41 Things Beck Has Done Since He Stopped Making Albums

He’s designed sunglasses, put on art shows, covered classic records and collaborated with pretty much everyone.

1. June 2009: Record Club Cover The Velvet Underground’s Debut Album In Full

Video available at: http://vimeo.com/6086674.

The first in Beck’s series of full-album covers was done with members of his live band along with his frequent producer Nigel Godrich and actor Giovanni Ribisi, who happens to be his brother-in-law.

Via: beck.com

2. July 2009: Released An Acoustic Version Of The “Modern Guilt” Album

Video available at: http://vimeo.com/5656862.

Here’s the stripped-down rendition of “Gamma Ray.”

Source: vimeo.com

3. August 2009: Collaborated With Charlotte Gainsbourg

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CrWN0-MuK38.

Beck co-wrote most of her 2009 album IRM, and contributed even more music to her 2011 rarities release, Stage Whispers.

4. September 2009: Record Club Covers “Songs Of Leonard Cohen”

Video available at: http://vimeo.com/6861236.

Beck was joined by Devendra Banhart and members of MGMT and Wolfmother for the second Record Club project.

Source: vimeo.com

5. November 2009: Record Club Does Skip Spence’s “Oar”

Video available at: http://vimeo.com/7580419.

The third Record Club featured Leslie Feist, Jamie Lidell and all of Wilco.

Source: vimeo.com

6. November 2009: Designed A Shirt For Every Record Club Album

Here’s the shirt for The Velvet Underground & Nico, the first in the series.

Via: beck.com

7. December 2009: Began Curating Digital Art Shows On His Website

The Colorspace section of his site has hosted virtual gallery shows for seven artists.

8. February 2010: Wrote A Song for Harry Partch

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=j5xhpIFxi7M.

Beck created a piece of music utilizing a a 43-tone scale to pay tribute to the experimental composer’s innovative work with non-traditional tonalities.

Source: youtube.com

9. February 2010: Started An Interview Series

Beck conducted informal interviews with people like comedian Demetri Martin, to Will Ferrell, and even a Will Ferrell look-alike who was working as an extra in a Charlotte Gainsbourg music video.

10. February 2010: Began The “Planned Obsolescence” Mix Series

Beck’s DJ series had a total of 23 (!) mixes, either by Beck himself or from guest DJs. They’re intended to be ephemeral, and are now mostly quite hard to find.

11. March 2010: Wrote Most Of The “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World” Soundtrack

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=UD39u8lV_ps.

Beck wrote all of the material for the title character’s band and collaborated with Japanese musician Cornelius for other music used in the movie.

12. March 2010: Record Club Takes On INXS’s “Kick”

Video available at: http://vimeo.com/10823047.

This time around, he was joined by St. Vincent’s Annie Clark and members of Liars.

Source: vimeo.com

13. May 2010: Wrote A Song For “True Blood”

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=nxq_M75HAwg.

Appropriately enough, it’s called “Bad Blood.”

Source: youtube.com

14. May 2010: Recorded Songs With Tobacco

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=cDz4ycVgXS8.

Here’s the video for “Grape Aerosmith,” one of two songs they did together.

Source: youtube.com

15. June 2010: Teamed Up With Bat For Lashes For A “Twilight” Soundtrack

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=PMFdsiN_VhQ.

Their song, “Let’s Get Lost,” was on the Eclipse soundtrack.

Source: youtube.com

16. June 2010: Record Club Does A Yanni Album

Video available at: http://vimeo.com/14496250.

Beck teamed up with Thurston Moore and the post-rock band Tortoise to cover Live at the Acropolis, which is by far the strangest Record Club project to date.

Source: vimeo.com

17. August 2010: Co-Wrote The Theme For Todd Solondz’s Movie “Life During Wartime”

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CJ1IWw63rmQ.

The song “Life During Wartime,” recorded with Devendra Banhart, is an original and not a cover of the famous Talking Heads tune.

Source: youtube.com

18. November 2010: Hosted A Mercedes Helnwein Art Show

Helnwein was also featured in Beck’s Colorspace gallery.

19. December 2010: Remixed A Lykke Li Song

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=sLvAbIxhx30.

Here’s Beck’s version of “Get Some.”

Source: youtube.com

20. May 2011: Collaborated With Lonely Island

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=UCyw8OyfME8.

He produced and appeared on the song “Attracted To Us.”

Source: youtube.com

21. May 2011: Produced Jamie Lidell’s Album “Compass”

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=9r7i1ElSERU.

He also remixed the track “Completely Exposed”

Source: youtube.com

22. May 2011: Produced A Thurston Moore Album

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=nnRqqz7f6OI.

Beck helped the Sonic Youth guitarist create Demolished Thoughts, the most delicate album of his career. He’s the video for “Circulation.”

Source: youtube.com

23. June 2011: Designed An Issue Of Francis Ford Coppola’s Magazine “Zoetrope”

24. August 2011: Produced A Stephen Malkmus Album

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=pADR7Hx9xqk.

Mirror Traffic was Becks first collaboration with the former Pavement leader. “Senator” was the first single.

Source: youtube.com

25. August 2011: Performed At A Serge Gainsbourg Tribute In Hollywood

Source: LA Times  /  via: latimesblogs.latimes.com

26. September 2011: Recorded A Song For A John Martyn Tribute

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=rIvDO4pMaTU.

He did “Stormbringer.”

Source: youtube.com

27. October 2011: Designed More T-Shirts

This one is a nod to his amazing Midnite Vultures song “Debra.”

28. January 2012: Remixed A Feist Song

Here’s his take on “How Come You Never Go There,” from Metals.

29. February 2012: Designed These Sunglasses

The shades, called the “Double Helix”, were designed in collaboration with Oliver Peoples and inspired by Beck’s own collection of vintage frames.

30. March 2012: Wrote A Song For The “Jeff, Who Lives At Home” Soundtrack

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=5G5psM6iMAY.

He recorded “Looking For A Sign” in collaboration with the band Jeff, the Brotherhood.

Source: youtube.com

31. April 2012: Recorded A Cover Of “Corrina, Corrina”

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=WHvA1MM2g3s.

The cover was commissioned for the Every Mother Counts benefit compilation.

Source: youtube.com

32. April 2012: Covered “I Only Have Eyes For You”

This was recorded for Doug Aitken’s “Song 1” installation at the Hirshorn Museum in Washington, DC. The installation projected a short film on the museum’s exterior every night for a month and featured contributions from Tilda Swinton and James Murphy.

33. May 2012: Released A Single On Jack White’s Third Man Records

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=YI8iSeE9JxQ.

Beck recorded the two tracks on this single, “I Just Started Hating Some People Today” and “Blue Randy” at the Third Man Studios in Nashville, TN. Third Man pressed a special edition of 100 three-color records (black, white, and gold) for “Blue Randy“‘s namesake, Randy’s Records in Nashville.

Source: youtube.com

34. July 2012: Dropped A Verse On A Childish Gambino Mixtape

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=sBz4JsObzy0.

Beck doesn’t rap much these days, but he contributed a verse on “Silk Pillow.”

Source: youtube.com

35. August 2012: Wrote Songs For The “Sound Shapes” Video Game

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=mwZtt4Q9CxY.

He contributed three new tracks to the game, which allows players to create original music to complete levels.

Source: Stereogum  /  via: stereogum.com

36. August 2012: Produced Karen Elson’s Fleetwood Mac Cover

The model/singer’s rendition of “Gold Dust Woman” appears on the Fleetwood Mac tribute album, Just Tell Me That You Want Me, which also features contributions from The New Pornographers, Best Coast, and The Kills.

Source: w.soundcloud.com

37. September 2012: Covered Caetano Veloso

Here’s his version of “Michelangelo Antonioni” to commemorate the Tropicalia legend’s 70th birthday.

Source: w.soundcloud.com

38. September 2012: Taught A Synthesizer Class In Marfa, TX

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=BJcbOIpIFaY.

The free synthesizer class happened over four days in 2012, and was co-taught with Beck’s longtime keyboard player, Brian Lebarton. According to Beck’s website, the class was open to synthesizer programmers of all ages and covered, “alternative recording and sound design techniques and introductions to looping and sampling” and required no previous experience.

39. September 2012: Produced A Track For Dwight Yoakam

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=A0DkddeTSEM.

Here’s “A Heart Like Mine” from 3 Pears.

Source: youtube.com

40. October 2012: Remixed Phillip Glass

His remix is part of a tribute album he assembled called “REWORK_” with new remixes from Dan Deacon, Amon Tobin, and more. Beck’s track, “NYC 73 - 78”, features parts of 20 compositions by Glass.

Source: w.soundcloud.com

41. December 2012: Will Release A Book Of Sheet Music

He will release a collection of sheet music for 20 all-new songs as a book in collaboration with McSweeney’s.