Album
Modern Guilt
Modern Guilt is Beck's eleventh studio album, released in July 2008. He made it with Danger Mouse, who shared production duties, and Cat Power appears on two tracks. It came out through DGC Records and XL Recordings, and it leans into a blend of alternative rock, indie rock, electronic textures and neo-psychedelia.
It follows The Information from 2006 and arrived as the last Beck studio album before Morning Phase in 2014, so it closes a chapter in his career. Hearing him work with an outside co-producer is part of the appeal here, and the pairing gives the record a distinct character within his catalogue. It is a good place to start if you like your Beck on the psychedelic side.
Modern Guilt: tracklist, credits and charts
10 tracks · 33:43Tracklist
- 1OrphansBeck3:16
- 2Gamma RayBeck2:57
- 3ChemtrailsBeck4:40
- 4Modern GuiltBeck3:14
- 5YouthlessBeck2:59
- 6WallsBeck, Mouse, Guiot, Piot2:22
- 7ReplicaBeck3:25
- 8Soul of a ManBeck2:36
- 9Profanity PrayersBeck3:43
- 10VolcanoBeck4:29
- Produced by
- Beck, Danger Mouse, Beck Hansen
- Recorded at
- Anonyme, Los Angeles
- Recorded
- 2008
- Mixed by
- Kennie Takahashi, Darrell Thorp
- Engineered by
- Drew Brown, Darrell Thorp
- Labels
- Hostess Entertainment Unlimited, DGC, XL
- Length
- 33:43
Line-up
- Beck · flute, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, percussion, vocals, guitar family, electric piano, bass, guitar, marimba, tambourine, slide guitar
- Jason Falkner · bass, guitar · guest
- Brian LeBarton · synthesizer · guest
- Cat Power · vocals · guest
- Danger Mouse · other instruments, keyboard bass, synthesizer
- Greg Kurstin · organ, piano, synthesizer
- Joey Waronker · membranophone · guest
- Larry Corbett · cello · guest
- Matt Mahaffey · bass · guest
Singles
- “Chemtrails” · 23 June 2008
- “Gamma Ray” · 11 August 2008
- “Youthless” · 22 December 2008
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 · 2008 | 4 |
| UK Albums Chart · 2008 | 9 |
| UK Independent Albums · 2008 | 1 |
| US Tastemaker · 2008 | 1 |
| US Alternative · 2008 | 2 |
| US Top Rock Albums · 2008 | 2 |
| Canadian Albums (Billboard) · 2008 | 4 |
| Australian Albums (ARIA) · 2008 | 13 |
| Swiss Albums · 2008 | 14 |
| Scottish Albums · 2008 | 15 |
All 19 charts
| Belgian Albums (Flanders) · 2008 | 16 |
| New Zealand Albums · 2008 | 21 |
| Norwegian Albums · 2008 | 24 |
| Danish Albums · 2008 | 32 |
| Dutch Albums · 2008 | 33 |
| Austrian Albums · 2008 | 42 |
| French Albums · 2008 | 45 |
| Belgian Albums (Wallonia) · 2008 | 46 |
| German Albums · 2008 | 63 |
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
67.0
Popularity (0–100, vs the whole vault)
4.9k
ListenBrainz listeners
32k
Wikipedia views, last 12 months
4.6k
Deezer fans (all editions)
Released the same week
Also released on 7 July
Every year →
More from Beck
Full discography →
Golden Feelings
1993
Mellow Gold Tour Sampler
1994
A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight
1994
Stereopathetic Soulmanure
1994
Mellow Gold
1994
One Foot in the Grave
1994
Beck We Are Bacteria 1995
We Are Bacteria
1995
Odelay
1996
Beck The New Pollution and Other Favorites 1997
The New Pollution and Other Favorites
1997
Mutations
1998
Midnite Vultures
1999
Stray Blues: A Collection of B-Sides
2000
Beck
2001
Sea Change
2002
Gameboy Variations (Hell Yes EP)
2005
Guero
2005
Guerolito
2005
The Information
2006
Defriended (Extended Version)
2013
Morning Phase
2014
Song Reader: Twenty Songs by Beck
2014
Colors
2017
Paisley Park Sessions
2019
Hyperspace
2019
Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime
2026
Ride Lonesome
2026
The best of 2008
All of 2008 →
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All Hope Is Gone
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Chinese Democracy
Guns N’ Roses · 2008
Black Ice
AC/DC · 2008
Dark Horse
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Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace
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Ghosts I–IV
Nine Inch Nails · 2008
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More on Hostess Entertainment Unlimited
The label →
Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia 2008-07-07 vs 2008-07-05 (musicbrainz), 2008-07-08 (wikidata)
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 5 July 2008 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | 7 July 2008 | |
| Wikidata | 8 July 2008 | |
| US release | 8 July 2008 | earliest US date |
| UK / Europe release | 7 July 2008 | earliest UK or European date |
11 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | US | — | other | |
| 2008 | JP | Hostess Entertainment Unlimited | other | |
| 5 July 2008 | AU | DGC Records | 602517754416 | original |
| 7 July 2008 | GB | XL Recordings | 634904036928 | other |
| 7 July 2008 | GB | XL Recordings | 0634904036911 | other |
| 8 July 2008 | US | DGC Records | 0602517754416 | other |
| 8 July 2008 | AF | — | 859726516445 | other |
| 8 July 2008 | CA | DGC Records | 602517754416 | other |
| 22 July 2008 | US | Interscope Records | 0602517788442 | other |
| 18 March 2009 | JP | Hostess Entertainment Unlimited | 4582214504001 | other |
| 27 October 2017 | US | Interscope Records | 602557034974 | other |
Cover art sources
itunes · native: native 3000x3000
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| itunes ✓ | 3000×3000 | native: native 3000x3000 |
| deezer | 1200×1200 | upscaled |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |
| coverartarchive | 600×595 | upscaled |