Beck: The Art of Mutation

The ""ever-chimerical... utterly singular sound maelstrom without boundary or inhibition"" that is Beck is paid prolix tribute by Nevin Martell (Dave Matthews Band: Music for the People) in Beck: The Art of Mutation. This biography-cum-musicology ranges from his unconventional, artistic family (he grew up watching Truffaut movies; his avant-garde grandfather named The Velvet Underground) to his creative, high school-drop-out L.A. youth to his inchoate neo-folk open-mic East Village days to his continuously rising star, with analyses of his music and milieu throughout. Though slimmer than Rob Jovanonic's Beck!: On a Backwards River (Forecasts, Mar. 12), Martell's hip, intelligent critique and enthusiasm for Beck's ""zeitgeist-seizing slice of pop postmodernism"" alongside many quotations and photos of ""the outside insider"" will garner big sales. ( July)