CD of The Week

The last time we heard from MCA, Ad-Rock and Mike D, they were into jazzy instrumental jams on 2007’s The Mix-Up. Which was all well and good, but the Beastie Boys haven’t been rhymin’ and stealin’ on any new material since 2004’s To The Five Boroughs. That is, until this week’s release of Hot Sauce Committee Part Two. Sadly, we would have joined the committee much sooner but Adam “MCA” Yauch’s battle with throat cancer caused the Boys to put their original album release plans on hold. In the down time, the Beasties reworked some of the material (and confusingly re-titled the album as “Part Two”).

Musically Hot Sauce Committee Part Two sits somewhere in the B-Boys’ mid-‘90s realm; with its live instrumentation (a la Check Your Head) and distorted vocals (straight outta Ill Communication). I dug To The Five Boroughs more than most people, but its post-9/11 politics and metallic production are replaced by classic Beasties inside jokiness and fun beats. Opener and lead single “Make Some Noise” rides along a funky organ and a call to “party for the MFin’ right to fight.” “Too Many Rappers” features a vocal contribution from Nas (and oddly was nominated for a Grammy already, because it had a limited edition release in ‘09) and is one of the catchiest songs on the album. Philly’s own Santigold makes a cameo on the ska-tinged “Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win,” which just made me want to hear Santi’s upcoming album even more.

“Say It” sounds right out of Ill Communication, with its sampled and tweaked electric guitars and distorted vocals from the Beasties, while the silliness of “Funky Donkey” and “The Larry Routine” is out of their inside-joke-playbook circa Paul’s Boutique. “Lee Majors Come Again” is their usual dip into the Boys’ hardcore punk rock past. Lyrically the Boys don’t get anywhere near as serious as on To The Five Boroughs (“Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament” turns out to be an instrumental track). Yauch drops two lyrical quotes from Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues “on two different tracks, with Troll 2, the punk band Crass and what Josh T. Landow informed me is a plot point from Curb Your Enthusiasm all referenced along the way.

Whatever happens next for the B-Boys is dependant on Yauch’s health, but Hot Sauce Committee Part Two is the sound of the Beasties doing what they do best, mixing and matching the sounds of their past and making it sound like here and now.