Snap judgment: Beck and Danger Mouse's 'Chemtrails'

A decade ago, I wrote in a review of Beck’s Mutations that it might win the prize for the best album of 1968 if the Grammys ever decided to give that award out again. Perhaps I should have saved that remark for Danger Mouse’s Grey Album, his reimagining of The Beatles, (arguably) the actual best album of 1968. So maybe it was inevitable that Beck and Danger Mouse would bond over their shared love of psychedelia and create something like "Chemtrails," the moody, Mutations-esque ballad currently streaming at Beck’s website (look for the boombox widget in the upper right hand corner). With Beck’s falsetto floating dreamily over a foundation of grim, reverberating piano chords, the song sounds terrific to me (or, at least, the two-and-a-half minutes of it playing on endless loop at Beck.com sounds terrific); maybe Beck’s forthcoming disc (still untitled, still no release date, though he’ll be touring this summer to promote it) will be the best 1968 album yet from either of these guys.