Beck

Scientology, it seems, has one of two effects: it turns you into a couch-hopping weirdo or it steers you onto a career-defining creative bender. The latter's the case for Beck Hansen, since his Dianetically-enhanced The Information is another leap in his own self-defined genre of brainy bootie pop. "Strange Apparation" sounds like a glorious update of the Stones' "Torn and Frayed" gospel boogie blues and "Nausea," the album's schizo-funky first single, contains snippets of every brilliant thing he's previously done. Bring on the Thetans!

The Information -- one of the best albums Beck has ever made -- starts with him going
backward. "Elevator Music" is a mundane jumble of talking blues and hip-hop bricolage that
sounds like it should be on a record called More Mellow Gold. The rest of The Information is
just as dense in its rhyme games, rhythmic details and overdub antics. But it is a compelling
overload, combining the sample-delic bloom of Beck's best-loved album, Odelay,... More >