Review of The Mix-Up

A decade and change after 1996’s The In Sound From Way Out (and three years after their ill-advised return to rap with To the 5 Boroughs), the Beastie Boys again round up keyboard king Money Mark and revisit the all-instrumental record. The menu is hardly mixed up—with the possible exception of the roughhewn “The Cousin of Death,” this is entirely sugary dub soul and sun-kissed, psychedelic jazz-funk. While nothing here’s tremendously notable, as far as easygoing mood music is concerned, The Mix-Up is on the money (and the money shots are all Money Mark’s).

8/10