National male vocalist

Beck

Side tripping

Beck is again the winner in this category, despite a year of doing, by his own perverse standards, not much. To hear him tell it, his astonishing 1998 release Mutations (Geffen) was something he just tossed off during a couple weeks of free time, a stopgap before he finishes the album that will be the "real" follow-up to 1997's monster Odelay (Geffen). This from a man who introduced himself and his trademark collage of sounds and styles with a hit anthem ("Loser") that he recorded on a four-track at home. Still, Mutations did seem a side trip, if not a deliberate leap backward, something the Kinks might have recorded 30 years ago had they been fronted by Syd Barrett. Instead of mixing hip-hop, folk, and funk, Mutations mixed psychedelia, tropicalia, and melancholia -- all in actual verse-chorus-verse songs performed by an actual band (Beck's touring quartet). Beck was so retro that he even appeared among the neo-jam bands on the H.O.R.D.E. tour. Now that he's proven himself as both an electrifying live performer and a musician with solid skills, rather than just a smirking dadaist prankster, Beck has laid the foundation for a long career, one certain to be full of interesting twists and side trips.

-- Gary Susman

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The Mutations page
Slo-jam Central, a fan page
The Official Beck page at Geffen

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