck. The package measures 9.5” x 12.5” with 108 pages comprising 20 individual full-color song booklets—18 featuring original lyrics, and 2 instrumentals—with covers from more than a dozen different artists.”

“Readers’ (and select musicians’) renditions of the songs will be featured on the McSweeney’s website. Check back at http://www.mcsweeneys.net/pages/song-reader and BECK.COM for further information and updates as they are available.”

Innovative? Yes. Am I pissed off? Yes. Am I wearing pants? Maybe…

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