"No Wave" legends Liquid Liquid

[atreidesny]

<img src="http://www.nycegrafx.com/images/liquid-liquid-optimo-EP.gif">

"No Wave," as the name suggests wasn't New Wave, although it happened at the same time. It was influenced by and influenced what was and would become “New Wave“. There was no unifying movement or “wave” to this New York/East Village moment. Perhaps the only unifying aesthetic was that it was decidedly anti-pop. There were no hooks, or marketing departments, it was a totally underground aesthetic, and thus remained under the radar for many years – except at New York underground spaces like the Loft. Liquid Liquid was one of the most recognized live acts of this movement, featuring nice phat basslines, intricate drumming and adlibbed/nonsensical/rubadub vocals. They were labeled “art-noise”, and punk-funk, but basically they were genre defying. They symbolize a magical time of the East Village/New York City, when it was a crazy eclectic melting pot of punk, funk, synthesizers, disco, hip hop, art, fashion and drugs, LOTS of drugs. Very different from the sterile/corporate/starbucks/gap environment of today’s cleaned-up city. The group is best known for the song “Cavern,” which features a catchy bass line, which would become the basis for Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel’s “White Lines” – the lyrical ideas “slipping in and out of phenomena” from “Cavern” becomes “something of a phenomenon,” a standard hip-hop phrase these days. “Optimo” undoubtedly was the best song on the EP, and the other songs follow along the lines of art/noise/funk/minimalism.

After the Optimo EP, they released a couple of art-noise singles as Liquid Idiot, and then the Idiot Orchestra. By 1997, they were reintroduced to mainstream American dance floors through Duran Duran’s hit cover of “White Lines.” Around the same time, the Beastie Boy’s Grand Royal reissued their three main EPs as an album, bringing these long out-of-print classics back to the underground (Grand Royale has gone belly up, and good luck finding even the repressings). Spike Lee’s 25th Hour used “Cavern” as its theme song and trailer sound track music. In 2003, they played an amazing reunion show at the Knitting Factory, and toured around the US.

Founding member Richard McGuire is a world-famous illustrator and author of children’s books, who has also done covers for the New Yorker and has pieces in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Dennis Young has an improv band named Water Torture Chamber Music. Scott Hartley still plays his drums. And vocalist Salvatore Principato promotes world music in New York City as New Africa Presents and “Sal's World Music Bistro” at Sin Sin/Leopard Lounge (Second Ave. at 5th St) which has an international vegan buffet, Yum!

These songs were never released on a CD format, except for “Cavern”, but my version is an edit which is not on any commercial CD. This EP is VERY sought after here in NYC – by collectors of a wide variety – from Hip Hop fanatics to Art Rockers to Jazzheads. I have had some very nice offers for my original pressing, as it was a small pressing – but instead I kept it and am now sharing it with you. The mp3s include the original album art if you have itunes. For fans of the Talking Heads, Bush Tetras, Gang of Four, Au Pairs, the Waitresses, Was (Not Was), A Certain Ratio, the Clash, Bow Wow Wow, Tom Tom Club, Material, and Primus you will definitely enjoy these toons!

Liquid Liquid – “Cavern”
http://s53.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=06PA ... F6MYF9GJUQ

Liquid Liquid – “Out”
http://s53.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1NLQ ... 725BIY14OI

Liquid Liquid – “Optimo”
http://s53.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3VXR ... MS6P6G4TZV

Liquid Liquid – “Scraper”
http://s53.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=26KJ ... TFPI29O52J

And an added bonus! The jam that would become “Once In A Lifetime”.

Talking Heads – “Right Start” (Unfinished Outtake)
http://s59.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1017 ... HSVHJE1VV5

Cheers! [8D]

<image src="http://www.nycegrafx.com/images/atreidesny.gif"> The Spice Must Flow!

[hutter]

"Dang dingy dang de dangy dang diggy diggy"
I always wondered where I heard that riff before "White Lines".
Very cool stuff. Thanks for the share.

[buttfoo]

Some really rare grooves. Very nice addition...thanks[;)]

[Jason²]

Awesome post and great encoding. Not to rain on your parade, but the 3 Liquid Liquid EPs were compiled onto a CD released by Mo'Wax and Grand Royale. It's oop and hard to find and all that, but there was a CD release in the not too distant past.

[atreidesny]

Jason, I mentioned the Grand Royale release above, and Mo Wax released the same packadge in the UK, but good luck finding it. I did a search on Amazon, and after a lot of effort I found it:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000 ... nce&n=5174

Not many available, and VERY expensive. Great comments, check them out, especially the caveat about the CDs. I am a vinyl junkie, and one of those that feel vinyl is superior as far as phatness and warmth to CDs, and I hope my rips convey that. These were done very lovingly, and for NWOers, are free and will hopefully wet your whistles if you are not familiar with LL. If you ever have a chance to check them out live, do yourself a favor and do it! [;)]

<image src="http://www.nycegrafx.com/images/atreidesny.gif"> The Spice Must Flow!

[marie3]

Awesome songs. Thanks for posting them. I only knew of "Cavern". Love the basslines.

[WolverineSyr]

I've always been a fan of the No Wave scene & the Mutant Disco stuff out of NY. I recently discovered the Cavern track, but had not heard the others! Great stuff.

For some background & discographies of some other artists, look no further than ZE Records website!
http://www.zerecords.com/homepage.php

[ebbhead]

Thanks for these!

[rewind]

I could never understand why Liquid Liquid's final 12", "Dig We Must/Flextone" didn't make it onto the CD compilation. They're both great songs too!

[tomfin2000]

[quote]I am a vinyl junkie, and one of those that feel vinyl is superior as far as phatness and warmth to CDs, and I hope my rips convey that.[/quote]

I couldn't agree with you more. I went the CD route with my collection for practical reasons, but pre-recorded CDs just seems to lack the impact that vinyl has, especially when it comes to basslines. For example, I can't tell you how disapointed I was when I heard songs like Kid Creole's "Stool Pigeon" or the Comast Angels "You Move Me" on CD for the first time. It was like "WTF happened to the bassline?!?"

What's really weird about this though is that you can take an mp3 of a vinyl rip, convert it back into a .wav file, put it on a CDR, and it will sound just as awesome as the vinyl did. I still haven't figured that one out.

[hutter]

My ripped from vinyl copy of goblin's Zombi soundtrack sounds much better than the cd release. I don't get it either. CD technology still has a long way to go, to come close to matching vinyl.

[elektrikblu]

Thanks so much. Great tunez that sound great. I'm grateful. Great! Don't mean to be grating. ahyulk!

elektrikblu
"Don't look at the carpet. I drew something awful on it!"

[BigBri]

[quote][i]Originally posted by atreidesny[/i]
[br
*snip* For fans of the Talking Heads, Bush Tetras, Gang of Four, Au Pairs, the Waitresses, Was (Not Was), A Certain Ratio, the Clash, Bow Wow Wow, Tom Tom Club, Material, and Primus you will definitely enjoy these toons!

Cheers! [8D]

[/quote]
Shoot, I'm a fan of all of them. Thanks for the posts! They sound great, and I really enjoyed them. Like many others, I was only familiar with "Cavern."

[rewind]

BTW, the Bush Tetras are performing again in the NY area...DVD coming out soon!

[n/a13]

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... D=34198603

If anyone is interested, here is Dennis Young's (Liquid Liquid) myspace page.