The good news: the Beastie Boys announced plans to release their seventh disc, The Mix Up, on June 26th. The bad news: it's an all instrumental disc--no vocals and no samples. For a band widely regarded as a rap group, this may sound like a strange move. Mike D agrees it's a huge departure; he promised the new disc will be radically different from their last album, To the Five Burroughs.

Any record we make is always about combining different ideas or different influences we have, and then with this record, it's an instrumental album. There are no vocals, no samples. We played everything. But as different as that might be from To the 5 Boroughs, it's equally different from instrumental songs we've done before, like the ones that were on The In Sound From Way Out! That was kind of one direction and this one [has] different influences, like Public Image Ltd., Gang of Four, the Slits, Killing Joke."

If you're like me and like your Beastie Boys just the way they are, don't fret: Mike D said the band didn't abandon vocals permanently. The Boys planned another version of The Mix Up which includes vocals and collaborations with some contemporary singers.

The track list for "The Mix Up" and this week's free MP3 is after the jump.

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