Refrigerator

Refrigerator

Get Lost

Shrimper / Grapefruit

The fifteenth record by Refrigerator marries the two worlds that the band has come to be known for: the wild improvisational strings caught by drums on a vocal harmony and that of their minimal torch song balladering. The core line up for over thirty years of Chris Jones on drums and the Callaci brothers remains intact, as does bass player Daniel Brodo’s bass playing which has been a part of the Refrigerator sound for over twenty-five years. Joined on the previous record, 2021’s So Long To Farewell by Wckr Spgt guitarist Mark Givens, the five piece’s dual guitar attack is on full display on side one of the new record Get Lost, the sky clearing for a more studied, quieter side two that features saxophone and trombone, a live-to-one track recording and Mott The Hoople heartache. Recorded once again by Steve Folta, the new record book ends the band’s previous effort both audibly and visually as Jean Smith’s previous cover art gives way to Jad Fair’s work for the sleeve of the new record. This is a limited edition vinyl pressing to be followed by a CD and some sort of wind up nickel-and-dime, tin-can-string version in the years to come. Members of Refrigerator will be doing pop-up surprise dates in Japan, Norway, Scotland, Canada and Mexico as well as dates scattered throughout the US as a five piece in support of the new record.

Refrigerator

(deluxe) So Long To Farewell

Shrimper

The twelfth studio record by Refrigerator expands the line-up to five with the addition of Mark Givens from WCKR SPGT on second guitar.  Along for the ride are guest appearances by legendary singer Claudia Lennear (vocals on the first single “Broken Glass Shore”), Shrimper Records stalwart Franklin Bruno, and the additional hand of Scott Solter, who mixed the record, which rests in a gorgeous sleeve with artwork by Jean Smith. The lovely live bleed of a band playing together in one room—guitars spilling onto the drum tracks, cymbals biting into the feedback from the amps—captures the live sound of Refrigerator as never before on record as caught by engineer Steve Folta.     There are two physical versions of the record, one on black 160 gram vinyl, as well as a deluxe edition, available on green and white swirled vinyl that couples a bonus CD with six tracks to a fifty page Bamboo Dart Press chapbook that features drawings, short stories, photographs, lyrics and essays by the band, in an edition of 150 copies.   

Refrigerator

So Long To Farewell

Shrimper

The twelfth studio record by Refrigerator expands the line-up to five with the addition of Mark Givens from WCKR SPGT on second guitar.  Along for the ride are guest appearances by legendary singer Claudia Lennear (vocals on the first single “Broken Glass Shore”), Shrimper Records stalwart Franklin Bruno, and the additional hand of Scott Solter, who mixed the record, which rests in a gorgeous sleeve with artwork by Jean Smith. The lovely live bleed of a band playing together in one room—guitars spilling onto the drum tracks, cymbals biting into the feedback from the amps—captures the live sound of Refrigerator as never before on record as caught by engineer Steve Folta.     There are two physical versions of the record, one on black 160 gram vinyl, as well as a deluxe edition, available on green and white swirled vinyl that couples a bonus CD with six tracks to a fifty page Bamboo Dart Press chapbook that features drawings, short stories, photographs, lyrics and essays by the band, in an edition of 150 copies.   

Refrigerator

Lonesome Surprize

Shrimper

The earliest Refrigerator recordings surfaced in 1991 on the Shrimper cassette “Lonesome Surprize”. Lovingly remastered from the original sequenced tape by Steve Folta, this limited edition cassette reissue features brand new liner notes by Allen & Dennis Callaci recalling the origin of these songs. The hand painted covers offer an upgrade to the first edition, with the shell containing its sharpied “X” that also figured on the orignal issue. The cassette features the brothers along with Joel Connel ex of Pillsbury Hardcore and then a budding member of Man Is The Bastard.

Refrigerator

High Desert Lows

Shrimper

Refrigerator’s eleventh full length record High Desert Lows was recorded over a week in Omaha, Nebraska. Produced by Simon Joyner (who plays and sings on a number of songs on the record, along with members of his Ghosts band), the new record calls out to the more pastoral sounds of their Comedy Minus One album, with viola, cello, vibes, slide guitar and wurlitzer dotting the edges of nearly every song, a stark contrast to the loud squall of preceding record Temple City.  The album begins with a song penned by drummer Chris Jones, bending to Barstow, and then bleeds into songs that skirt a number of counties from Apple Valley to Victorville before closing with a minor chamber orchestra and a vocalist shutting down the town. Twenty-seven years on, with all the original members (plus Daniel Brodo who joined in 1995), the band is still improvising and communicating without bowing to commerce.

Refrigerator

Temple City

Shrimper

Refrigerator and Shrimper celebrate 25 years together with the band’s first album in four years. Temple City is also the first record of theirs to feature electric guitar, feedback squalls and electric bass in over a decade, after the all-acoustic Bottles of Make Up and their last album, Dangerous, a stillborn recording of demos. More recently, vocalist Allen Callaci recorded with Adam Lipman (2013’s Glacial), Dennis Callaci with Simon Joyner (2013’s New Secrets, helmed by Jarvis Taveniere of Woods) and the band released a couple extremely limited and now out-of-print cassette-only releases.  Temple City was recorded in full just prior to harrowing health issues for Allen that ultimately led to a heart transplant. The band went back into the studio with longtime engineer Steve Folta after Callaci’s full recovery and rerecorded a number of songs as well as a few new ones to complete the 17 tracks which comprise Temple City. The band will play select shows around the country to coincide with the album’s release, and Allen will embark on a tour to promote his book Heart Like a Starfish, due out in February on the Pelekinesis imprint.

Refrigerator

Live At The American Legion Hall Pomona

Shrimper

** CasseteStoreDay Special Release!!!! Hometown performance by Refrigerator in March of this year, their first live performance following lead singer Allen Callaci’s successful heart transplant the preceding Spring. In the spirit and the ridiculous fetishized nature of the day, each cassette has been lovingly hand dubbed over an existing prerecorded release, hand folded and hand jobbed by Dennis Callaci, just like in the old days. Who’s music will tail out at the end of each side on your version? Triumph? Martin Briley? The Headpins? No two are alike. Limited edition hand numbered/colored edition of 150.  

Refrigerator

Dangerous

Shrimper

A strange document not originally intended to be released in its current form, Dangerous began life as a set of demos for an electric Refrigerator record. Bassist Daniel Brodo’s fall from a ladder at the art gallery he runs with his wife resulted in two broken wrists and a serious concussion, and left the recordings stillborn. The band had moved on by the time Brodo had made a full recovery, and was itching to record a new batch of songs (the best of these to come out later in 2011 as the next album). However, the initial recordings were too good to leave unreleased, and have become Dangerous, the first new Refrigerator record in four years. All material was done live without overdubs; most of them are first takes. Dangerous features a song written by Franklin Bruno (who guests on two different tracks) of The Extra Lens / Nothing Painted Blue, and two more by drummer / second guitarist Chris Jones.

Refrigerator

Bottles Of Make Up

Shrimper

Bottles of Make Up, the latest from Refrigerator, was recorded in Shrimper CEO Dennis Callaci's living room over a weekend in August, 2006. The album features twelve originals with Franklin Bruno (Nothing Painted Blue, The Mountain Goats) on piano.   While the quartet's previous record, Upstairs in Your Room, squealed and squalled through two-minute rock workouts in the style of the group's early years, their newest has no electric instrumentation at all. Cohesive both musically and thematically, Bottles of Make Up is far from lo-fi / no-fi affectation. There is no multi-tracked, muddled mix to get lost in: all the songs were lovingly recorded directly onto two-inch analog tape. With doffs of the cap to artists such as A.P. Carter, Tim Buckley, Nina Simone, Need New Body and Elton John, the record lovingly traverses the same perverse gamut.   Still, Refrigerator avoids the prog leanings of Buckley or the Kiki Dee action of John. Instead, Bottles of Make Up plays like the quieter moments of their first record rendered on a less crowded canvas. The band will be doing "guerrilla" shows at bowling alleys and donut shops with Kimya Dawson in early 2007, later joining Shrimper label-mate Simon Joyner on a small jaunt up the coast. 

Refrigerator

Upstairs In Your Room

Shrimper

*** Refrigerator's seventh album in their tenth year as a band returns to the rusted-out, Peavey-drenched feedback of their earlier records on the Communion label with eleven new songs recorded over two years by Steve Folta at his Junket studio, including compositions written during the band's European tour in 2003. Besides touring with Sebadoh in the fall, Allen and Dennis Callaci, Chris Jones, and Daniel Brodo will be doing guerilla dates at comedy clubs up and down the West Coast. What does the record sound like? Busted up soda pop through a shorting-out vending machine, thumbnail sketches in the vein of a lowbrow Ray Davies or upper end David Cassidy. That's right, file next to their contemporaries Smog, The Piltones, and Dump.  The packaging includes an extensive mini-magazine touching upon issues ranging from spotting Stevie Nicks at the local Stop & Shop to Peter Jennings rescinding his newfound American citizenship. No joke.  * The unrepentant leaders of DIY indie just get better with age * Publicity by Track Star Media * Radio by AAM * Touring with reunited Sebadoh in the fall * Refrigerator's return to rawk * Exportable to all territories 

Refrigerator

Comedy Minus One

Shrimper

***A stripped-down acoustic record with strings and bows wrapped around mistreated pianos and dobros, Comedy Minus One continues in the direction of REFRIGERATOR's previous record from 1999 Glitter Jazz. Recorded by STEVE FOLTA at the CALLACI compound over the course of two years, the band was able to lay the shit down and cut the floor up without removing any stitches, leaving well over thirty songs on the recording studio floor. Freshness assured! The band will tour the North and Southwest in the late fall, and follow that with East Coast dates in the new year, and y'all should catch 'em, 'cuz the band has never looked (or sounded) better.

Refrigerator

Bicycle

Brinkman

Refrigerator

Anchors Of Bleed

Communion Label

***Final (?) effort for the Communion label (the band would soon return to the nurturing confines of the Shrimper Corporation) finds these Princes of the Inland Empire in a reflective mood. Essential, as always.  

Refrigerator

How You Continue Dreaming

Communion Label

***Absolutely masterful album from the best San Dimas, California has to offer.  

Refrigerator

S/t

Shrimper

***San Dimas poetic-rock sensations, Refrigerator continue exploring the fleshy, under-crevices of self and surrounding, with another strip-surfaced and hands-opened album of rock-solid pop shine. Blooming runs of needles-and-knives attacking, gentle chiming, and pick-you-up strokes from guitarist Dennis Callaci, again provide the neccessary emotional launching pad for brother Alan to vocally blast off from. Recorded by Bob Durkee, and features guest appearances from Buckethead and John Davis.

Refrigerator

Somehow

Shrimper

***Five songs; four not on the self-titled 1997 opus. Clocking in at five minutes and employing every last one of Bob Durkee's 16 tracks (get used to it), "Somehow" is the most revelatory track on the aforementioned album. Durkee and Buckethead guest.

Refrigerator

Glitter Jazz

Shrimper

***The fourth album, and first new material in over two years from the fraternal- magic rock institution that makes hearts go bump in the night. Now standing taller than ever as a quartet (stand-up fucking bass!) they deliver eleven new songs that yearn with emotion and churn with glory. Features guest appearances from indie faves FRANKLIN BRUNO, JODI of the SECRET STARS, IRA & GEORGE of YO LA TENGO, KARLE RUNGE from Europe, and MR. JOHN DAVIS of the FOLK IMPLOSION & THE JOHN DAVIS BAND. Touring the West Coast with Dump in October, hitting the East Coast in January. Excellent, excellent, excellent, not since Women and Children First have I ever been so happy.