Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico “Femme Fatale” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

I’m a big fan of Beck, but I just learned this week the dude’s real name is Bek David Campbell. Keep that in mind when you see the prolific Silverlake studio rat sign off blog posts at Beck.com with “Bek.” He’s not being cute. And his website has been a busy place of late. With his new “Record Club,” Beck plans to cover classic albums through impromptu improvisational jam sessions with buddies in the studio. Radiohead (and Beck, natch) producer Nigel Godrich helps out, as well as Devendra Banhart and other SoCal denizens.

Each week, the still-boyish veteran post a new video, slowly working through the track listing. Right now, he’s three songs deep into The Velvet Underground & Nico. “Sunday Morning” stuck to the pretty, sad vibes of the original, but “I’m Waiting for the Man” became a insanely detuned krautrock trance. It’s cool as hell. Today, a take on “Femme Fatale” raises the bar. Check it out above. Stuttering drum thwumps and toy xylophone palpitate behind BDC’s mournful croon. It’s proof that even tracks on seminal records are ripe for reassessment.

I’m also pleased to report that Beck has finally cut off his long hair. As a friend pointed out, nobody wants him to look like a walking omen from a David Lynch movie.

Also check out Beck’s inaugural edition of a weekly DJ mix, Planned Obsolescence. It’s like a scatterbrained game of Name That Tune for hipsters, with Paul Barman, Michael Jackson demos, Kraftwerk, Ian Svenonius, Talking Heads, etc.