Beastie Boys: "Hello Nasty" (Grand Royal)

The Beastie Boys know where it's at. In fact, the Beastie Boys have always known where it's at. From brat-pack antics for Licensed To Ill through to a sublime psychedelic reinvention with Paul's Boutique and subsequent on-the-money repositionings with Check Your Head and Ill Communication, the original B-Boys of the species have always been one step ahead of the next trend. Now, having set new standards in global cool with the Grand Royal magazine and X-Large threads and brought Tibet to the attentions of the music industry, they're ready to roll with a new album.

Hello Nasty is a monster, bigger and badder than Godzilla. Every possible sound source is raided for beats and breaks: off-kilter steel bands, electro tremors, odd Astrid Gilberto samples, pantomine organs, grisly dub and psychedelic freakouts not spotted in public since 1972 turn up at various points in this lurid mix. There are few of the trashy guitars of yesteryear and this is a Good Thing. This time around, the three thirtysomethings want to throw a funky not punky house party so don't spill the peanuts all over the floor. In between the grooves, the rhymes are as fresh as they were the moment they first went pop. From the rather brilliant £1 Million Intercontinental When I Eat French Toast On The Move to the legendary Lee "Scratch" Perry drawling "the beastly boys with their beastly toys, they give you beastly joys" on Dr Lee PhD, it's the sound of Mike D, Adam Yauch and Adam Horovitz having fun and cutting loose. Even the fact that there's a sweet ballad here called I Don't Know that James Taylor would dig is something to cheer. After this, anything is possible.

Jim Carroll