Outside of the occasional Youtube link to a sweet song, I rarely dedicate much space here to music I enjoy unequivocally. Unironically discussing matters of taste on the Internet is a tricky thing since it opens you up for all sorts of criticism from those who might deem your opinions lame or lousy or somehow philistine.

But I can say without shame that Beck is awesome. When I was 14, my dad drove me and a friend to Lollapalooza on Randall’s Island, then sat in the grandstand in khaki pants reading a Smithsonian and looking like the world’s worst undercover narc.

I went down near the front to catch the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, then figured I’d stay up there for Beck just because I thought “Loser” was a pretty cool song. But it turned out Beck could bring it, dancing and playing guitar, rapping and singing, everything.

Then Odelay came out the next year — the one with “Where It’s At” and “Devil’s Haircut” — and swiftly became one of my favorite albums ever, as it remains.

It’s always hard to quantify exactly what I like about music since music’s such an innately abstract thing. But with Beck, I’m pretty sure the thing I most appreciate is his control over the medium.

This is a common thread among my heroes in all art forms: Kurt Vonnegut, Johan Santana, Prince, Charlie Kaufman. They all exhibit a sense of manipulation, like puppet masters pulling strings, demonstrating complete command over their output. Not just creative minds, creative masterminds.

Check out “Nicotine and Gravy,” from the wildly underrated Midnite Vultures. The payoff near the end is one of my favorite musical moments. Oh, by the way, the main part and the double-time part sync up perfectly, because I’m Beck and I’m just this good at making music, so now I’m going to drop it on you all at once.

To quote the great Bob Slydell, I celebrate the guy’s entire collection. I don’t really listen to Beck’s newer stuff as much as the amazing three-album run from 1996-2001, but I’m willing to defer to Beck on matters of taste. If Beck thinks the stuff on Modern Guilt was good enough to publish, it’s probably pretty awesome, even if it doesn’t appeal to me that much.

Also, another cool thing about Beck is this Latin version of “Jackass:”