THE BEASTIE BOYS - The Mix Up - 2007 - Album review

THE BEASTIE BOYS – The Mix Up – 2007 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: If you like it – you’ll like all of it.
SOUNDBITE: Wowww-whak/ wa/ wah-wah/ whaka-wow (…It’s instrumental innit.)
RATING: 3.5/5
Despite an announcement in the NME prior to release, this is fuck all like the sample-heavy hip-hop genius of Paul’s Boutique. In actuality, the closest thing to this all-instrumental effort in the Beastie’s back-catalogue is 1996’s The In Sound From Way Out (which consisted of all the funky instrumentals from the blinding Check Your Head and Ill Communication plus a couple of crappy bonus tracks). Having been instrumental (yes, that is an unforgivable pun) in defining genres and sub-genres in their more than twenty year career, the Beasties now seem to be retro-referencing themselves – presumably before anyone else does. 2004’s To The Five Boroughs was brilliant but fully late-80s old-school - The Mix Up seems to be trying to evoke their mid-nineties flirtation with retro-sixties funky cool even down to the suits and shades in their publicity photos for this LP which recall those done for the release of the Root Down EP. Yup, the sound is basically The Meters again though this time with a few spacier Funkadelical flourishes from time to time. Those who’ve been down with the Beasties for more than a decade will be entirely unsurprised to find that old Beasties crony Money Mark is back and he’s joined this time by percussionist Alfredo Ortiz. However, where The In Sound From Way Out was at times in your face and featured some quite up-front funk pyrotechnics (think the phat wah-wah at the start of Sabrosa or the percussion on In 3s) this lacks the big, obvious hooks and is more the funky sound of the sun coming up while the survivors of the night before stare at each other with blasted eyes from behind sunglasses. The LP kicks off with B For My Name which sounds like a louder more percussive version of Transitions. 14th St Break is a faster, organ led groove, which does indeed feature a lengthy drum breakdown. All the tracks are broadly funky but there’s the slightly latin one (Suco De Tangerina), the slightly rocky one (Off The Grid), the slightly dubby one (The Gala Event) and so on and so forth. Overall there is less differentiation between tracks than on The In Sound From Way Out - it’s a more layered and arguably less polished sound. The template is fairly similar in feel, tempo and composition throughout – indeed the effect is more like an album length jam session as opposed to discrete tracks. The upshot is they sound and look like the house band for an obscure funk label who’ve been locked into a groove and playing all night – almost certainly the point. If you have a large funk collection, The Mix Up won’t break any new ground for you, and I admit I was initially a little disappointed - however - repeated listens have found this album working a subtle magic. Conversely, if the funk has not been a large part of your musical life before now, first buy this then make yourself a doctor’s appointment.
Out now.
Listen toThe Beastie Boys - The Mix Up at Chemical Records - select funk or hip-hop in sidebar, then select new releases and scroll down till you find it.