I'm listening to the new Beastie Boys, and it's good stuff. I mean, the single is probably, on the surface, the best song. It's the most ass-shaking, it has the best music, so on and so on. Definitely the mix tape song. What I might like most about the CD is the layout, which sounds real stupid, but there it is. The lyrics are littered with editor's notes and footnotes explaining references and questioning rhymes (ex. "I'm like the beach at the Bahamas make you feel alright [Editor's note: I love the Bahamas]"). Or:

¹ This is the same Blimpies where Matthew Allison threw his Blimpie at the man behind the counter. [Editor's note: why?] Because the man wouldn't give him extra lettuce.

Cracks me up, for no good reason.

I've never been a huge Beasties fan, but everytime I hear "Intergalactic" I think about hearing it in a van on a dirt road in England. So I got that. (I should really pick up Hello, Nasty.) And of course, I loved "Sabotage" and a lot of Ill Communication, but thought that album was a bit long. I really don't know if I've listened to the whole thing in one sitting. And Paul's Boutique is alright, but it's not as groundbreaking for me as for others; it's like getting to a great party too late. So that's my full disclosure. But this album actually sounds short by comparison. And already too much has been made about how this is the Anti-Bush album. I mean, it's in there, but goddamn if music writers and critics don't grab onto one thing and make that the story of the album, obscuring everything else (see the drone on Wilco's "Less Than You Think"). The music's a lot less show-offy than I expected, too, almost dark in some places, but I guess when you're talking about the Beasties, dark is a relative term (it's not like when Blink-182 awkwardly shifts from jerk-off jokes to songs about suicide. That's like watching an ape drive stick). Anyway...

Best Songs: "Ch-Check It Out," "Crawlspace" (almost left off the album according to the editor's notes), "Who Got The"
Scariest Thing: Mike D's neck