BEASTIE BOYS - The Mix-Up Review

When the Beastie Boys announced that their next studio album would be an all-instrumental affair, a few eyebrows were undoubtedly raised. While this reaction is understandable considering that the group are famed and loved for their rap music, fans of the group must be aware that the trio do have it in them to record an album such as this. The fact that they began life as a hardcore band back in 1981 serves as evidence that they can play their own instruments....full text Ten years ago, when the Beastie Boys ruled the world, they let U2 appear on their Tibetan Freedom Concert album. It was poignant to hear U2 sound lost and confused, at their commercial and creative nadir, floundering through the vaguely anthemic "One." Poor old U2 had no clue how to connect with a Beastie-worshipping young mod world. But now, with U2 bigger than ever and vague anthems all the rage, the Beasties can be forgiven for sounding confused themselves, as they try to bring their Grand Royal chutzpah up to date. The Mix-Up is all-instrumental, digging into the familiar organ-heavy lounge funk of Check Your Head and Ill Communication....full text Say you’re an assembly line worker and the extent of your job is to move a can of Product X from one conveyor belt to the next. Eight hours a day, 40 hours a week, it’s: lift, move, place, repeat. Boring, right? So two-and-a-half weeks in, you decide to spruce things up a bit. You toss the can from one hand to the other on its way to the second belt. The next day, you flip it a little bit. Pretty soon, you’re tossing that can behind your back, between your legs, teaching yourself to juggle; you’ll do anything to keep the job you’re doing fresh. Finding ways to have fun with mundane tasks is the way an awfully large percentage of the worldwide workforce stays sane....full text