Liquid Liquid - Slip In And Out Of Phenonmenon

Early eighties NYC-based post-punk outfit Liquid Liquid are one of those names that always seems to pop in reference to more contemporary influences upon the likes of LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture and !!!, but curiously their actual music has yet to be heard by a audience reflecting their true position amongst contemporary pop’s milleu. To a large extent, this is due to their actual records being long out of print and difficult to obtain, despite James Lavelle’s Mo’ Wax imprint re-releasing several records, including the seminal ‘Optimo’ 12” EP back in 1997. Which is where this comprehensive collection from Domino steps nicely into the breach, compiling together pretty much all of Liquid Liquid’s recorded output onto a single 23 track disc, spanning the scant three years the group was active for; 1980-83.

From seemingly the very outset, it’s immediate obvious where the aforementioned likes of LCD and !!! have lifted their rhythmic template from, with tracks such as the appropriately-titled ‘Lock Groove’ and ‘Bellhead’ being typical of an aesthetic that leans towards the more skeletal and hypnotic end of the disco-funk spectrum, in a manner that’s considerably more minimal than that of say, NYC peers ESG. The prototype for the likes of Lindstrom & Prinz Thomas’ ‘cosmic-disco’ can also be clearly discerned here amidst the lulling, centreless grooves of ‘Rubbermiro’, and there’s certainly a nod to the then-contemporary NYC ‘No Wave’ scene, in the tribal, almost free-form style of ‘Groupmegroup’, with the collision of tight rhythmic grooves and delayed-out wordless yelps calling to mind the group jamming in the jungle around a burning firepit. Obviously, ‘Cavern’, famously sampled by Grandmaster Flash on ‘White Lines’ is going to be a major point of interest for many, but ‘Slip In…’ clearly illustrates that over their brief three year lifespan burned far more brightly than many of their still-extant NYC peers (let’s look at, say Blondie?).

A long-overdue reissue that’s more than been done justice by Domino.

You need to be logged in to add comments... Login Now

There are 0 user comments