Aglio e Olio is an EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 by the Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....

, released in 1995. On it, the Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....

 return to their roots of punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

.

Recording and release

The EP was released after the band realized that they had written too many hardcore punk songs for their next record. Michael "Mike D" Diamond later said, "When we first started working on Hello Nasty in New York, Awol [Amery Smith] was around helping us get set up. Along with the usual bunch of experimental jamming/sampling etc., we started playing a bunch of hardcore, putting song arrangements together really quickly. Then I started writing vocals. Soon we realized that we had way too many hardcore songs to possibly put on the next album, so we decided to release them all together as an EP."

Aglio e Olio means Garlic and Oil in Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

, a reference to one of the simplest and most popular pasta dressings. Aglio e Olio was the first album released by the Beastie Boys since 1982's Polly Wog Stew EP to feature entirely hardcore punk songs. Almost all of the songs contained on the EP are almost under two minutes in length; each song is played quickly in the style of punk rock. Initial pressings of the CD and Vinyl release came with a small adhesive label affixed with the following warning to music buyers: Only 8 songs, Only 11 minutes, Only cheap $.

Critical reception

Despite the EP only being about 10 minutes in length, the record received mostly positive reviews. Punknews.org

Punknews.org

Punknews.org is a website founded by Aubin Paul which launched in 1999. The website publishes music news and album reviews relating to punk rock, hardcore punk, ska, indie rock and heavy metal...

 complimented the album, saying that Aglio e Olio is "a testament to times when hardcore was about attitude, not drop-D tuning, playing really fast, and listening to too much Pantera

Pantera

Pantera was an American heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas. Formed by the Abbott brothers, Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell in 1981, bassist Rex Brown would join in late 1981 with vocalist Terry Glaze. Looking for a new and heavier sound, Pantera had Terry replaced in 1987 with Phil Anselmo as...

." Similarly, Randy Silver, Amazon.com

Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...

 said, "[t]here are better hardcore albums out there, and there are better Beastie Boys discs, but fans will still enjoy Aglio E Olio." Jam! Showbiz Music Reviews stated that the EP - and song "Deal With It" in particular, "is entirely representative of the faster-louder sound, which makes The Ramones seem like restless experimentalists by comparison"

Not all reception was positive. Allmusic awarded the album two out of five stars without any sort of explanation.

Track listing

1. "Brand New"- 1:24
2. "Deal With It"- 1:59
3. "Believe Me"- 1:19
4. "Nervous Assistant"- 0:43
5. "Square Wave In Unison"- 1:02
6. "You Catch A Bad One"- 1:21
7. "I Can't Think Straight"- 1:20
8. "I Want Some"- 2:02

Bonus tracks

9. "Soba

Soba

is the Japanese name for buckwheat. It is synonymous with a type of thin noodle made from buckwheat flour, and in Japan can refer to any thin noodle . Soba noodles are served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or in hot broth as a noodle soup...

 Violence"- 1:14 (exclusive to Japanese and Australian releases)

10. "Light My Fire

Light My Fire

"Light My Fire" is a song by The Doors which was recorded in August 1966 and released the first week of January 1967 on the Doors' debut album. Released as a single in April, it spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and one week on the Cash Box Top 100, nearly a year after...

"- 1:59 (exclusive to Australian 7" double-vinyl)