BECK - Modern Guilt

Giving the rapping a rest, four-chord boppers "Gamma Ray" and "Youthless" stick out as the most single-friendly on a CD short and snappy enough to rarely slog. Chan Marshall sings on the unison choruses of "Orphans" and "Walls", seemingly more for camaraderie's sake than to assert herself into the mix, much more buried than, say, Will Oldham's Sun Kil Moon backups earlier this year. Danger Mouse throws small spanners into the works, such as the latter song's tinny two-bar snare loop; key contribution "Replica" has a dizzy hiccup of a drum sample as imbalanced as The Odd Couple's best beat or two.