The Beta Band: The Beta Band

Imagine a collection of Beck B-sides. Now imagine a collection of the B-sides to those B-sides and you're on the right track toward conjuring the sounds of the much-hyped Beta Band's new, self-titled album. Bringing the spirit, if not the style, of psychedelia to the modern age, The Beta Band takes an everything-including-the-kitchen-sink approach to songwriting, throwing samples, strange noises, fragments of verses and choruses, and other odd bits into sometimes epic songs that create the illusion of a jam band from outer space. But here, as on the earlier collection The Three EPs, that doesn't always make for particularly strong material: The songs often have the odd distinction of being interesting without being compelling. Known in Britain for its sense of humor, the group's album-opening "The Beta Band Rap"—a sort of how-we-came-to-be update of "(Theme From) The Monkees" and the Beastie Boys' "Paul Revere"—gives the impression of being far more fun to record than it is to hear. But at least it goes somewhere, which can't be said of most of The Beta Band, the rambling "Dance O'er The Border" serving as a low point. The spirit feels right, but the execution seems dreadfully wrong. Listen to the near-gorgeous "It's Not Too Beautiful" and it seems like The Beta Band might be on to something, but the album needs quite a few more songs like it to make clear what that is. The group members have publicly disavowed this album, which means they must know something didn't go as well as it should. If The Beta Band finds a way to hone the abundance of cleverness it clearly has floating about, it could make amends for this misstep, but The Beta Band suggests that there's quite a bit of work to be done before that can happen. It's intriguing, yes, but in such a way that illustrates the point at which intrigue turns into frustration.