Monday, May 9, 2011

Hot Sauce Committee Part Two

Damn, the new Beastie Boys album is one kind of awesome. I like to think of them as the AC/DC of rap music; they've never really followed any trends, always making their own unique brand of hip-hop. On this new record they've somewhat evolved, by not really evolving at all. It's still old-school, vintage Beasties; the minimalistic nature of the songs, usually focused on the bass and drums, accompanied by catchy-as-hell rhyming. And also the trio's voices, which usually goes through some funky effect filter. The opening three-punch of Make Some Noise, Nonstop Disco Powerpack and OK will knock your socks off. You have the punk song; here it's Lee Majors Come Again, very Blitzkrieg Bop-like. Then you have the instrumental (Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament), and also the weird half-a-minute tracks. BTW, see if you can catch some Subterranean Homesick Blues lines.

Adam "MCA" Yauch, as you know, suffered throat cancer, which put the group's activities to a long halt few years back. But now he's back and better than ever. He's always been my favorite of the three, I think probably because the way he sounds. There's a very nice flow to this record, in fact you can say that for most of their previous stuff. I rather listen to the whole thing from start to finish rather than pick individual songs. Weirdly enough, that's the best way to appreciate the Beastie Boys. Listening to Hot Sauce reminds me of why I got into them the first place.

Ch-check it out!