After the announcement of Bin Laden’s death, hundreds of people gathered in front of the White House chanting “USA! USA!”.
It is in times like these that a line is drawn between critical thinkers and those who get swiped by media crap-storms; Between those who understand the complexity of a situation and those who’d rather not know; Between those who comprehend the underlying motives of the elite and those who go outside chanting “USA! USA!”.
On the evening of May 1st 2011, Barak Obama’s statement was one of triumph and celebration. He claimed that, with the death of Osama Bin Laden, “justice was served”. The media spin following the announcement was equally as celebratory: “It is a great day for America and the world”…”The biggest piece of news since 9/11″…”We’ll all remember where we were when we’ve heard this news”…The entire “event” was artificially inflated, exaggerated and glorified.Should the death of a man cause happiness and celebrations? Since when have we devolved into such a barbaric state? Because he perpetrated 9/11? Did he also cause the Building 7 to implode? Damn you Osama and your team of engineers!
I’ll spare you the entire “9/11 was an inside job” speech, as I know most of this site’s readers are all too aware of it. In this case, why should we care if Ben Laden is dead or not? Is he really dead? Did he die nine years ago? Who really knows? We’re living in an era of artificial, fully staged, media-generated events. Why was Bin Laden’s death announced on the evening of May 1st? Because it was the required sacrifice of the “most magical time of the year”, which was launched with the Royal Wedding.
Hot Sauce Committee Part 2: a brilliant throwback to the days when the Beastie Boys ruled New York.
While the Beastie Boys' 2004 offering To The 5 Boroughs was by no means a flimsy love letter to their hometown, it felt like one written on expensive stock with a Cross Pen and checked twice for spelling. Despite all the NYC references, it felt too much like “new” New York - the place where the race to be on the cusp of all things contemporary, while still remaining safe just makes everything (including the Beasties for the first time) sound downright old.
Five years and one missing “Hot Sauce Committee” later comes Hot Sauce Committee Part 2. The Beasties have returned with “sharks teeth and tiger claws,” loosening their input jacks and snare lugs and scaling back the electronics from digital busyness to Giorgio Moroder and Roger Troutman inspired analog glory. The Beasties feel permanently young again having crafted an album that is just as consistent, unhinged and enjoyable as Check Your Head. It's almost as if they really went back in time (like in "Fight for your right revisited") and made the old Beasties record another soundstorm.
Check Your Head was a third album debut if one ever existed. It was also a return to the trio’s original punk rock DIY aesthetic; an escape from both the frat boy raps over shiny Rick Rubin production and the crowded Dust Brothers beats that epitomized their West Coast bong blast. Hot Sauce Committee Part Two is the same sort of stripped-down sonic homecoming or in the words of Ad-Rock “bringing it back to 8-7.”
In today’s age of dragging, dropping and Fruitylooping - where the posse cuts require reading the written order of the features to figure out who is rapping - Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 feels more vital than ever.
MCA, Ad-Rock and Mike D each stake out their own rooms in the house party and can use something basic like water and ice or obscure like Grandmaster Caz to outline why they can still rip a mic to shreds. They are as distinguishable from each other as a guitar solo is from a trumpet swell, but still fit just as well together when placed side by side. On Hotsauce their wordplay, metaphors, (tasteful) bathroom humor and playful braggadocio are given the sonic treatment they deserve: warped and flanged on joints like “Nonstop Disco Power Pack” and "Tadlock's Glasses" or padded with the same broken glass distortion as the dank eerie instrumentation of shining (but still hazy) moments like “Long Burn The Fire.”
The Beasties have also never had better diversions and tangents. The hardcore jam “Lee Majors Comes Again” is catchier and more memorable after just one listen than the entire Aglio e Olio EP, and instead of adding multiple tracks of “yes we really play these things” instrumental filler, Hot Sauce’s one moment, “Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament” falls perfectly in the sequence and grooves just right thereby sparing it from The Mix-Up / In Sound From Way Out yawndom.
Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 is a throwback to the days when the Beastie Boys ruled New York; when you could read 100 pages worth of articles on the Moog organ in their Grand Royal magazine. At the same time, Hot Sauce isn’t just for veteran fans; it’s the rare case of something brand new that replaces the “Greatest Hits” album as a primer for newbies; a perfect soundtrack for 30 more years of endless summer.
Five years and one missing “Hot Sauce Committee” later comes Hot Sauce Committee Part 2. The Beasties have returned with “sharks teeth and tiger claws,” loosening their input jacks and snare lugs and scaling back the electronics from digital busyness to Giorgio Moroder and Roger Troutman inspired analog glory. The Beasties feel permanently young again having crafted an album that is just as consistent, unhinged and enjoyable as Check Your Head. It's almost as if they really went back in time (like in "Fight for your right revisited") and made the old Beasties record another soundstorm.
Check Your Head was a third album debut if one ever existed. It was also a return to the trio’s original punk rock DIY aesthetic; an escape from both the frat boy raps over shiny Rick Rubin production and the crowded Dust Brothers beats that epitomized their West Coast bong blast. Hot Sauce Committee Part Two is the same sort of stripped-down sonic homecoming or in the words of Ad-Rock “bringing it back to 8-7.”
In today’s age of dragging, dropping and Fruitylooping - where the posse cuts require reading the written order of the features to figure out who is rapping - Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 feels more vital than ever.
MCA, Ad-Rock and Mike D each stake out their own rooms in the house party and can use something basic like water and ice or obscure like Grandmaster Caz to outline why they can still rip a mic to shreds. They are as distinguishable from each other as a guitar solo is from a trumpet swell, but still fit just as well together when placed side by side. On Hotsauce their wordplay, metaphors, (tasteful) bathroom humor and playful braggadocio are given the sonic treatment they deserve: warped and flanged on joints like “Nonstop Disco Power Pack” and "Tadlock's Glasses" or padded with the same broken glass distortion as the dank eerie instrumentation of shining (but still hazy) moments like “Long Burn The Fire.”
The Beasties have also never had better diversions and tangents. The hardcore jam “Lee Majors Comes Again” is catchier and more memorable after just one listen than the entire Aglio e Olio EP, and instead of adding multiple tracks of “yes we really play these things” instrumental filler, Hot Sauce’s one moment, “Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament” falls perfectly in the sequence and grooves just right thereby sparing it from The Mix-Up / In Sound From Way Out yawndom.
Strangely, the one area where Hot Sauce lags is during the two guest vocal tracks (“Too Many Rappers” ft. Nas and "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win" ft. Santigold). While the aforementioned collabs are a lot of fun and have plenty of replay value, they still feel like bonus cuts that mistakenly show up during the actual album. A guest on a Beastie Boys album that doesn’t break the cohesion can only be one whose performances are spacey and weathered making them blend seamlessly into the wood paneling and Star Wars posters. (ex: Lee Perry on Hello Nasty, Biz Markie on Ill Communication or spitting over Ted Nugent on Check Your Head).
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