Mike D Is Having Fun Again — and “True Colors” Proves It

It has been fifteen years since a Beastie Boy put out new music. Thank You, the debut album from Mike D 5D, arrives August 28 on Capitol Records and it is, by the New York Times’ account, “a Beastie Boy just having fun on a record again.” That’s the whole pitch, and it’s a pretty good one.

The album started at Mike D’s home studio with his sons Skyler and Davis, then expanded outward to include Carter Lang, Jared Solomon, Ging, Jason Lader, Eddie Ruscha, Tyran Donaldson, and more. The sessions were zero-pressure and experimental, and the record sounds like it — twelve tracks of sonically inventive post-electronic grooves and hypnotic hooks that defy easy categorization. “True Colors” is the darkly melodic new visualizer and a strong thread in that fabric.

The live band — Mike, Skyler, Davis, Eddie Ruscha, Will Graefe, and Milo Ruscha — has been selling out intimate, non-traditional venues all year, from a surf shop in Malibu to a roller rink in Brooklyn. A handful of European dates are still ahead before a fall festival stop at Portola in San Francisco. Pre-order the album below.

Pre-order Thank You ↗

1“Switch Up”

2“What We Got”

3“True Colors”

4“That’s Right”

5“Secrets Pt. I”

6“Secrets Pt. II”

7“I Don’t Care”

8“Make It Stop”

9“Crypto”

10“Here We Are”

11“Back to Start”

12“It’s Time”

13“Thank You”