Optimo (EP)

The band began work on Optimo in late 1982, recording it in a studio on the top floor of Radio City Music Hall.{{cite web |url=http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/new-york-stories-sal-principato |title=New York Stories: Sal Principato |last=Principato |first=Sal |date=April 6, 2013 |publisher=Red Bull Music Academy |access-date=December 21, 2014}} The songs emerged from group jam sessions.{{cite web |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-03-23/music/liquid-liquid-haven-t-lost-their-edge/ |title=Liquid Liquid Haven't Lost Their Edge |last=Gale |first=Ezra |date=March 23, 2011 |website=The Village Voice |access-date=December 20, 2014}} Liquid Liquid was recorded live, using portable sound barriers so the songs could be mixed. Because the studio had previously been used by NBC Radio, the band was able to use some sound effects. Ed Bahlman, who ran 99 Records, produced the EP and had the band record extended versions of songs.

Bassist Richard McGuire did the cover artwork, which consists of red, yellow, and black whorls. He wanted to capture the songs' rhythms, which he described as "like standing in the middle of four tornados all swirling around".{{cite web |url=http://www.honeyee.com/think/2008/richard_mcguire/index02.html |title=Richard McGuire of Liquid Liquid |last1=Mittleman |first1=Paul |last2=Weissman |first2=Adam |date=May 16, 2008 |publisher=Think Piece |access-date=December 21, 2014}} The band's name is formed by placing liquid in stacked letters next to liquid written with a vertical baseline. McGuire wanted it to be readable in two directions so "that you had to move it to read it." The band considered "Optimo" to be "the main track" and named the EP after it.

{{Listen

| filename = Liquid Liquid - Optimo sample.ogg

| title = "Optimo"

| description = The songs combine chants with energetic basslines.{{cite book |last=Sarig |first=Roni |year=1998 |title=The Secret History of Rock |publisher=Billboard Books |isbn=978-0-8230-7669-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/secrethistoryofr00sari }}

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The title track "Optimo" gets its name from a brand of cigars. It includes a percussion section that uses the snare drum, bass kick drum, rototom, cowbell, and claves.{{cite web |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/1989-new-york-noise/ |title=Various Artists: New York Noise |last=Beta |first=Andy |date=July 14, 2003 |publisher=Pitchfork Media |access-date=December 20, 2014}} The beat uses repeated drum rolls. "Optimo" also features a strummed two-note bassline and nonsensical lyrics.{{cite web |url=http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/seconds/liquid-liquid-optimo.htm |title=Liquid Liquid: Optimo |last=Siegel |first=Jeff |date=December 21, 2005 |website=Stylus Magazine |access-date=December 20, 2014}} Its rhythm is similar to Brazilian batucada music.{{cite web |url=http://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/bubbling-back-up/Content?oid=2176209 |title=Bubbling back up |last=Gillen |first=Brendan |date=May 21, 2003 |website=Metro Times |access-date=December 22, 2014}} The EP also contains "Cavern", for which the band is most widely remembered.{{cite journal |last=Brunner |first=Rob |date=September 12, 1997 |title=Liquid, Liquid |url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,289347,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421163146/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,289347,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 21, 2009 |journal=Entertainment Weekly |issue=396 |access-date=December 20, 2014}} The song uses a "tightly coiled" bassline and displays "quintessential Lower East Side tension and paranoia".{{cite web |url=http://blogs.ocweekly.com/heardmentality/2008/05/video_savant_liquid_liquids_ca.php |title=Video Savant: Liquid Liquid's 'Cavern' |last=Segal |first=Dave |date=May 6, 2008 |website=OC Weekly |access-date=December 20, 2014}}

Bahlman considered "Cavern" the record's most important track and pressed an acetate disc of it. Thinking of it as a dance song, he gauged people's reaction after giving it to his brother Bill to play at the Anvil. "Cavern" soon became popular on black radio stations in New York.{{cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Reynolds |year=2005 |title=Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 |publisher=Penguin Group |page=[https://archive.org/details/ripitupstartagai00reyno/page/274 274] |isbn=0-14-303672-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/ripitupstartagai00reyno/page/274 }} Upon release, Optimo sold 30,000 copies.{{cite web |url=http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/99-records-feature |title=The 99 Records Story |last=Rubin |first=Mike |date=May 20, 2013 |publisher=Red Bull Music Academy |access-date=December 21, 2014}} "Cavern" found popularity among nightclubs and hip hop musicians after DJ John Benitez used the song to close his sets at The Funhouse.{{cite book |last1=McLeod |first1=Kembrew |author-link1=Kembrew McLeod |last2=DiCola |first2=Peter |year=2011 |title=Creative License: The Law and Culture of Digital Sampling |url=https://archive.org/details/creativelicensel00mcle |url-access=registration |publisher=Duke University Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/creativelicensel00mcle/page/111 111–114] }} McGuire gave a copy of the EP to Larry Levan at the Paradise Garage, where the band performed several times. "Optimo" and "Cavern" were used by house DJs Frankie Knuckles and Ron Hardy.{{cite book |last1=Brewster |first1=Bill |author-link1=Bill Brewster (DJ) |last2=Broughton |first2=Frank |year=1999 |title=Last Night a DJ Saved My Life |publisher=Headline Book Publishing |page=[https://archive.org/details/lastnightdjsaved00brew/page/301 301] |isbn=0-8021-3688-5 }}

Elements of "Cavern" were used for the Grandmaster Melle Mel song "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)". Grandmaster Flash first encountered the song through WHBI's Zulu Beats program.{{cite web |url=http://observer.com/2001/05/destinys-child-above-beyonc-afrika-bambaataa-the-body-electro/ |title=Afrika Bambaataa: The Body Electro |last=Strauss |first=D. |date=May 21, 2001 |website=The New York Observer |access-date=December 20, 2014}} Sugarhill Records' house band replayed the music with traditional instruments, using the bassline and bridge from "Cavern". Liquid Liquid was initially pleased, and vocalist Salvatore Principato commented that "we felt a combination of flattery, excitement and bewilderment".{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/oct/03/liquid.liquid |title=Groove is in the art |last=Pattison |first=Louis |date=October 3, 2008 |website=The Guardian |access-date=December 20, 2014}} "Cavern" subsequently fell out of rotation and was replaced by "White Lines". 99 Records sued Sugar Hill for the similarities between the two tracks. McGuire accused Sugar Hill of retaliating through scare tactics, including hiring someone to scare 99's customers with a machete. Sugar Hill was ordered to pay $660,000 but instead declared bankruptcy shortly after. Bahlman shut down 99, in part because of the case's legal costs.

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = Pitchfork Media

| rev1Score = (10/10) {{cite web | url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/23052-liquid-liquid-ep-successive-reflexes-ep-optimo-ep/ | title= Liquid Liquid - Optimo EP | publisher= Pitchfork | date= April 2, 2017}}

}}

"Optimo" is included in Pitchfork Media's collection of The Pitchfork 500.{{cite book |editor1-last=Plagenhoef |editor1-first=Scott |editor2-last=Schreiber |editor2-first=Ryan |date=November 2008 |title=The Pitchfork 500 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=70 |isbn=978-1-4165-6202-3 }} Stylus Magazine ranked "Cavern" 49 on its list of the "Top Basslines of All Time".{{cite web |url=http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/weekly_article/stylus-magazines-top-50-basslines-of-all-time.htm |title=Stylus Magazine’s Top 50 Basslines Of All Time |date=September 12, 2005 |website=Stylus Magazine |access-date=December 20, 2014}} A weekly club night in Glasgow, Scotland takes its name Optimo from the song.{{cite news |last=Pollock |first=David |date=March 22, 2003 |title=There's Nothing Like a Dive with a Sub |newspaper=Daily Record |page=8 }}

Joey Negro included "Cavern" in his 2000 Disco Not Disco compilation.{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|album|mw0000423165|pure_url=yes}} |title=Disco Not Disco - Joey Negro |last=Kellman |first=Andy |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=December 20, 2014}} "Optimo" appears on Soul Jazz Records's 2003 compilation New York Noise. "Cavern" was included in the soundtrack for Edo Bertoglio's Downtown 81, which depicted Manhattan bands in the early 1980s,{{cite web |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2002-02-26/music/phone-home-michael-zilkha/ |title=Phone Home, Michael Zilkha |last=Frere-Jones |first=Sasha |author-link=Sasha Frere-Jones |date=February 26, 2002 |website=The Village Voice |access-date=December 22, 2014}} and Spike Lee used it as the theme song for his 2002 drama 25th Hour.

"Optimo" was played live by the resident band and by Morgan and Alessandra Tripoli, playing cowbells and timbales during their Samba performance in 2021 Italian Dancing with the stars tv show.{{Cite web |title=Dove c’è Morgan, c’è spettacolo |url=https://tv.fanpage.it/dove-ce-morgan-ce-spettacolo/ |access-date=2022-08-28 |website=Tv Fanpage |language=it}}{{Cite web |title=@morganofficial on Instagram: "Morgan -the samba - part 2 Se non lo avete visto guardate il video del post precedente che è la prima parte di questo mini docu. Morgan -the samba - part 2 @alessandratripoli @fabiocaninoreal @lucaalcini_ @milly_carlucci @carolynsmith5 @liquidliquid.jp @arisamusic @luigisacca @francescosasso" |url=https://www.instagram.com/reel/Chwf3MOgVd0/ |access-date=2022-08-28 |website=Instagram |language=en}}

{{track listing

| all_writing = Liquid Liquid

| headline = Side A

| title1 = Optimo

| length1 = 2:43

| title2 = Cavern

| length2 = 5:21

}}

{{track listing

| headline = Side B

| title1 = Scraper

| length1 = 3:41

| title2 = Out

| length2 = 2:07

}}

; Liquid Liquid

• Salvatore Principato – vocals, percussion
• Scott Hartley – drums, percussion
• Richard McGuire – bass guitar, percussion, sleeve artwork
• Dennis Young – marimba, percussion

; Technical

• Ed Bahlman – production
• Don Hünerberg – engineering
• Howie Weinberg – mastering

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Discogs master|79761|Optimo}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1983 EPs

Category:99 Records EPs

Category:Liquid Liquid EPs