October 9, 2006 11:45

Beck on 'The Information': it’s not a hip hop album

And adds new live dates

Beck has denied that his new album ’The Information’ is a hip hop record.

The album, which was released last Monday (October 2), was widely proclaimed as the singer’s return to the hip hop roots of his classic 1996 album ’Odelay’.

However Beck said that the album was a bit different to this.

“I don’t know how it was billed. But I don’t think it’s a hip-hop record. There’s four or five songs where I’m rapping, if you want to call it that," he explained.

"I think that impression came out because, before we did the record, Nigel (Godrich producer) said: 'I wanna do a hip hop record,' which was the shock of all shocks," Beck told The Onion's AV Club.

“I’ve known Nigel for years, and we’ve made two record together," he added. "It emerged that his favourite works of mine were the hip hop songs - which was completely baffling - and he was encouraging me to do something in that vein again. It has been a lot of years at that point.”

The singer has also added a US date to his current tour. He will play the Landmark Loew’s Theatre in New Jersey on October 21.

Meanwhile, as previously reported, 'The Information' failed to chart in the UK yesterday (October 8) after a DVD and stickers given away with the record broke chart rules.