Mike D has shared a new solo single, “Switch Up,” which is the first major music by a Beastie Boys member since 2011’s Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 and the death of Adam Yauch a year later. The song was started with Mike’s sons Davis and Skyler and their band Very Nice Person, and then other collaborators were brought on to help finish it.
While it still feels within Mike D’s sonic universe, “Switch Up” is unlike anything he’s ever done before. Jungle-style breakbeats blast, there is what sounds like a sample of the old “the number you have dialed cannot be reached” phone warning beeps, and at times it almost sounds like a live band playing “The Rockafeller Skank.” This is cool and it’s nice to have you back, Mike D! Check it out below.
Mike D played Los Angeles’ Plaza Nightclub last night, the first of a few intimate, last minute shows he announced following a couple of surprise California appearances with Very Nice Person, both of which he played Beastie Boys classics at. (Watch a clip of him doing “So What’cha Want” below.) He’ll play LA again on Sunday (5/10) at Sid the Cat Auditorium then he heads to Brooklyn on May 22 and 23 at Xanadu.
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