Modern Guilt


Modern Guilt is the eighth official studio album and eleventh overall by American alternative artist Beck. Modern Guilt features two contributions by Cat Power and was produced by Beck and Danger Mouse. The album lasts 33 minutes, making it the shortest album by Beck to date.
It was released on July 8, 2008, fulfilling Beck's recording contract with Interscope Records, along with Geffen as well. Critics' reviews were favorable. A vinyl record of the album, including download codes for the 320-kbit/s digital version of the album direct from the master vinyl, was released on July 22, 2008.

Reception

The album received generally positive reviews upon release, earning a rating of 77 out of 100 on Metacritic. Filter said of the album "Beck is somehow more aware while puffing out his waves of broken poetry as opposed to the casual seed-spitting he has been known to turn to," and AllMusic said that it was "an effective dosage of 21st century paranoia." Some negative reviews, such as PopMatters, said that the album "lacks the unique resonating timbres one is accustomed to with Beck," and The Guardian called it "a vanity project".
In December 2008, Modern Guilt was nominated for Best Alternative Album at the 51st Grammy Awards, but it later lost to In Rainbows by Radiohead.

Accolades

Track listing

Personnel

Commercial performance

The album entered both the Billboard 200 and the Canadian Albums Chart at number four, and gave Beck his first ever Top 10 placing on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number nine. The album has also been Beck's second-best charting album in Australia reaching number 13, behind his twelfth studio album Morning Phase, which debuted and peaked at number 5 in 2014. In the US, the album sold 84,000 copies in its first week. Although successful, this does not match the first week sales of The Information, which were 99,000. In Canada, the album sold over 6,000 copies in its first week.
It was awarded a silver certification from the Independent Music Companies Association which indicated sales of at least 30,000 copies throughout Europe.

Weekly charts

Release history