FRIDGE

 
Fridge were an instrumental post rock band from Manchester who over their 10 year existence put out some great albums and a plethora of EP's though they are one of those bands I feel that geography defeated. Despite Manchester having a reputation for being a hotbed of creativity it seems that Fridge never really reached the status or popularity of their more well known American peers like Tortoise who to a degree they owe a small debt to in their sound. of their 3 members 2 went on to some more recognition Adem Ihan has and continues to release great fragile acoustic albums on Domino records under the name Adem. Sam Jeffers seems to have retired from music altogether from what my research finds however most successful was Kieran Hebden who has gone on to great success as Four Tet (see post HERE) taking the sound that Fridge created as a band and adding a more electronic/dance edge to it gathering much critical and general acclaim and continuing to release music to this day.

Fridge are what you might call an "obscure" band and with a name like Fridge they hadn't made life easier for themselves as far as finding them on the internet is concerned either! Starting their career on Trevor Jackson's amazing Output records they later moved to the bigger home of Go Beat records (Known for releasing Portishead, Arab Strap and many others)  for their "Eph" album to electronic label Text for their final 2 albums. 

Whilst being fairly consistent in sound Fridge are also quite eclectic and progressive their early releases on Output from 1997 - 1999 are pretty consistent blending live instrumentation with electronics  to create a sound that whilst in places owes a small debt to their US Counterparts such as some of the the bands on Thrill Jockey records I really think for the time they were quite unique. It's hard to describe fridge at once gentle and almost ambient at other times brash and noisy. off kilter timings clash with gentle guitar picking and electronic sounds however one thing I can say is that they are a band who will keep your interest a lot of their music is quite chilled out but it has enough about it to not drift into the background and enough variety that they won't bore you! 

I'm actually struggling a bit here to describe Fridge they are at once eclectic but also consistent as in you can't really mistake them for anyone else but I seem to be repeating myself  trying to pin them down. maybe that's my fault for not having enough descriptive terminology so I leave it in your hands reader! I can't seem to find a good article to link you to either even wikipedia has failed me here! So onto your links. They are pretty self explanatory for the most part I have given you their 5 albums Ceefax, Semaphore , Eph, Hapiness and The Sun but Eph is a 2 disc expanded reissue which rounds up the 3 EP's they did around this time on the bonus disc,  The "Kinoshita/Terasaka" EP, "Of" Remixes & "Ark" Remixes plus the mighty double CD compilation "Seven's and Twelves" this compiles their EP's "Anglepoised" 12", "Lojen" 7" Their Split 12" With Add N to (X) The 7" & 12" versions of their "Lign" EP and lastly the "Orko" EP I added a bonus track to disc 2 from their split 7" with Portal which pretty much rounds up everything they have done other than a 7" on the Soul Static Sound label which was a collaboration with artist D and is really just pointless electronic burbles over 2 sides I am a diehard fan and even I thought it was crap! If you're feeling curious then I would recommend starting with the "Semaphore" album or maybe the "Sevens and Twelves" compilation but I definitely think wherever you start there's a good chance you will be back for everything else! 


CEEFAX - Mediafire

SEVENS & TWELVES - Mediafire

SEMAPHORE - Mediafire

EPH (2 DISC REISSUE) - Mediafire

HAPINESS - Mediafire

THE SUN - Mediafire