Photo by Jack Coleman

If any of the remaining members of the Beastie Boys were going to step back into the music spotlight, the last thing we should want to hear from them is an attempt to try to recreate that iconic Beastie Boys hype magic on their own. “Switch Up”, the debut solo single from Mike D, hits true to its name and doesn’t at all try to do that. If anything, it’s more of the trajectory which D’s fellow alternative golden era iconoclast Kim Gordon has taken in her own post-Sonic Youth days in reinventing herself as an experimental electronic artist extending her new sound from the noise of her former band’s work. In D’s case, the listen is a permutation of skittering breakbeats with a hyperactive drum ‘n’ bass energy he created in collaboration with his sons’ band Very Nice Person as well as SZA producer Carter Lang. D’s flow is fast and sequences itself to the beat, making for impressionistic fragments within the hip-hop ether rather than full-on concrete bars. “I need a switch up / To get control again,” he exclaims. Out of it is a good start.

Mike D’s “Switch Up” single is available now.