Song of the week: Beck's gloriously kooky 'Wow'

"Wow" is right. On Beck's new single, the singer-songwriter sounds less like the guitar-strumming rocker we heard on his Grammy-winning album Morning Phase and more like the artist who infamously almost-interrupted his Album of the Year acceptance speech — Kanye West.

Beck hinted that his upcoming thirteenth studio album would take a different direction with funky lead single Dreams, but the song's tight grooves still somewhat resembled the grown-up alt-rock he's focused on over the past few years. The kookiest Beck release since the playful beats-minded experimentations of 2005's Guero, Wow is a weird-yet-welcome departure, playing with hip hop production and goofy rhymes before regaining its composure on a kaleidoscopic chorus. If this is what Beck's Kanye phase sounds like, bring on the full album.

Listen here: