Beastie Boys back in the studio and set up a film company while they're at it

The Beastie Boys, MCA, Mike D. and Ad-Rock are working on a new album, recording at the Beastie Boys‘ Oscilloscope Studios in lower Manhattan. “It’s in the early stages of development, but it sounds cool to me,” says Adam Yauch. Now, I like the Beasties best when they're too cool to smile in photographs, so I'm hoping for Check Your Head styled fuzziness as opposed to the cleanliness of Hello Nasty.

Anyway, aside from the new soundz, Yauch spoke of his new side project, Oscilloscope Pictures, which is a small film distribution company that he launched earlier this month. He’s already looking at “a handful” of films, saying, “There are cool, interesting films that fall between genres that the larger companies might not be not looking to distribute.” Yauch says he sees the new company as a “small indie label,” adding that he’s learned some lessons from his experience with the Beasties’ defunct Grand Royal imprint. “There’s a danger of getting too much overhead going,” he said. This time around, “a big part of the idea is to do everything in-house - the artwork, the DVD covers, posters, that kind of stuff.” Please can we have some B-Movies? Cheers.