Remember how exciting Odelay was? New Pollution, Where It's At, Devil's Haircut? Since then, everybody's favourite Mr Hansen has poured forth in every which genre, and made it look stupidly easy. Even so, the return of Odelay producers The Dust Brothers to the fray is a mouth-watering prospect.
E-Pro, first single from the forthcoming and highly anticipated Guero, is built around the crunching guitar riff from the Beastie Boys' So What'cha Want, perfectly juxtaposed with Beck's trademark lackadaisical, stream-of-consciousness vocals. The naa-naa chorus kicks in just as you're starting to suspect that E-Pro is the most exciting he thing he has done for the best part of a decade.
The man clearly still has it (not that we ever doubted), and seems to be making a belated return to the mashed funk stylings that popped a much-needed exclamation mark on music all those years ago. Beck and The Dust Brothers saved the world once, and with Guero on the horizon, it looks like they're going to do it again.
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