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Recording:
  Happiness  
 
Artist:
  Fridge  
 
Label:
  Temporary Residence  
 
Release Date:
  18.September.2001  
 
Reviewed by:
  PostLibyan  
         
 
Rating:
   
         
 
Review:
 

I had heard some good things about Fridge on a mailing list, so i went and downloaded a couple of tracks from AudioGalaxy. I really liked the music -- Fridge seemed to be a pretty cool mellow electronic outfit.

However, it did not seem interesting enough for me to drag myself to The Echo Lounge on a Tuesday night to see Fridge open for Low. Quite honestly, Low bore me -- their music is too slow for a live performance, and the thought of moderately interesting elctronica followed by ~yawn~ really slow guitarwork just made me think about naps. So i declined.

Fortunately Tracers went. She heard Fridge, and thought "PostLibyan would really get into this!" So she bought me this disc, and i love it. Happiness is simply stunning, and now i kick myself for skipping out on the show. Oh well.

Now, according to Tracer's commentary, Fridge aren't electronic. They are an instrumental trio that uses some heavy production techniques to process their recorded music. The end result is both interestingly beat driven and organic feeling.

Listening closely to Happiness, it sounds like the band stood in the studio and jammed out some mellow tunes on drums, keyboards, and bass, then sort of re-mixed those.

The base music has a sort of improvised feel, and it's all light and airy, and seems vaguely jazzy. Also, there are no proper song titles. Rather, songs have descriptive names, like Cut Up Piano And Xylophone, or Sample And Clicks, or Long Singing. This makes seem as if they jammed out, then assigned some descriptions to the jams, as opposed to composing songs. Well, at least that is how it seems to me, someone who has a very tentative grasp of the technical fundamentals of music.

Anyway, what i think happened here is that the band sat and jammed out these really cool tunes, and then fed them into a computer and played with them. This created songs that sound electronic (like i had first thought), but preserved the real liveliness of the original jam sessions.

I think that this means that not only are the three band members talented musicians who work well together, but they are also pretty good producers. (According to the sleeve, the trio did all of the electronic manipulation themselves.) I hav heard far too many albums where any "life" has been stripped out of music by computers, and the fact that i still hear it is a good thing.

At any rate, the end product is exceedingly well done. The songs on this disc are just wonderful to sit and listen to. In fact, there isn't really a clunker around. However, there are a few that exceed even the high standards that Fridge have set.

Five Four Child Voice is probably the album's highlight. It's a groovy little indie rock song of bass, drums, and keys. Eventually, a quiet sample of some happy child singing and babbling comes in. The drumming is excellent, and the bass and the keys play off one another really nicely.

Another fine tune is Long Singing. It starts out with an echoey drum riff and then layers light guitar and keys over top. The drums are heavily effected, but they really work with the light guitarwork. Eventually what sound like horns float in, to be accompanied with some barely heard voice singing stretched out notes.

Long Singing sounds very Mogwai-like. In fact, it sounds like what Mogwai for searching for on Rock Action, but Fridge seem to achieve it better. I have spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out why, and i have no real answer. I guess it gets down to the fact that Long Singing sounds more honest than anything off of Rock Action, and that is a quality that i can barely put my finger on. Then again, i have been kind of down on Mogwai ever since that generally disappointing concert of theirs i saw back in June, so maybe that's part of it.

Another noteworthy song is Samples And Clicks, which represents the more elctronic side of Fridge. (The stuff i downloaded was similar to this.) They build some interesting simple beats, and then layer really deep bass and some keys over it. It's a nice little song, totally different than Long Singing, but still very enjoyable.

And that is how i feel about this disc: it is well done and tremendously enjoyable. The next time they play Atlanta, i will make a point out of seeing them.

 
         
 
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