BECK HANSEN’S SONG READER COMING IN DECEMBER 2012
Beck has confirmed a surprise show August 9 show at Bimbo’s in San Francisco in advance of his appearance at this weekend’s Outside Lands festival. Tickets go on sale noon PST for the 18+ show, with a limit of two tickets per order. Tickets must be picked up day of show at will call with photo ID and are non-transferable with no ins and outs. Doors will be at 7:30 p.m. and showtime is 9:00 p.m.
Beck has also confirmed details of the long-gestating BECK HANSEN’S SONG READER, to be released December 2012 by McSweeney’s:
In the wake of Modern Guilt and The Information, Beck’s latest album comes in an almost-forgotten form—twenty songs existing only as individual pieces of sheet music, never before released or recorded. Complete with full-color, heyday-of- home-play-inspired art for each song and a lavishly produced hardcover carrying case (and, when necessary, ukelele notation), the Song Reader is an experiment in what an album can be at the end of 2012—an alternative that enlists the listener in the tone of every track, and that’s as visually absorbing as a dozen gatefold LPs put together.
The songs here are as unfailingly exciting as you’d expect from their author, but if you want to hear “Do We? We Do,” or “Don’t Act Like Your Heart Isn’t Hard,” bringing them to life depends on you.
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.