These two music acts share quite a few things in common. Both share management and publicity firms (SAM and Nasty Little Man, respectfully). Both also worked with web developer Lee Martin and online audio platform SoundCloud to stream their latest albums for free before their official release dates.

The most important quality Beastie Boys and Foo Fighters share: In an age where mediocrity and 15-minute fame reign supreme, both have beaten the odds in remaining active—and successfully so, thanks to superb marketing (tasteful – not to Lady Gaga proportions), loyal fans and modern legendary status.

So it should come as no surprise that both bands managed to put out equally solid albums… emphasis on “should.” I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from each new release—the Boys’ last record was an instrumental; the Foos’ Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (2007) was an overall disappointment. They sure cast aside my doubts in a one-two punch.

The best part? They keep it simple.

Foo Fighters: ‘Wasting Light’

I like being able to listen to an album from beginning to end and not have any weak tracks to skip. Dave Grohl and company have come the closest they’ve been in a while in achieving that. Wasting Light is so good, I’d rank it just below The Colour and the Shape (1997) and There’s Nothing Left to Lose (1999), two of their best albums.

I already knew this would be a strong record when the band put out a 30-second teaser for opening track, “Bridge Burning.” The build-up between dynamics—a soft riff followed by an onslaught of deafening chords and thrashing drums—is what the band has perfected over time. Remember the opening to “All My Life”?

What makes Foo Fighters so great is that they don’t particularly feel the need to re-invent the wheel. They know what they’re good at and it’s pretty straightforward: hard rock, melodies and good songwriting. I can sing along to “Arlandria” and “Dear Rosemary,” and headbang to “White Limo.” And when I need to take a break, I can relax, maybe sit in sorrow with “I Should Have Known.”

The single weak spot on this record: “A Matter of Time.” The refrain is annoying, particularly the “before, before” part.

Regardless, Wasting Light is a solid record, one of the best the Foos have ever made, and possibly will be one of the best releases this year. As a Foos fan who’s been disappointed before, this isn’t coming from blind bias. 4 stars

Beastie Boys: ‘Hot Sauce Committee Part Two’

It’s been a long wait. Hot Sauce Committee Part One‘s release, originally scheduled for late 2009, was pushed back because of Adam “MCA” Yauch’s cancer diagnosis and treatment. Upon return to the studio, the Boys realized they could have done better. With the help of producer Zdar, they redid the mix and eschewed “Part One” of the title, releasing the new mix as “Part Two.”

The last Beastie Boys album, The Mix-Up (2007), was an instrumental, and before that was the politically charged To The Five Boroughs (2004), so it’s been seven years (really?!) since we’ve heard new straight-up hip-hop from the B-Boys. Only they can get away with making records that far apart from each other and still pull off a number two debut on the Billboard charts.

Though Hot Sauce Committee Part Two doesn’t have a very strong start—maybe I’m just sick of the single, “Make Some Noise”—it picks up with “Too Many Rappers,” the Boys’ collaboration with fellow emcee Nas. Another collabo, “Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win,” featuring singer Santigold, is markedly different from anything else the B-Boys have done before. The dub rhythm and female collaboration make it a standout on the album. In a good way.

It’s not a Beastie Boys record without hardcore and instrumental tracks, and one of each come in succession later on in HSC2. A minor difference with “Lee Majors Come Again” from the band’s previous hardcore material: when this would usually be Mike D’s cue to take over lead vocal duty, the group take turns as though it were a hip-hop track. Meanwhile, the following track, “Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament” is the only instrumental, making it a bit out of place, but still funky fresh.

The best parts of HSC2 are the group’s hip-hop cuts. “Long Burn the Fire,” in particular, is reminiscent of “Professor Booty” from their 1992 album, Check Your Head: each Beastie takes turns spitting out a single, long verse, each one comprised of “I’m better than you” said in so many ways. It’s set to a beat, a bass line and a Supernatural Folk sample. Nothing terribly complicated. It could be the epitome of this album.

Apart from a few spots where they’ve explored minor unchartered territory, it’s back to basics, but oh so good. A little bit of rock, a dash of dub, a hearty serving of hip hop, and a healthy dose of silly rhymes. Beastie Boys are back… and as Adam “Adrock” Horovitz rhymes on bonus track “B-Boys In The Cut”: “We’re here to stay.” So pass the hot sauce and enjoy the meal. 3.5 stars

Still need some convincing that you should pick up these albums? See below for each album’s free, official stream:

Wasting Light by Foo Fighters

Hot Sauce Committee Part Two by Beastie Boys

Reading this article, I realized how fast technology both progressed and was embraced within a decade. In the story, I mention that I had a 35 mm Minolta, your run-of-the-mill, point-and-shoot film camera. At gigs today, I shoot with a digital Panasonic Lumix with a 10x optical zoom and HD video recording capability!

The details in this piece made reading it a little bittersweet. On top of forgetting that I had written this, the memories in this piece are all but vague now, almost ten years later. It makes me wonder how, in 2020, I’ll look back on the gigs I had attended last year, and the Muse shows I’ll be attending this year.

* * *

6:10 pm and we had arrived at the Pipeline Cafe—10 minutes after the publicized doors-open time. People were still waiting for the doors to open (okay, so we weren’t late, the people running the cafe were). My mom—she’s hip, all right?—and I joined them. While we were standing there, I saw two women peering through the tinted windows, pointing, you know, like they were at the Bishop Museum or something. I had a feeling that I knew what—or who—they were pointing at. Sure enough, there was Adam “Adrock” Horovitz, Beastie Boy, fellow BS2000 member, and at-the-moment main exhibit, having a little chat with security at the bar. (He was probably telling them to look out for “knuckleheads”—people endangering the safety of audience members). He was wearing a white t-shirt, and his hair was sticking up (my personal favorite hair-do on Adam). I was frozen there; I don’t know why I didn’t pull out my zoom-in, 35 mm Minolta camera (which can take pictures through tinted glass) when I had the chance. When I finally thought of it, though, Adam started climbing the staircase leading to the dressing room. Oh, well, serves me right.

After maybe 15 or 20 minutes of waiting, the doors finally opened. I noticed that people were setting up a table to sell BS2000 and Le Tigre t-shirts and tiny buttons. The crappy part was that there was only one t-shirt design and one button design for each band. But being a fan, I bought one BS2000 item each, totaling up to less than . For the rest of the night, I wore both.

About 45 minutes of sitting, waiting, and watching the lighting effects passed before Le Tigre came on stage, sporting matching dark blue windbreakers. Kathleen Hanna announced that this was their last appearance for the tour. Their set, which lasted for an hour (sorry, I don’t know the set list) comprised of songs blended with dance and punk music. I thought they were a cool band, with their beats and beliefs. Plus, they connected with the audience pretty well. Hanna brought up the fact that she saw the Grammys, which was on TV the night before the show. One of them cracked, “This next song we’re gonna do features Elton John on the chorus!” They also brought up, among other things, last year’s Amadou Diallo shooting, racial discrimination, and did a little choreographed dance on stage. They even brought up this college guy, who kind of advertised this organization he’s part of at the University of Hawai‘i. During the BS set, they threw down towels to the band from the dressing room balcony.

Amery Smith, a.k.a. AWOL.

After Le Tigre’s set (and not to mention another wait), BS-two-triple-o walked on stage to, appropriately, “We Are BS2000″. AWOL, Adrock, and additional back-up members Jazz Thompson and Alfredo Ortiz took their places behind three keyboards and a drum kit, respectively. Adrock was wearing a yellow button-up shirt over the white shirt he had on earlier, along with dark green pants. He welcomed the crowd and proclaimed that he was having a bad hair day (he had combed back his hair) to which an audience member responded, “Your hair looks great!” “Thanks! Okay, I’m having a great hair day!” Adrock said.

BS also connected to the audience, holding both political and casual conversations, just like what Le Tigre did. Ortiz mentioned eating Portuguese sausages, scrambled eggs, and rice (a local favorite breakfast platter) at Loco Moco Drive Inn (a local favorite diner) that morning. Adrock was like, “What was the name of the place? Coco Moco?” The audience was shouting, “LOCO MOCO!” Then Adrock sang a portion of “Locomotion” (“C’mon baby, do the Locomotion!”). Adrock also did his best to succinctly explain each of the mostly political meanings behind the songs, but I think Hanna did a better job at that. (No offense, Ad.)

Adrock.

Their performance was super-cool (naturally) and the concert-goers enjoyed themselves (including myself). But some people were REALLY enjoying themselves. These male college kids (probably frat boys, but I’m not sure) were at the front-and-center part of the crowd, acting like they were in a mosh pit. One of ‘em even collapsed right in front of me. I mean, it wasn’t some big arena concert, just a small club show. In fact, several times during BS2000′s set, Adrock looked at them and mumbled, “Crazy kids.” Most of the audience seemed to be of the college crowd, though I did see some teenagers around my age, an elderly man, and a couple with a baby. I guess Adrock was starting to worry about our safety (the teens, the elderly man and I were among the people right in front of the stage) because he asked us, “Are you guys doing alright? Are you guys feeling okay here?”

I think I caught Adrock looking at me. After all, I was probably the only audience members wearing my newly purchased BS shirt. I even took a picture of him looking right at the camera. Unfortunately, like most of my pictures from that night, his eyes came out looking all red. I also took pictures of AWOL, whom I was standing right in front of (I was to the left of the stage, near the merchandise booth), yelling his head off in the microphone, while playing his keyboards; and Ortiz, playing the drums (sorry Jazz, I had a hard time trying to take a picture of you). Plus, I remember that this nice woman, who was also taking pictures, let me go in front of her so I could take pictures of Adam, too. (Thanks, it really helped a lot!) Also, both bands brought up a fluorescent yellow, glow-in-the-dark Hacky Sack on stage. When Adrock had it, people actually started bidding for it. He finally said something like, “The deal’s off!”

Adrock rocks the Casio.

I don’t remember the actual set list in order, but I do remember that the first song was “We Are BS2000″ and the last song was “The Scrappy.” They also did a Blondie song called “I Know But I Don’t Know,” “Nobody Beats BS2000″ and most (sad to say, not all) of the Simply Mortified tracks. I also remember that the audio was LOUD and the Pipeline Cafe was PACKED.

Then, the moment came when it was time for the show to end. People were calling out, “Hana hou!” (Hawaiian for “Encore!”) and “We love you guys!” Many of us felt disappointed because it felt so short. Plus, I didn’t get to meet BS2000. They could’ve free-styled or talked more or SOMETHING. I could’ve played something, since I take piano lessons. If the show was a month later, I could’ve even played some Simply Mortified songs; I learned some by ear during the Spring Break. Oh, well. I guess us Island fans have to wait for the next Hawai‘i Beastie or BS appearance, whenever that will be. (Note: It was in Hawai‘i, when the Beasties made their so-far only public showing here in June 1995, that Adrock and AWOL got the idea for BS2000.)

Tasi and I made the hour-and-a-half commute via bus and BART from San Jose to UC Berkeley, where the BBoys were playing. After enjoying burritos at a nearby taqueria, Tasi and I made the 20-minute uphill walk to the university’s Greek Theatre. We got there early enough; there were only 20 or so people in front of us in line. For the next two hours, we sat/stood in line as we perused through Tasi’s iPod contents, including the “Ask A Ninja” podcast videos he got from iTunes. A group of girls in front of us had what they called a domino tournament going on.

When the gates finally opened at 6:45 pm (15 minutes late), Tasi and I got great seats: the front of the seated section, on the right side of the amphitheatre (or the left side if you were on the stage). Then there was more waiting until the show started at 8 pm. Opening act Peanut Butter Wolf came on with his 45-minute set, then more waiting as the crew did a final line check. Then the moment finally arrived… Beasties!

For the first couple of songs, I was trembling with excitement. I loved the set list, which contained a lot of their popular hip-hop songs, as well as a few instrumentals and punk stuff. They played quite a few songs that I was a little surprised to see them perform live, like “Live at PJ’s” and “The Maestro” (from their Check Your Head album).

A few memorable moments:

As soon as the Boys finished “Sabotage,” Tasi and I rushed past the exiting crowd to the BART station down the hill. We needed to make it to the BART station in time to catch the San Jose bus in Fremont, and we were cutting it close. Miraculously, we made it, even when Tasi needed to take a quick pee break in the trees, lol. Our legs are still sore from the downhill run.

Set List (from Mic to Mic fan blog):
Mix Master Mike Intro
Time for Livin’
Gratitude
Live at PJ’s
Sabrosa
Root Down
Super Disco Breakin’
Sure Shot
An Open Letter to NYC
Shake Your Rump
Heart Attack Man
Remote Control
Electric Worm
Lighten Up
Brass Monkey
Pass the Mic
Skills to Pay the Bills
Posse in Effect
Time to Get Ill
The Maestro
The Gala Event
Tough Guy
Egg Raid on Mojo
Alright Hear This
Ch-Check It Out
Paul Revere
Body Movin’
Three MCs and One DJ
So What’cha Want
–Encore–
Mix Master Mike Interlude
Intergalactic
No Sleep Till Brooklyn
Sabotage