Style: world beat, experimental, no wave, dance-punk
Label: 99 Records
Home: New York City, NY
Year: 1983
Members: Sal Principato ~ vocals/percussion
Dennis Young ~ marimba/percussion
Richard McGuire ~ bass/percussion
Scott Hartley ~ drums/percussion
I wrote in my review of Europe's song "The Final Countdown", from the album of the same name, that what makes this song stand out is they flipped the expected arrangement on its head. The keyboards are prominent, while the guitars are not. The rest of the album has the guitars out front as one expects & the keyboards are just fluff, for which I said the rest of the album was not good. Liquid Liquid sorta does the same thing here with percussion & bass. Its an addicting listen. Liquid Liquid lasted from 1980 through about 1985, then reunited for periodic gigs between 2008 to 2011, including opening for LCD Soundsystem's farewell performance at Madison Square Garden in 2011. They may not be an immediately recognizable name, but they do come up in discussions of NYC's no wave & dance-punk scene, plus of NYC's early '80's experimental music scene. While they have opened for Lou Reed, Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Afrika Bambaataa, Sonic Youth, Chaka Khan, Rhys Chatham, Built To Spill, Florence & The Machine, Gary Numan, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Pet Shop Boys, & Mumford & Sons. With three percussionists & an electric bassist, there is no band like them then or now. The closet comparison might be Mickey Hart's earlier solo outings, though without the focus on international rhythms he had. Also, Liquid Liquid feels more like it is exploring sounds, versus exploring what a drum can do like Hart did. If they arrived on the scene today Liquid Liquid might be called dub or a groove oriented jam band or inspired by Afrobeat, though you can't really compare them to other dub groups or jam bands like Rusted Root. They also don't have much of a foot in the world beat camp. If there is dub patterns to be found, or something ethic, it feels more as just part of the overall musical experiment that is Liquid Liquid than something intentional to tap into that culture. They also might have jammed on stage, but they didn't take a song & prolong a solo for ten minutes. They couldn't, as there are no solos. Actually, there is no recognizable western song structure on any of the songs. There are no verses or choruses. Vocals are more about their pitch & rhythm than over any role a vocalist is expected to take. Liquid Liquid is about a groove, an experience, a new sound, perhaps a dance party or a drug trip. Sometimes they are funky, sometimes dub-like, sometimes world beat-esque, sometimes dance inspiring, sometimes disorienting, sometimes totally fun, sometimes totally alienating, sometimes just enough cowbell. They are everything you know & nothing. Familiar & strange at the same time. For a band that broke so many boundaries its shocking they are not more known. This EP features their most well known song "Cavern", plus "Scraper", "Out" & the title track. My first response hearing this was thinking about what Bill Laswell might sound like if he had his own percussion band. The thumping electric bass, repeated words, & countless textures give the four songs an unpredictable feeling I've always associated with Laswell's mixes. It ropes you in to a journey, but you have no idea where you are going. On repeated listens my view changed away from that. For example, "Optimo" chugs along at high speed that on later listens had an album psychotic & claustrophobic feel. While at times I found "Out" was angry, but on other listens didn't. At times its hard to figure out if these four songs are intricately composed or ad-libbed while the tape was rolling, or a little of both. The part I most gravitated to, as a bassist, was the growling repeating bass lines that give a foundation to the songs. This returns to my opening lines about Europe. Whereas normally the drums keep a song grounded, providing the steady beat & foundation no matter what else happens, here its the bass that takes that role with heavily repeated lines. The drums & assorted percussion instruments create the changes, melodies, harmonies & everything else. In "Optimo" sometimes the drums work with the bass, other times they are off doing their own thing. This is on top of the bass & random incoherent words. Its an interesting cornucopia of sound that on one hand doesn't seem to go anywhere or present any mood, though I can also see it as being grabbed up by a DJ without hesitance to pump on a dance floor. "Cavern" gives some attention to the vocals utilizing echo. On one line they are up close, at the next line they are echoing through a chamber. Its a subdued bare bones track. "Scraper", named after the scraping percussion, feels very different than its brothers with a stronger melody carried out by the marimba, while the bass plays its least prominent role on this album. The fact that everything, bass included, pulls back for an odd vocal break, makes this the most dynamic track, & perhaps the most interesting. Interestingly, the other tracks feel fascinating, yet almost disjointed at times, but "Scraper" has a much more cohesive feel with lots of intricate changes. If you're not up for an entire album of percussive action, I would recommend just listening to this one. "Out" ends the album with the bass giving a gritty pattern while Sal blasts out his words. The song is just pure anger & feels like it will break down into chaos. There are albums that are more experimental, more wild, more textured, more venomous, but in 1983 they likely didn't exist yet. Liquid Liquid is an interesting snapshot of four guys doing something different at the time, which even today sounds unique. For the complete output of Liquid Liquid in one sitting, look for the 1997 self-titled CD that brings together all their official output, while lots of bootlegs of live shows exist.
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