Music

To most people, the Beastie Boys are best known for their unique, opinion-polarising coordinated end-of-couplet yelps. However, in case you hadn’t noticed, the group have also spent the last 15 years or so trying to draw your attention to their masterful guitar, bass ’n’ drum skillz through an array of vocal-free workouts. The reasonable sales for ‘The In Sound From Way Out!’, their 1999 compilation of instrumental album tracks, obviously encouraged the group to explore this territory more fully. And with the startling work ethic which has seen them record six albums in 25 years, everyone’s favourite 40-something frat boys then sat on the idea for over half a decade before calling in old pal Money Mark and putting together this, their first album of all-new dubs.

Opening track ‘B For My Name’ will be instantly familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of any Beasties album from ‘Check Your Head’ onwards: it’s a typical blend of Tropicalia organ, Afrodelic polyrhythms, big old bass and all the stylistic trappings of jazz, funk and jazz-funk. The rest of the album, however, heads off in some interesting new directions. That’s not to say there are any new influences, but the old ones are at least arranged in fresh, and at times surprising, new ways. The psych-saturated sitar soul of ‘Dramastically Different’ is a good case in point, as is the frankly filthy freakout of ‘Cousin Of Death’. Overall, it’s pretty good, though it’s easy to imagine you’re listening to one of those ’60s albums knocked out in spare studio time by session men waiting for Ritchie Blackmore to finish his incantations. This effect is amplified by the odd Iron Butterfly moment, or rather aeon, such as ‘The Kangaroo Rat’, in which the trio lock into a groove, maan, and just sort of stay there waiting for the sun to die.

Still, this is an entertaining, if inessential purchase for funk rock fans and habitual marijuana users, and great perparation for the Beasties’ date at the Roundhouse on September 6, when the band will treat lucky us Londoners to a one-off, instrumentals-only show.