BS 2000: Simply Mortified

-For a band of its stature, influence, and longevity, Beastie Boys has spawned a notable shortage of solo albums and side projects. True, the group has its hands full with non-musical projects like magazine publishing, label management, and saving Tibet, and its studio albums feature no shortage of the genre-hopping and sonic meandering that major acts generally relegate to side projects and B-sides. Nevertheless, it seems odd that BS 2000 is the first side project in the group's 20-year history, though that's not necessarily unfortunate. While far from a disaster, BS 2000's Simply Mortified is typical side-project fare: self-consciously minor, quirky, and about as essential to non-die-hards as a Lou Bega live album. A minimalist supergroup pairing Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) with drummer and percussionist Amery "AWOL" Smith of Suicidal Tendencies, BS 2000 explores caffeinated, keyboard-driven garage-rock territory that owes more to synth-crazy punk-pop bands than to Horovitz's main gig. Cramming 20 songs into little more than 40 minutes, Simply Mortified runs the gamut from goofy dance songs ("The Side To Side") to twee pop ("Buddy") to giddy instrumentals ("NY Is Good," "Yeah, I Like BS"). But hidden behind the peppy melodies and sometimes unintelligible vocals are some of the angriest and most political lyrics of Ad-Rock's career, articulating a sustained attack on the emptiness of popular culture and the debased capitalist society that creates it. "Mr. Critic" and "Boogie Board" voice this dissatisfaction most bluntly, but neither is as compelling as "The Dilemma," in which one of the godfathers of obnoxious, nasal, white-boy hip-hop attacks its most notorious practitioner for his moral shortcomings. "I know he's sexist / But he's so funny and / I know he's homophobic but he's got great lyrics," Ad-Rock sings/sneers as he contemplates the enigma of Eminem, looking upon his unintentional demon-spawn with horror and revulsion instead of pride. It's a fascinating musical moment, full of anguish and ambivalence, anger and doubt, but it feels jarringly out of place coming toward the end of an album this stubbornly inconsequential.