XL Recordings

Right now, Beck is in the midst of overhauling his website, and he's using it to post all manner of cool stuff.

We told you about Record Club, Beck's ongoing project to get together with friends and cover entire albums over the course of one day. He's already two songs deep into the first Record Club full-length, the first Velvet Underground album. And now he's announced another ongoing project: the cheekily titled Planned Obsolescence, a weekly DJ set from Beck himself or from as-yet-unnamed friends.

Here's how Beck himself describes the project: "We are putting up a new section, a weekly DJ set, called Planned Obsolescence. These are mixes of what we're listening to, put together by myself or guest DJs. Please enjoy." Click below for the stream of the first mix.

"Autobahn Hologram", the first mix, leans heavily toward damaged synth music. Or, as Beck describes it, "a laminated miasma colliding on the bavarian trans expressway with american analog and voicemail emeritus... alabama nukes, rhineland jukes, pony tailed arch dukes, and the anatomically correct scapegoat..."

"Autobahn Hologram" is exactly as eclectic, jarring, and obscure as you'd expect a Beck DJ set to be. The mix starts off with a short endurance test: A couple of minutes of Pharoah Sanders' squawking free-jazz riot "Red, Black & Green". Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" also makes an appearance, as does Orchestral Manoeuvres in...

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Earlier this year, Beck and Sonic Youth released a split 7" for Record Store Day. SY covered Beck's "Beercan" "Pay No Mind" and Beck had his way with Sonic Youth's "Green Light". It turns out this isn't going to be the last Sonic Youth cover we'll hear from Beck.

In a recent Pitchfork interview, Beck revealed that the "Green Light" cover will appear on a forthcoming and mysterious Sonic Youth box set, which will include Beck covering SY's entire classic 1986 album EVOL. On cassette. Yes, cassette.

Beck's been making a habit of covering entire albums lately. As part of his Record Club project, he's currently in the process of releasing his version of The Velvet Underground and Nico on his website, one song at a time. He wouldn't let slip any of the other albums he'd covered, but he did say that he and MGMT came pretty close to doing Ace of Base's Happy Nation, which would've been incredible.

Here's what Beck had to say about that Sonic Youth box: "They are doing some kind of box where they are getting artists to do photographs and art and pamphlets related to Sonic Youth, and one of the things they were requesting was a cassette. So I signed up for the cassette. I thought it would be an interesting idea, at least, something...

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What the world needs now is more DJs. (Apparently.) Or more wannabe DJs, to be exact. Hence: "DJ Hero", from the makers of "Guitar Hero". In the game, you play a fake turntable and try to excite a fake crowd by mixing and matching songs by the likes of Jay-Z, Eminem, 50 Cent, Justice, Marvin Gaye, Beck, the Beastie Boys, Nirvana, and N.E.R.D.

The 100 tracks in the game have been refashioned into 80 exclusive mixes by the likes of Cut Chemist, DJ AM, DJ Z-Trip, and DJ Shadow, who consulted on the creation of the game, and is also a featured character. Check out what he looks like in the game:

I'm still not sure if you're supposed to play this game during your next hot shit barbecue bash or if you're supposed to play this game instead of going to your next hot shit barbecue bash.

Cheesy-sounding specialized Jay-Z and Eminem versions of the game will also be available when "DJ Hero" comes out this October. Check out preview screen shots and videos at the official DJ Hero site.

Hey, remember "PaRappa the Rapper"? (I'm old.)