Dennis Young

In the early 1980s, percussionist Dennis Young co-founded <a href="spotify:artist:4LIRWeEa6WgyAzH1mjYAPx">Liquid Liquid</a>, a New York City-based quartet whose experimental groove-based tracks became a major influence on hip-hop, post-punk, and dance music. <a href="spotify:artist:4LIRWeEa6WgyAzH1mjYAPx">Liquid Liquid</a> released a handful of EPs on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%2299+Records%22">99 Records</a>, and in 1983, <a href="spotify:artist:1JfnADNz5yYEq3hrzlZHLk">Grandmaster Flash</a> & Melle Mel based their classic hip-hop cut "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" on <a href="spotify:artist:4LIRWeEa6WgyAzH1mjYAPx">Liquid Liquid</a>'s underground hit "Cavern." After <a href="spotify:artist:4LIRWeEa6WgyAzH1mjYAPx">Liquid Liquid</a> disbanded in 1983, Young began releasing solo albums on his Day Light Music label, starting with 1985's Concepts. Young's solo material explored free-form funk and dub elements similar to <a href="spotify:artist:4LIRWeEa6WgyAzH1mjYAPx">Liquid Liquid</a>, but also incorporated elements of folk, jazz, blues, ambient, and worldbeat, occasionally featuring Young's dusky, <a href="spotify:artist:5l8VQNuIg0turYE1VtM9zV">Leonard Cohen</a>-esque vocals. Following the 1997 release of a self-titled compilation of <a href="spotify:artist:4LIRWeEa6WgyAzH1mjYAPx">Liquid Liquid</a>'s entire discography, Young collaborated with several neo-disco and dance-punk artists who had been heavily influenced by his band's music, such as <a href="spotify:artist:6P4lf0XbkcwHMRlkTI5ACo">Tussle</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4xcn3zUUGf03kOIJueXHVp">Kasper Bjørke</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:4N27gbr3lsECGMfz8RVv64">Headman</a>. Young's solo albums continued on his label, retitled Day & Nite Music, and dance labels <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Rush+Hour%22">Rush Hour</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Relish+Records%22">Relish Records</a> released remix 12"s of his solo material. Another <a href="spotify:artist:4LIRWeEa6WgyAzH1mjYAPx">Liquid Liquid</a> anthology, Slip In & Out of Phenomenon, was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Domino%22">Domino</a> in 2008, and the group reunited, played festivals in the U.K. and France, and were the opening act for <a href="spotify:artist:066X20Nz7iquqkkCW6Jxy6">LCD Soundsystem</a>'s final concert in 2011. In 2015, German label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Staubgold%22">Staubgold</a> released Reel to Real, a compilation of previously unreleased Young solo material from the early '80s. Krautrock label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Bureau+B%22">Bureau B</a> released Wave in 2016; the collection focused on Young's ambient and new age recordings from the mid-'80s, which were often released on cassette under the name Dennis Andrew. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi