Thank You

About

<i>Thank You</i> is the first album released by a Beastie Boy since the death of Adam “MCA” Yauch from cancer in 2012—a bittersweet milestone, but also, like, why not? In some ways, the band’s whole remarkable career was a testament to the power of continually embracing your inner amateur, an attitude borrowed as much from the beginner’s mindset of Buddhism as the anti-expertise of punk rock. Sometimes, the attitude could present as irreverence (they always said the snotty, regressive stuff on <i>Licensed to Ill</i> was as much a joke about hard-rock machismo as it was an example of it), but as they aged, it looked more and more like wisdom, or at least a recipe for longevity. With the Beastie Boys, you never had to worry about forced sentimentality or corny reflections on what they’ve learned about life—they had fun like it was the first time, every time. <i>Thank You</i> feels like the kind of dashed-off low-stakes record you make with your friends (or in this case, your nearly adult sons) in a garage over a series of afternoons. The breakbeats of <b>“Switch Up,”</b> the electro of <b>“That’s Right,”</b> the early hip-hop of <b>“Crypto”</b> are catchy like pop but rough like punk, sophisticatedly eclectic but charmingly undercooked. Even when he quiets down and gets reflective, he promises you he has no idea how it all happened. “Wasting time, write another rhyme, filling my time ’til then,” he sings on the title track <b>“Thank You,”</b> slightly off-key, 60 years old, forever young.

via Apple Music