Beck's fall tour with the Flaming Lips as his backing band may yield a collaboration on wax.
After a recent appearance at a Los Angeles radio festival, Beck revealed that he and the Oklahoma City experimentalists enjoyed playing together so much that they've talked about recording together.
That venture joins a long list of potential Beck projects that includes an album with Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, a punk rock collection, another singer/songwriter record similar to this year's Sea Change and a long-delayed tag team with Timbaland (see "Timbaland Plans Studio Time With Beck, Papa Roach").
Which of those, if any, Beck will do next is still up in the air.
"Right now, I'm just doing it all and I'm gonna see what happens," he said. "For me, just getting some kind of momentum happening is the first order of business, and then whatever sort of comes out of that, I just sort through it later. You know, make a big mess."
Beck is in his studio now and plans to spend at least a few months there with whoever walks through his door.
"I tend to just kind of get whoever is around," he explained of his stable of musicians, which includes drummer Joey Waronker, multi-instrumentalist Roger Manning and DJ Swamp. "I started out alone, and whoever I can get to help me at the time is great, but eventually people go on to other things and they get other gigs and they get other lives going."
One might expect Beck to make a duets record given his recent collaborations with Norah Jones, Beth Orton and Zero 7's Sia Furler at KCRW-FM's An Eclectic Evening (see "Beck, Pete Yorn Crash An Already Eclectic Evening") and his "Do They Know It's Christmas?" tribute with Coldpay's Chris Martin, Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba and Jack Johnson at KROQ-FM's Almost Acoustic Christmas (see "Audioslave Deliver Like Santa Claus, Creed Booed At Radio Show").
But Beck said that type of collaboration is meant for the stage. "When you get in situations and you run into somebody, or you are playing these kinds of events when there are 10 different bands, you gotta do something like that," he said. "If I was going to a show like that I would expect that kind of thing to happen. Somebody's got to do it. I think it's important for musicians to play together, sing together, rub against each other. Friction is good."
Although Beck is looking ahead, the acclaimed Sea Change is still making waves and is expected to gain momentum as critics announce their yearly top 10 lists. Beck's albums often end up on best-of lists, but he doesn't take it for granted.
"The people that do like it, I'm glad," he said. "You know, it's a struggle trying to write a good song. If it works out, you couldn't ask for more."
Beck doesn't plan on releasing a follow-up single to Sea Change's "Lost Cause."
"We kind of made it as one piece," he said. "It's a vehicle. You need the steering wheel and you need the bumper. You need the whole thing. You can't just take the wheel off on this thing. It won't really drive."
