A “best covers” mixtape sounded like a lot of fun until it dawned on me that there are literally hundreds of covers out there that would qualify for a slot on this list. The sheer mass of contenders was overwhelming, from Cream’s one-upping take on Crossroads to Led Zeppelin’s equally classic Babe I’m Gonna Leave You, to Mötley Crüe’s Smokin’ In The Boys Room or The White Stripes’ Death Letter. Then you’ve got Tricky’s spin on Public Enemy’s Black Steel, or Johnny Cash’s overhyped Hurt (which topped a lot of “All-Time Best Covers” lists, strangely) …the options are almost endless.

Beck and Danger Mouse make a good team. For his tenth album, king weirdo genre-bender Beck Hansen has shed his major label shackles, going the indie route from whence he came, and it’s clear in every note of Modern Guilt that he’s excited about the freedom. For the first time in… shit, in nearly a decade, Beck’s put together an album that feels like a complete piece of work. And it’s good. Like, really good.

You can check out first single Chemtrails on Beck’s MySpace page. When I heard the song, my first instinct was fuck this. After last year’s one-off party jam Time Bomb, I’d prepared myself for a dance-rock album, full of jittery beats and the crazy nonsense jackoff lyrics Beck’s known for. But this? This was some weird tripped out sixties hippie jam shit that didn’t translate. It was like Beck took way too much acid, decided he only wanted to sing in layered falsetto harmonies from here on out and ran off through a hazy-sunlit field. After a minute or two, I moved on. As far as I was concerned, it was shit. Modern Guilt was bound to disappoint.

I was wrong.