Score: 8.0

Based on the low-tech videos accompanying this album and the do-it-yourself sticker artwork concept, some would assume Beck would take his music into a similar, more lo-fi direction. They would be wrong. For The Information, Beck’s seventh full-length album, he and producer Nigel Goodrich load the album up sonically, resulting in Beck’s best album of this decade.

Goodrich produced two of the alt-rocker’s previous efforts, 1998’s Mutations and 2002’s Sea Change, but The Information is a major departure from those two album’s mostly folky sounds. Beck claims his latest creation is his “hip-hop album,” but The Information is far from a rap record; rather, it’s a typical Beck album, all beats and wacky sound effects.

Unlike the rest of his output during this decade, Beck’s latest is neither a country-tinged cryfest (Sea Change) or a desperate attempt at better times (the Odelay-wannabe Guero). Rather, The Information finds him exploring the place he’s already in, with surprisingly solid results.

Opener “Elevator Music” bounces along to a typical Beck drum beat, joined by various rattles and synths. The album doesn’t take off until track two, “Think I’m in Love;” the guitar-driven track recalls the sunshine pop of last year’s “Girl,” but slowed-down enough to create an entirely new mood of paranoia, as illustrated by Beck begging to know “What if it’s wrong / To pray in vain? / What does it mean to fake your own death?”

The best songs off The Information echo Beck’s earlier works without recreating them. Take the spastic “100 BPM;” the song replicates Midnight Vulture’s “Hollywood Freaks” lyrical delivery, but eschews glamorous backing beats for a disjointed collection of sounds. Similarly, “New Round” finds Beck returning to his melancholy Sea Change sounds but, with the aid of a fast-paced drum and an occasional boop or beep, creates one of his best-sounding and saddest songs he has ever constructed.

His reliance on the past sometimes backfires. Though lead single “Nausea” calls upon last year’s “Black Tambourine” for inspiration, it ends up dull and unthreatening. The title track relies too heavily on Beck’s usual bizarre side-sounds to stand out, and 10-minute three-part closer “The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton” is a few Xenu references away from being a Scientology-screed in its final moments.

When Beck and Goodrich try something new, the results are resoundingly positive. “Cellphone’s Dead” perfectly combines the discothèque with the Enchanted Tiki Room, and a good slow-dance results. The Information’s stand out track, “We Dance Alone,” struts to a sexy synth-line while Beck suavely rambles off line-after-line of his usual near-nonsense talk, although I’m sure this song actually has a meaning, unlike say, “Devil’s Haircut.” (What was that about again?)

The Information doesn’t come close to matching any of Beck’s 90’s output and, like the rest of his recent work, suffers from a few miscues and a long running time (an hour). Still, it’s is an exciting album full of enjoyable jams and the always-great Beck experimentation (not to mention a whole other disc crammed with every music video made for this album). We may not learn anything new from The Information, but we at least can gather one bit of knowledge; Beck’s still relevant today as he was 10 years ago.

Sidebar: Creating your own album cover for The Information