Here’s news of a book we can’t wait to read – the New York Times reports that surviving Beastie Boys Adam (Ad-Rock) Horovitz and Michael (Mike D) Diamond are putting together a memoir about the group’s history. Now, this won’t be an ordinary memoir, as the book, which is due in 2015, will be “loosely structured as an oral history” but will also contain bits that aim to challenge the reader and contributions from other writers according to the report.

Mike D and Ad-Rock recently signed a deal with Spiegel & Grau to put together the book detailing their history, which will be edited by hip-hop writer Sacha Jenkins. The idea for the tome predates the tragic death of Adam “MCA” Yauch, but was put on the back burner when the rapper sadly passed in 2012.

[via New York Times]

Back in March Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe and members of Slightly Stoopid teamed up to pay tribute to the Beastie Boys at the Belly Up in Solana Beach, Calif. The ensemble reprised the tribute show, which contains a mix of KDTU material and Beastie Boys classics, in May and over the summer. Now KDTU plus Kyle, OG and Dela of Slightly Stoopid will bring the show east this fall.

On November 30th, The Royale in Boston will host the Beastie Boys Tribute before the show moves to the Best Buy Theatre in NYC on December 1st. A KDTU fan ticketing pre-sale will take place this Wednesday, September 26th followed by public onsales this Friday, September 28th at 10am ET.

Here’s a compilation featuring short video excerpts from the March Beastie Tribute shows…

KDTU + Members of Slightly Stoopid – Beastie Boys Highlights

The Roots paid tribute to two musical legends with one inventive cover last weekend at UCLA’s JazzReggae Festival. By “go-go-fying” this take on the Beastie Boys’ Paul Revere, the Philadelphia natives honored both Chuck Brown and MCA. Ch-ch-check it out…

The Roots – Paul Revere

[via OkayPlayer]

[Latest Updates - Sunday 6PM: Adam Horovitz on MCA, Videos of Barr Brothers, Deer Tick and Juno What and Euforquestra MCA tributes plus additions to "Good Reads" section. Monday 8AM: fun. covers Sabotage, addition to good reads about Yauch as a filmmaker, Santigold pays tribute to MCA and a note from Mike D.]

In a crushing blow to the hip-hop community, Adam “MCA” Yauch of the Beastie Boys has passed away after a long battle with cancer according to Global Grind – website of Def Jam Records founder Russell Simmons. Yauch was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 and was unable to appear at last month’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony for his ground-breaking group.

The Beastie Boys burst onto the pop scene in 1986 with the release of Licensed To Ill, following seven years as a hardcore punk act that evolved into a hip-hop band. Not content to be a pop act, the group made a sharp left turn in breaking new ground on 1989′s Paul’s Boutique. While the critically-acclaimed album didn’t sell many copies upon its release, the group rebounded in a big way with 1992′s Check Your Head and returned to the top of the charts with 1996′s Ill Communication.

As the years went by, the Beastie Boys started hopping back on their instruments with Yauch showing impressive chops as a bassist. In 1998, Hello Nasty went to the top of the charts and saw the band moving into arenas and larger venues. Following the 9/11 attacks, the trio paid tribute to their home city of New York by releasing the under-rated To The 5 Boroughs. Last year the Beasties put out what might be their final album in Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 and was just recently inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. MCA also was a music producer and directed films. He’s survived by wife Dechen and his daughter, Tenzin Losel Yauch.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Yauch’s friends and family.

We’ll keep track of reactions to Yauch’s passing, official statements  and musical tributes below…

READ ON

For the past two nights Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe teamed up with members of Slightly Stoopid to pay tribute to the music of the Beastie Boys at the Belly Up in Solana Beach, Calif. The performances mixed B Boys vocal tracks with the group’s instrumentals as well as plenty of KDTU material.

For the Beastie Boys covers that included lyrics, Slightly Stoopid members Kyle McDonald, Dela and OG handled most of the vocals. Among the tunes the ensemble tackled were No Sleep Till Brooklyn, Brass Monkey, Fight For Your Right to Party and Intergalactic. Kyle, Dela and OG dressed the part too, switching from gold chains and Adidas for the earlier License to Ill material to outfits reminiscent of the Intergalactic video for later material.

Here’s a compilation featuring short video excerpts from Friday’s show put together by jonmorrissandiego…

KDTU + Members of Slightly Stoopid – Beastie Boys Highlights

As of press time, these are no future KDTU Beastie Boys tribute shows planned.

When Karl Denson was thinking of what he could do to make a set of KDTU shows special last fall, his first inclination was to pay tribute to the Beastie Boys. While he eventually settled on covering the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers, along with Anders Osborne, he clearly hasn’t forgotten about his original idea as Denson has just announced a pair of Beastie Boys tribute shows at the Belly Up in Solana Beach, Calif. on March 23 and 24.

For both tribute shows, KDTU will be joined by members of Slightly Stoopid. Chali 2na and Los Angeles-based world beat act House of Vibe are booked as support on the 23rd. Tickets for both performances are currently on sale through KDTU Ticketing and Front Gate Ticketing.

Here at Hidden Track, compiling our end of the year list of the 25 best albums has been eerily similar to the process of devising another top 25 list – the college football top 25. When we started four years ago, we attempted to devise a quantitative methodology that systematized the rankings and took the individual biases out of the equation, while still incorporating the collective views of everyone involved at HT. Well, that was sort of our BCS. This year we’re going back to the old school and running it AP Top 25 style. In other words, every writer on staff submitted their own personal top 25, and then we compiled the final list based  on a simple tally of votes.

Who knows, there may still be a few kinks to work through in future editions, but you can rest assured of one thing that will always make our list a cut above the rest: we consider everything. Our submissions include all styles of music from bluegrass to jazz, jam to indie, electronica to rap, as well as everything in between (but sorry Nefertiti’s Fjord it just wasn’t the year for lesbian-Afro-Norwegian-funk music). At the end of the day, we’re a music blog. Everyone is encouraged to write about what they like with no motives, no editorial biases, and no strings attached. We hope that comes across in our picks.

We’ve hit the mid-point of our week-long countdown of the 25 best albums of 2011, let’s check out numbers 15 through 11…

15) M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

Key Tracks: Midnight City, Reunion

Sounds Like: Dreamy trip to the ’80s led by a modern spirit-guide

The Skinny: When Anthony Gonzalez moved to Los Angeles this year, he was feeling lonely and nostalgic for his cherished childhood and wanted to make a record that paid homage to those emotions and memories. The result is a 23 track masterpiece that ranges from arena-sized ’80s synth rock to deep ethereal sound scapes. The ambient pieces tie the monster vocal tracks together and combine to tell a heart-felt and vivid story from one of the world’s most underrated producers. Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is the perfect marriage of sparse and gigantic, much like the heart of its protagonist child subject.

- Wade Wilby

• Previously: #25 – #21, #20 – #16
• Spotify: HT Staff’s 25 Best Albums of 2011 Playlist

READ ON

Director Spike Jonze first worked with the Beastie Boys in 1993 for the Time For Livin’ music video, but his best known collaboration with the B Boys took place a year later when the Sabotage video came out. Jonze has teamed up with the rappers once again to create both a long-form and short-form video for Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win – a track off Hot Sauce Committee: Pt. 2 featuring special guest Santigold. Here’s the long-form…

Beastie Boys – Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win

CLICK HERE for the short-form video.

We had a feeling that this year’s Record Store Day was a success from all the buzz and first-hand stories we heard last Saturday, but we can now quantify RSD 2011 based on the SoundScan figures. Indie record stores sold 13% more albums during the week of Record Store Day in 2011 against the same period in 2010. More importantly, album sales at independent record stores increased more than 39% during RSD week compared to the previous week.

Let’s hope this trend continues in 2012 and that more artists continue to put out exclusive Record Store Day material with a focus on full-length releases. Also, while we’re making suggestions, how about upping limited edition releases by 1,000 or 2,000 copies so more fans can get RSD vinyl at the stores instead of from flippers on eBay.

Here’s a look at six other stories of note…

• Tweedy chats with David Fricke about the new Wilco LP
• Michael Franti discusses Spearhead’s new EP w. Randy Ray
• Prince still has 17 shows left in L.A. but no one knows when
• Check out these clips of the upcoming Neil Young tribute DVD
• Warren Haynes talks Man In Motion and touring w. Honest Tune
• Treme’s Steve Earle fills Spinner in on his incredibly hectic spring

Finally, this oral history detailing the Beastie Boys early days ranks among the best articles we’ve come across this year. Writer Amos Barshad was able to convince nearly every collaborator who particpated in the group’s rise to fame to participate, making for a wonderful read. Speaking of the B-Boys, let’s see if you think as highly of Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2 as we do…

Chris Robinson Brotherhood has been touring the state of California relentlessly over the past month and will continue that trend through the end of May. Last night, the Black Crowes frontman’s current band performed at McNear’s Mystic Theatre in Petaluma, where they were joined by Furthur/RatDog/Kingfish/Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir towards the end of the group’s first set. Bobby, who is in a new trio with Robinson and Jackie Greene that will make their debut in August at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival, came out for Bright Lights, Big City; They Love Each Other, Mister Charlie and Sugaree. No audio or video from this show has surfaced, but we’ll tweet links when they become available.

Our Sunday night has just become more interesting with the news that Chicago’s WXRT radio station will broadcast Arcade Fire’s set live from the UIC Pavilion tomorrow starting at 9PM CDT. While the webcast will be audio-only, WXRT.com will offer a photo stream. [via Scents & Subtle Sounds]

The Beastie Boys debuted their Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2 LP in its entirety this morning in quite the inventive fashion. Visitors to the band’s website were treated to a LiveStream embed that showed a boombox setup at center court of an empty Madison Square Garden. A man in a gorilla suit pressed play on the boombox and viewers looked on at the bizarre visual as the old-school device came alive with the sounds of the album. Once the entire album had played, the stream reset and a rebroadcast started – a trend that has continues as of press time giving those who want to hear Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2 a chance to (Ch-)check it out…

I tuned in a little bit after it started and two hours – and three whole plays of the album – later, I finally turned it off. The B Boys took the best elements from each era of their career and combined them in a fresh way for this sublime LP. Instrumental jams, catchy rhymes, NYC-centric references and delicious beats are all in ample supply on Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2.

You’ve got to appreciate a band that can laugh at themselves and in the Beastie Boys’ new video for the song Make Some Noise they poke fun at their License To Ill personas. Danny McBride, Elijah Wood and Seth Rogen star as younger versions of the Beasties in this clip, which also serves as a trailer of sorts of the MCA-directed Fight For Your Revisited short film that debuted early this morning. Let’s take a look…

Beastie Boys – Make Some Noise

Any video that includes appearances by Kenny Powers, Frodo, Sam Malone, Ken Miller, Gob Bluth, Dwight Schrute, Nucky Johnson, Frank “The Tank,” Nicolette Grant, Leslie Knope and Mary Jane Watson is bound to be good. Head over to The Audio Perv to watch the uncensored, long-form version of Make Some Noise.

On May 3, the Beastie Boys will drop their highly anticipated new album Hot Sauce Committee Part 2. In conjunction with the release, the legendary hip-hop act have looked to their past by producing a 30-minute short film inspired by the music for for (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party). The film features a veritable who’s who of actors including Seth Rogen, Danny McBride and Elijah Wood portraying the Licensed To Ill-era Ad-Rock, MCA and Mike D. Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and Jack Black acting as the B Boys in the future who travel back in time to challenge the younger versions of themselves to a dance contest.

This all may sound a bit confusing, but check out the NSFW trailer, and it’ll all start to make sense…

Beastie Boys – Fight For Your Right Revisited

Among all the fleeting genres that show up briefly as a blip on the popular culture radar screen only to quickly fade away, there are a few that really manage to stick, and ultimately define a sub-culture or even a generation. We’ve seen it to varying degrees with genres like punk, heavy metal, or rock n’ roll itself; all essentially made up terms that went on to mean everything.

For better or worse, another one that stuck was “alternative.” Initially, an outcrop of the grunge scene, alternative went on become an all-consuming pop culture multi-beast; taking hold of not just music, but cinema, fashion, and art as well. Alternative was everywhere, which begged the question: to what exactly is this an alternative? It was a brand, a marketing gimmick that was consumed – no, devoured – by the mainstream.

Yet beyond the irony of it all, it also represented a relatively heroic period in popular music whereby genuinely awesome bands ruled the radio. Pop culture, the mass media, and most of all, kids, were actually listening to good music. It was one of those rare times in modern music history where to some extent, the best bands were also among the biggest, most famous, and widely listened. READ ON for more from Ryan…

The Beastie Boys’ latest LP, Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 1, was originally due for release in September of ’09, but that date was delayed indefinitely after Adam “MCA” Yauch was diagnosed with cancer. Today, the band’s website has been updated with news about the album…

ALTHOUGH WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT “HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE PART 1″ WILL CONTINUE TO BE DELAYED INDEFINITELY, “HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE PART 2″ WILL BE RELEASED ON TIME AS ORIGINALLY PLANNED IN SPRING OF 2011.

We love that they’ve kept a sense of humor about the situation.

Here’s six other stories to keep you entertained this morning…

• U2′s manager says the band will release a new LP in early ’11
• The All Good Music Festival sets dates for the 2011 edition
• Pearl Jam’s bassist builds a skate park in his hometown
• New York Magazine finds Evan Dando living in squalor
• The Las Vegas Review-Journal profiles local band Moksha
• Elliott Landy captured the spirit of  the Woodstock generation

Finally, the PS22 Chorus of 2011 has been assembled and put out their first video of the year as the middle schoolers perform MGMT’s Kids. Despite only being together for a few weeks, the latest incarnation of the choir picks up where last year’s group left off. Check it out…

PS22 Chorus – Kids (MGMT)

Over the past 30 years, the Beastie Boys have put together a legendary career as an innovative hip-hop act that has crossed over to a variety of genres including rock and jazz. In fact, the group first got together to play hardcore in 1979 and stuck on the punk/hardcore end of things for the next five years before producer Rick Rubin got a hold of them.

For this month’s Through The Years, we’re going to look at all the incarnations of the Beastie Boys from their early days in Brooklyn to the multi-platinum License to Ill days all the way up to last year’s Bonnaroo. Outside of a few missing years, we’ve put together a playlist featuring one B-Boys video from each year starting in 1982. Take a peak…

Tracklist:

1982 – Holy Snapper (Home Video)
1983 – Live at The Kitchen
1984 – White Shadow (Live on Cable TV)
1985 – Filming Promos
1986 – Hold It Now, Hit It (Music Video)
1987 – No Sleep Till Brooklyn (Live in Montreux)

READ ON for the rest of the Beastie Boys – Through The Years playlist…