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All Music Guide:
Canadian singer/songwriter Howie Beck plays pop music that balances a melancholy undertow with the bright buoyancy of superbly crafted melodies, and the result has made him an international phenomenon almost in spite of himself. Toronto-based Beck made his first album in 1997; the home-recorded and self-released Pop and Crash was primarily made while Beck was stuck in the house getting over a case of mononucleosis. While Pop and Crash didn't find much of an audience, its reception encouraged Beck to try again, and his second album, another homemade effort titled Hollow, fared significantly better. Like Pop and Crash, 1999's Hollow was released through Beck's own 13 Clouds imprint, but a handful of good reviews and enthusiastic word of mouth brought the album to the attention of a British independent label, Easy! Tiger Records, and their 2001 reissue of the album became a modest hit in the U.K., and helped spread his name in Canada and the United States.
Soon Beck was sharing concert stages with the likes of Aimee Mann, Interpol, Stereophonics, and Josh Rouse, and his songs were licensed for use on such TV shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Felicity. However, the events of September 11, 2001, threw Beck into a deep depression, and when Easy! Tiger went out of business, Beck's career went into neutral. Beck made guest appearances on albums by Hayden and Sarah Harmer, but it wasn't until 2004 that his next album, simply called Howie Beck and once again recorded at home (though its lush sound would lead you to imagine otherwise), finally appeared. Howie Beck was released in Canada through 13 Clouds, and in 2006 Ever Records struck a deal with Beck and reissued the album in the United States and Europe.
Wikipedia:
Howie Beck is a Canadian singer-songwriter and producer based in Toronto. His debut album, 1997's Pop and Crash, was recorded at home while Beck recovered from mononucleosis.
Beck began to attract attention outside of Canada with 1999's Hollow. Around this time, some of Beck's songs made appearances in prime-time TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Queer as Folk, and Felicity. Picked up by the independent record label Easy!Tiger, Hollow was released in Europe nearly two years after its Canadian release, and regular international tours followed. More recently, his music has appeared in episodes of One Tree Hill and Degrassi.
Beck regularly trades guest appearances, in recording sessions and onstage, with other Canadian artists such as Sarah Harmer, Hayden, Leslie Feist, Jason Collett and British singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt. Beck is also an accomplished drummer, and briefly played drums for Bourbon Tabernacle Choir in the mid-nineties. He has also appeared as a multi-instrumentalist on many albums by Hayden, Sarah Harmer, Gonzales and others.
After a long break from the music industry, partly triggered by September 11, Beck finally released his third, self-titled album in Canada in 2004. The album was again released in 2006 in the UK, Europe and the US to generally positive reviews. That year he toured with Josh Rouse and Nada Surf in Europe and Scandinavia.
How to Fall Down in Public, his fourth full-length album, was released to critical acclaim in Canada on February 24, 2009, receiving glowing reviews and features in the Canadian press. Beck continues to have mainly a devoted cult following, largely due to his irregular live appearances. Though he again played all of the instruments on the album, he was assisted by Gonzales in some instrumental and production duties. Also appearing on the album are Feist and Sarah Harmer, both as guest vocalists.
In recent years, Beck has started to work on select projects as a producer and mixer. He has produced and mixed two albums for Broken Social Scene member Jason Collett, Idols of Exile (2005) and Here's to Being Here (2008), Hayden's 2009 album The Place Where We Lived and Matthew Barber's album, True Believer, released in 2010.
In March 2010, Beck was nominated for a Juno Award in Canada for his album, How To Fall Down in Public.
Howie Beck is currently producing and mixing records for others, including a mix on the 2011 release, Metals, by Feist (The Undiscovered First) and upcoming releases in 2012 by Canadian artists Jason Collett and Hannah Georgas.
