"Cellphone's Dead" is a song by American musician

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

. It appears on the album '' The Information'' (2006) and was also released as a single.

Composition

The opening bass synth riff has been cited as reminiscent in tone and rhythmic character of "

Chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (Family (biology), family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 200 species described as of June 2015. The members of this Family (biology), family are best known for ...

" by jazz artist

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

from his 1973 record ''

Head Hunters ''Head Hunters'' is the twelfth studio album by American pianist, keyboardist and composer Herbie Hancock, released October 26, 1973, on Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in the evening at Wally Heider Studios and D ...

''.

Music video

The music video was directed by

Michel Gondry Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker and producer noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one o ...

. It is available on the 2009 DVD compilation '' Michel Gondry 2: More Videos (Before and After DVD 1)''. The video was filmed to resemble one long shot and employs Gondry's signature usage of special effects. In the black-and-white video, Beck walks into an empty house, tuning a radio to different stations, then sitting down in a chair, where he sings the song. Suddenly, the view of the city skyline outside morphs into a 2-dimensional humanoid figure, and the door morphs into a figure as well. As the video progresses, Beck and those two figures morph into each other, transforming into doors and skylines, while the apartment's radio and dresser morph into different forms, as well. The visual effects were completed a
Fly Studio

BPitch Control remixes

A remix

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compa ...

was released by

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

-based label

BPitch Control Ellen Fraatz, known professionally as Ellen Allien, is a Berlin-based German electronic musician, music producer, and the founder of BPitch Control music label. Her album '' Stadtkind'' was dedicated to the city of Berlin, and she cites the cu ...

, featuring remixes by

Ellen Allien Ellen Fraatz, known professionally as Ellen Allien, is a Berlin-based German electronic musician, music producer, and the founder of BPitch Control music label. Her album '' Stadtkind'' was dedicated to the city of Berlin, and she cites the cu ...

and

Ricardo Villalobos Ricardo Villalobos (born 6 August 1970) is a Chilean-born German electronic music producer and DJ. He is well known for his work in the minimal techno and microhouse genres, and is one of the most significant figures in the minimal techno scene. ...

. These remixes also appear on disc 2 of the deluxe version of '' The Information''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cellphone's Dead Beck songs 2006 songs Music videos directed by Michel Gondry Song recordings produced by Nigel Godrich Songs written by Beck