So I've heard three tracks from the new Beck album: two, "Hell Yes" and "Black Tambourine," via videos on the net and "E-Pro" on the radio (the song is his highest charting modern rock radio hit since "Loser," but with Y100 etc. goin' bust, woo-woo). The most striking thing about all of them is that the Dust Brothers no-part-the-same rule has been cast aside. No surprising sound effects, no bizonkers coda, just mixmash mumblin' over a tolerable groove. "Hell Yes" fails to earn an "OK Whatever," but the other two tracks are innocuous and pleasant: welcome breathers between Breaking Benjamin and Crossfade, maintaining the mere professionalism of Sea Change and dropping the dolour. Worse things in the world.