"Cellphone's Dead" is a song and single by Beck

Beck

Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...

 on The Information

The Information

The Information is the tenth studio album by American alternative rock musician Beck, released in October 2006 on Interscope Records. It was produced and mixed by longtime Beck collaborator Nigel Godrich. Recording began in 2003 concurrently with Guero, but the album was not completed until 2006...

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Musical structure

The song starts with acoustic guitars and percussion. Then a bass guitar riff comes in and Beck starts rapping. The acoustic guitar and percussion section comes back in for the chorus. There is a piano melody played throughout the song. The song is similar to the song "Hell Yes

Hell Yes (Beck Song)

Hell Yes, or Ghettochip Malfunction, or GameBoy Variations, is a remix EP of several songs from Beck's 2005 album, Guero. The prominent feature of the EP is the persistent use of sound effects and tones generated from 8-bit or 16-bit video game systems, giving the songs a somewhat 80s retro or...

" off of his previous album Guero

Guero

Guero is the ninth studio album by American alternative rock artist Beck, first released in March 2005 on Interscope Records. It debuted on Billboard's Top 200 Album chart at #2 , and in the UK at #15 . To date, this is Beck's highest charting CD...

in terms of structure and musical style.

The opening bass riff is reminiscent in tone and rhythmic character of "Chameleon

Chameleon (composition)

"Chameleon" is a jazz standard composed by Herbie Hancock in collaboration with Bennie Maupin, Paul Jackson and Harvey Mason, all of whom also performed the original 15'44" version on the 1973 landmark album Head Hunters featuring solos by Hancock and Maupin....

" by jazz artist Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock

Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...

 from his 1973 record Head Hunters

Head Hunters

Head Hunters is the twelfth studio album by American jazz musician Herbie Hancock, released October 13, 1973, on Columbia Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place during September 1973 at Wally Heider Studios and Different Fur Trading Co. in San Francisco, California...

. However, it is in no way a sample or re-recording of that earlier bass line.

Music video

The music video was directed by Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry is an Academy Award winning filmmaker, whose works include being a commercial director, music video director, and a screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scène. - Life and career :...

. It is available on the DVD compilation Michel Gondry 2: More Videos (Before and After DVD 1)

Michel Gondry 2: More Videos (Before and After DVD 1)

Michel Gondry 2: More Videos is a DVD compilation of music videos and short films by director Michel Gondry. It was released in April 2009 and includes videos which were not included on Gondry's Directors Label DVD. The compilation includes nearly three hours of videos and never-before-seen...

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The video is done to resemble one long shot, and uses 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.

BPitch Control Remixes

A remix 12"

12-inch single

The 12-inch single is a type of gramophone record that has wider groove spacing compared to other types of records. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the cutting engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality...

 was released by Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

-based label BPitch Control

BPitch Control

BPitch Control is a German techno record label founded in 1999 in Berlin by DJ and producer Ellen Allien. In 1992 she became resident DJ at the legendary Tresor club in Berlin's Potsdamer Platz...

, featuring remixes by Ellen Allien

Ellen Allien

Ellen Allien, born Ellen Fraatz , is a German electronic musician, music producer and founder of BPitch Control music label. She lives in Berlin, Germany. She sings in both German and English. She has said that one of the main inspirations for her music is the culture of reunified Berlin; her...

 and Ricardo Villalobos

Ricardo Villalobos

Ricardo Villalobos is a Chilean-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 today's minimal techno scene....

. These remixes are also on Disc 2 of the deluxe version of The Information

The Information

The Information is the tenth studio album by American alternative rock musician Beck, released in October 2006 on Interscope Records. It was produced and mixed by longtime Beck collaborator Nigel Godrich. Recording began in 2003 concurrently with Guero, but the album was not completed until 2006...

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