Beck andDanger Mouse (Brian Burton) had been casual acquaintances prior to their collaboration on the album, as some of Beck's musicians had also performed with Danger Mouse's projectGnarls Barkley.[7] Beck said, "It did help that we share a lot of musical references. We spent the first week just talking about different records. His knowledge is pretty deep, especially with some of the obscure late-Sixties, early-Seventies rock."[7]
The original concept for the album was 10 short tracks, each around two minutes long, but Beck eventually chose to eliminate the shorter tracks.[7] Songs began with an acoustic guitar and drumbeat and selected songs would then be embellished upon, with Burton addingkeyboard bass and Beck adding other instruments.[7] Beck described the album as the most intensive work he'd ever done: "It was like trying to fit two years of songwriting into two and a half months. ... I know I did at least 10 weeks with no days off, until four or five in the morning every night."[7]
At 33 minutes long, the album was Beck's shortest, with only two songs lasting longer than four minutes.[8]
In May 2008, it was announced that Beck would be releasing a then-untitled album in the summer.[9]Modern Guilt was released on July 7, 2008 in the UK and Europe and on the following day in the United States.[1] Avinyl record of the album, including download codes for the 320-kbit/sdigital version of the album direct from the vinyl master, was released on July 22, 2008.[10]
In July 2009, launching his website's new Videotheque section, Beck uploaded a series of videos comprising acoustic band performances of every song on the album, recorded earlier in the year after returning home from his tour of Japan.[11]
The album received generally positive reviews upon release, earning a rating of 77 out of 100 onMetacritic.[12]Filter said of the album, "Beck is somehow more aware while puffing out his waves of broken poetry as opposed to the casual seed-spitting he has been known to turn to",[12] whileAllMusic said that it was "an effective dosage of 21st century paranoia."[13] Some negative reviews, such as one fromPopMatters, said that the album "lacks the unique resonating timbres one is accustomed to with Beck",[19] whileThe Guardian called it "a vanity project".[16]
The album entered both theBillboard 200 and theCanadian Albums Chart at number four, and gave Beck his first ever Top 10 placing on theUK Albums Chart, peaking at number nine. The album was also Beck's second-best charting album inAustralia, reaching number 13, behind his twelfth studio albumMorning Phase, which debuted and peaked at number 5 in 2014. In the US, the album sold 84,000 copies in its first week.[24] Although successful, it did not match the first week sales of Beck's previous album,The Information (2006), which were 99,000.[24] In Canada, the album sold over 6,000 copies in its first week.[25]
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