Search results for "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

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

(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

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.

Human, Andy And The Reptoids

Refrigerator

Total Punk

***From THE CUTS to TIME FLYS, BUZZER, LENZ and now THE WORLD and ANDY HUMAN AND THE REPTOIDS, ANDY JORDAN has had his hands in much of my favorite Bay Area music over the last 17 years. I don't think there is a track I played more DJing last year then "Sarcastic" off of the Reptoids 2016 7" on Goodbye Boozy. So it with much pride that Total Punk gives you two brand new tracks from Andy and his Reps. A bit streamlined (no sax) but still with all the glitter and grease you've come to expect from your reptile rock. Glammy bouncy punk jams from outer spaces biggest hitmaker. They pack a hell of a wallop and are 100% TOTAL PUNK!

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

Long Play 33 1/3

18 Wheeler

SHOPWORN COPIES.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

How You Continue Dreaming

Communion Label

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

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

Bicycle

Brinkman

Big Breakfast

Why Do You Touch Things That Aren't Yours?

Shrimper

***If Refrigerator is the Inland Empire's Van Halen, then Big Breakfast is definitely its King Kong. A magnificient thirteen song testimonial to the spirit of the garage. Male & female vocals trade lines above herky-jerky quirks of keyboard accentuated new wave pop. Guest help from DISKOTHI-Q's Peter & Kevin Hughes, and the infamous Bob Durkee.

Callaci, Dennis

Lost Reflection

Bamboo Dart Press

***In DENNIS CALLACI's (REFRIGERATOR, Shrimper Records) third book, Lost Reflection, the author has assembled seven short stories that are sewn together with characters whose reflections on the past are not to be trusted. Tug at the seams of the book to find the connective tissue—a clone of a character in one story appearing with an assumed name in the next, a reinterpretation of previous events here and again there. Or pay no mind to the lost echo searching eternally.

Callaci, Dennis

The End Of Night

Shrimper

Dennis Callaci’s (Refrigerator, Shrimper Records) second solo album is a knee play, a low budget opera, a tone poem with broken keys. It follows up last year’s Bed of Light, about which Tiny Mix Tapes wrote: “Poetry from a lofi pulpit, really, though Callaci seems to technically be singing hymns of non-redemption that’s too fleeting yet perfect because it’ll keep you coming back.” This album reunites him with Joel Connell, who played drums on the earliest of Refrigerator records just after Pilsbury Hardcore broke up and during the formative years of Man Is The Bastard. The two have not recorded together for over twenty five years! Along with Connell on drums, Franklin Bruno plays the piano, Daniel McDonough is on the harp, Rael Callaci programs 808s and Korg synthesizers and Henry Callaci mans the saxophone. Engineered by Steve Folta (who also lent some back up vocals to the proceedings), the record / song was recorded to be heard only on CD for a number of reason. It clocks in at over thirty minutes. No rich man’s 8-track mid-song fade for side two vinyl version available. No streaming candy corn flavor cancer aftertaste availability. No iTunes cruddy MP3 version made available for some distracted fool’s slave labor Chinese phone. No Pandora, no big box bankruptcies in wait. This little tiny compact disc is a small press. In near solo record fashion, Callaci supplied the artwork, liner notes, hidden poem that reads on the window of the CD player as the song...

Callaci, Allen

Heart Like A Starfish

Pelekinesis

***ALLEN CALLACI (REFRIGERATOR) is a librarian, a rock and roll singer and heart transplant recipient. His memoir Heart Like A Starfish is the account of his death-defying journey and the healing that follows for both himself and those around him. With illustrations by the author and beautiful cover art by AMY MALOOF, this wonderfully chaotic tale is told in a non-linear style that manages to convey the frenetic events and emotions while still embracing the strength and care and security all around. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, where the procedure was performed. 240 page paperback book. Includes a bookmark and a download of Callaci's 3-song EP featuring the songs "Heart Like a Starfish," "Lonesome Surprise" (featuring JOHN DARNIELLE of MOUNTAIN GOATS), and "Be Positive."   “A true hero’s journey, Callaci’s memoir is layered with symbols along the path to help guide the narrator and reader. A dry, Han Solo-like humor helps us get through the heartbreak. And like a Shakespearean dream, we awaken at the end with newfound joy, cherishing this wonderful life.”—Kevin Glavin, author of Rock Star's Rainblow And All The Things You'll Do!  “For any generation... An astonishing story about how close life is to death. Written in a relatable style...Existential...using street language...Callaci's true story is heartfelt!!”—Claudia Lennear (featured backup singer in the Academy Award wining documentary 20 Feet From Stardom).   “Allen shares his amazing story by locating his personal...

Davis, John / Dennis Callaci

Room For Space

Shrimper

***One third of Refrigerator gangs up with one half of the Folk Implosion. Resulting semi-improvisational scree suspends time and space and your sense of disbelief, probably.

Disassociation, The

Losing Is A Luxury

Shrimper

The Disassociation is a collective made up of all five members of Refrigerator, Amy Maloof of the band Falcon Eddy, author/bassist Jonathan Lethem and artist/musician Sam Sousa. Their first record is comprised of material written and shared over the last five years and recorded over one long seventy three hour weekend. It is called Losing Is A Luxury.Some songs feature one member, some all eight, as the mood turns from stoic Tammy Wynette to Shambolic ESP Godz/MIJ Yodeling Astrologer before circling back to NZ circa 1985. This is no side project, no "eclectic and organic album", it is a fucking electric shut down. The band is a true collective with members bouncing from instruments, vocals and songwriting duties.The seed of the project was a song that Maloof recorded for Lethem and Sousa's weekly radio show on KSPC. Lethem, who has written lyrics for Lee Ranaldo, Walter Salas-Humara and a myriad of others, does the same here, but also plays and sings, while his radio co-host sings a gruff Lee Hazlewood/Ann Margret duet with Maloof. Refrigerator offers both knee play balladry and some bright cherry shoulda been AM pop leanings on the record as members back up or step out with the collective of The Disassociation.The band is doing three shows on the west coast and two shows on the east coast as well as multiple pop up shop variants of satellite versions of the band that will feature two to seven members, across the states throughout the spring and summer....

Joyner, Simon & Callaci, Dennis

Stranger Blues - One-sided Lp

Catsup Plate

***A first-time collaboration between noted songwriters SIMON JOYNER and DENNIS CALLACI (REFRIGERATOR, PASTE, Shrimper Records). Recorded live in the Callaci living room in late August, 2003, the record features three songs by Joyner and two from Callaci. Both tap into the gravitas of the collective artistic unconsciousness in a way that lifts them up above the usual singer-songwriter pap. Joyner's dark tales of loneliness and loss are as strong as ever, while Callaci's tunes are a stream-of-consciousness take on modern day tension and angst. Acoustic guitar, piano, strained vocals, and the warm hiss of an unsoundproofed living room round out the package. Pressed on one-sided vinyl.

Callaci, Allen & Adam Lipman

Glacial

Shrimper

Glacial is a stunning record written by Adam Lipman and sung by Allen Callaci (lead singer Refrigerator), recorded over the course of two days in Claremont by Steve Folta, mostly as a trio made up of Callaci, Lipman on guitar (and some vocals) and Jason Martin on keyboard and piano. The album is a cohesive work by two artists whose sole prior collaboration consists of vocal overdubs Callaci had done for the forthcoming Lipman full-length record (due out in early 2014 on Shrimper). Lipman, upon hearing the finished back-up vocals, had joked that he was going to force Callaci to record his entire songbook. Those sessions, which comprise the follow-up to Lipman’s From Your Mouth to God’s Ears, were the last in which Callaci took part before suffering from serious health issues that ultimately led to a successful heart transplant. After recovering, it made sense that Glacial is Callaci’s first new recording. The record was cut live with Lipman serving as both a producer of sorts as well as player on these versions of his songs with minor overdubs. Augmenting the trio is Aaron Alcala, who contributes guitar on a number of tracks, as well as Callaci’s brother on backup vocals, whose subtle and stately readings offer variances to Lipman’s original versions. A quiet, slow-paced record, Glacial rewards the attuned ear with each listen.

Callaci, Dennis

Ones and Zeros

Shrimper

Since Dennis Callaci’s last solo record nearly four years ago, he has recorded and released a record with John Davis of The Folk Implosion (Arches and Pathways), Refrigerator (So Long to Farewell) as well as issuing a few books of short stories on Bamboo Dart Press. With records taking calendar months and sometimes years to complete (There are a slew of new records he has recorded/is recording in various states of dress with Italy’s Heimito Kunst, Refrigerator, Lonnie Methe and Jonathan Lethem due over the next year), this new recording was written and recorded over the course of a week in June of this year. Comprised of two fifteen minute plus songs, this record pulls, obfuscates and blends stripped acoustic and squealing guitar noise, drum machine bleed and up front vocals recalling more the earlier cassette recordings on Shrimper from the mid 90’s than his latter work. Each track recorded live and then overdubbed in another live full take. Strictly limited edition of 100 copies with unique sticker artwork.

Callaci, Dennis

The Dead Of The Day

Shrimper

***NOW AVAILABLE ON CASSETTE!!! The third in a triptych of solo albums by Dennis Callaci of the band Refrigerator began with Bed Of Light featuring Simon Joyner, David Nance and the Ghost band as well as Kevin Morby and Jarvis Taveniere as a full throated five piece / orchestrated record which gave way to the thirty minute piece The End Of Night two years later. The last piece in this series is the new record The Dead Of The Day, a stripped down acoustic record minus drums. Guitar and piano ballads, funereal fugues, a fifteen minute instrumental opener and other rough strays sit together with lyrics that play off of one another. Franklin Bruno plays the piano and organ, long-time collaborator Aaron Alcala is on a few songs and Allen Callaci’s vocals appear as a ghostly refrain on the track “Scoreless”.  The record’s release falls the same day as the Callaci’s novel 100 Cassettes published by Pelekinesis whose narrative ties into the songs on The Dead Of The Day. The book is made of 100 chapters with an introduction by Jonathan Lethem.  “Scraping strings are as likely to clash in dissonance as soothe with melody; a lush and lonely slide guitar eases the tension, though in a melancholy way. Plenty of space in these songs allows for rumination, which is a good thing because Dennis Callaci, whom you might recognize from Refrigerator or his 2013 collaboration with Simon Joyner or his stewardship of Shrimper Records, gets off an...

Lipman, Adam

The Slouch

Shrimper

***CASSETTE STORE DAY 2019 RELEASE!!! Adam Lipman has released a plethora of release on Shrimper & other labels, including a CD collaboration with Allen Callaci of Refrigerator. His latest release is a meditative work with musical flourishes running the gamut from strings and guitars, to banjos and choral back up vocals. A beautiful thing. Color cover, limited edition of 150 only for Cassette Store Day 2019

Llennoc, Leo J.

S/t

Shrimper

***CASSETTE STORE DAY RELEASE 2017!!! Joel Connell (Man Is The Bastard, Refrigerator, Pilsbury Hardcore) has recorded his debut full length solo record consisting of eastern flights, outsider goth, archaic folk funk and more. Connell sings and plays all the instruments on this true DIY release. Limited edition of 125, cover art Dennis Callaci.

Callaci, Dennis

A Bed Of Light

Shrimper

Over the course of 25+ years, Dennis Callaci has written and performed in the band Refrigerator, while also recording solo under such aliases as Paste, Puffy and other even poorer name choices. Callaci has also collaborated on records with John Davis, Simon Joyner, and others, but A Bed of Light is his first true solo album. Six of these nine tracks were recorded by Jarvis Taveniere (Woods and producer of Woods, Sunflower Bean, Martin Courtney), who also plays drums, bass and guitar. A Bed Of Light also features Simon Joyner and his current band, with recordings and overdubs done in Omaha by Mike Friedman and Joyner. Many of these tracks were recorded months after Callaci’s brother Allen, lead singer of Refrigerator, had a sudden harrowing sickness followed by a successful heart transplant. The record is equal parts pastoral and primitive stomp. Autoharp, lap steel, cello and violin are complemented by cranky electric guitars pinned to ten in the mix, primitive drum machines and phantom saxophones. This is not a solo auteur album, though Callaci did pull a half-Prince by writing, singing and playing on every song as well as doing the cover art and writing a piss take essay on the insert!

Joyner, Simon & Callaci, Dennis

New Secrets

Shrimper

Simon Joyner, who over the course of thirteen albums has released a unique and influential body of work on a myriad of independent labels, and Dennis Callaci, who has recorded nearly as many records with his band Refrigerator and runs one of those said labels, present their second record together.  Their first collaborative release was a one-sided vinyl-only release on Catsup Plate Records a decade back entitled Stranger Blues, a direct-to-one-track live recording of the two playing together and sharing one mic. Though recorded in the same spot (i.e. the living room of the Callaci home), New Secrets is a different record altogether—a call and response exercise of sorts, with a Joyner song answering the plea to the preceding Callaci dirge. Recorded and mixed live by Jarvis Taveniere (noted for his Rearhouse recordings and as a member of Woods) over the course of three days, the duo was backed up by Joyner’s band from the Ghosts record of last year. Augmenting the album’s eleven tracks are guest appearances by Franklin Bruno (Human Hearts, Nothing Painted Blue) and Kevin Morby (The Babies).  Reuniting the original cast from the first release, noted artist Rob Carmichael designed the cover art around Callaci’s drawings.

Mean Jeans

Are You Serious

Dirtnap

***THE MEAN JEANS are the kids that live down the street that blare the Ramones and the Angry Samoans late at night while they are playing "Edward 40s Hands." They have three things in their refrigerator: ketchup, beer and slime. The Mean Jeans were born when, at the ripe ages of 23 and 24, JEANS WILDER (skins, vox and smokes) and BILLY JEANS (vox, riffs and spliffs) started playing their parent's DC-area basements in the winter of 2006. They grew another member, HOWIE DOODAT (aka JEAN JEANS on the bass guitar), after moving to Portland, Oregon a year later. The thirteen garage pop tunes of Are You Serious harkens back to the Lookout! Records of the early ‘90s, when pop-punk meant snotty low-brow three-chord goodness and not glossy soundtracks to mall strolls. Like any good Cretin’s soundtrack, the "songs about partying" vs. "songs about girls" ratio leans fully toward PBR fueled pogo punk. Pitchfork already said The Mean Jeans "comes over like the Ramones mixed with a pinch of Joan Jett’s classic ‘Bad Reputation’ and makes you want to slam dance with its guitar riffs and rollicking drumbeats."

V/a

Abridged Perversion

Shrimper

Thirty-four tracks of lo-fi genius hand picked by the Shrimper staff, Nothing Painted Blue, Mountain Goats, Lou Barlow, Bugskull, Refrigerator, John Davis, Simon Wickham-Smith, Paste. Now barcoded!

Callaci, Dennis And L. Eugene Methe

The Last Chance Lottery

Shrimper

L. Eugene Methe is an Omaha based singer-songwriter and musician with a discography spanning over twenty years. His last two lyrical based albums were released on Grapefruit Records. As a studio musician he has contributed violin and piano on a diverse group of albums by Simon Joyner, Refrigerator, Mountain Goats, the Renderers, Naturaliste, Expensive People and many more.Dennis Callaci from the band Refrigerator has released collaborative records with John Davis, Heimito Kunst, Simon Joyner and others as well as a myriad of solo LPs over the last 35 years. He runs the Shrimper record label. His fourth book is out in 2025 on Bamboo Dart Press.The Last Chance Lottery is a collaborative record featuring the music of Methe and the vocals/lyrics of Callaci. Cinematic and outre in tone, the record does not forsake melody or tunesmithery, but strips much of it bare to paint it with surprising found sounds, abstraction and a balance between what these two fellas do best. The album was mastered by Al Jones as Marginal Frequency to further tightrope those two worlds. Features cover art and liner notes by Callaci.

Callaci, Dennis & Heimito Kunst

First Light

Pass Without Trace

Heimito Kunst has issued two releases of outre releases that utilize synthesizers, church organs, bells, contact mics and found sound to create sheets of incredibly listenable and addictive works of instrumental music. The odd alto vocal here or guitar there are used to punctuate the dramatics for his 2021 CD on Dissipatio and his 2022 Shrimper release, both of which are out of print. Kunst is part of a new collective of music makers in Italy that are forward looking, untethered to laptops to generate sound. Dennis Callaci is in the band Refrigerator and has issued a number of solo recordings as well as collaborative records with Simon Joyner and John Davis among others over the last thirty five years. This record features music written and performed by Kunst with Callaci's lyrics and vocals. These songs might be spotted wafting in the ether of Camberwell Now, Xpressway cassettes, E. Lonnie Methe viola or maybe Romy Scheider's perfume in the 1980 film Death Watch. The vocals, vulnerable and emotive are layered over in-the-red synths, pulsating rhythms and ghostly piano lines. Callaci and Kunst will be doing European dates in the fall in the fall followed by a short west coast tour in the new year.

Goosewind

Grateful 4 the Times We Share

Shrimper

Grateful 4 the Times We Share is Goosewind’s first release on Shrimper in nearly thirty years. An emotional and fitting return that features players that have been associated in the orbit of Rick Goosewind over that time span including Melody Kriesel, Maddelleine Grae, Ruben Seahag, Thomas Spectre, Garrett Dunn and Allen Callaci of Refrigerator dueting on a Blind Willie Johnson cover. The cassette spans the folk and psych roots, dark and light and otherworldliness that the band has inhabited over all those decades with odes to all that is gone and praise for the hard fought for that remains. Rick Goosewind orchestrates a tour of time as he hears it from the far back of his past to the present. Hand numbered limited edition of 100 copies featuring cover art by Dennis Callaci.

Siebe, Megan

Swaying Steady

Shrimper / Grapefruit

Megan Siebe is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and arranger from Omaha, Nebraska. She’s cut her teeth as a member of bands such as Simon Joyner & the Ghosts, The David Nance Group, Cursive, Sean Pratt & the Sweats, The Jim Schroeder Sextet, and many others, touring nearly non-stop for the last decade. She’s also written string arrangements for albums by Refrigerator, John Davis, the Renderers, Dennis Callaci, L. Eugene Methe, Justin Townes Earle, and Anna McClellan. But all the while she was writing her own intimate, finely-crafted songs in secret, only breaking them out around the occasional Nebraska campfire amongst friends. A break from touring in other bands these last fifteen months has allowed Siebe more time to focus on a powerful cycle of songs she’s had brewing for some time.   Grapefruit and Shrimper are proud to join forces to release Megan’s humble yet astonishing debut. Swaying Steady is a gorgeous collection of literate and evocative singer-songwriter, country-tinged, melancholy pop songs about relationships in crisis, bad seeds, family, and emotional endurance. For fans of Lucinda Williams, Harry Nilsson, Elyse Weinberg, Nick Drake, and Sibylle Baier.

Fuccillo, Jeff & Allen Callaci

Beyond Thunderdome

Shrimper

Peyote buttons. Bread infused with chia seeds and wheat germ. Home jail tattoos of your annoying parrot. That is what has occupied so much of our Covid-19 lockdown time. In the curious case of Jeff Fuccillo and Allen Callaci, they spent those early halcyon days of the lockdown finding odd places in their homes to record and pass files to one another as they pieced together a set of covers from the 1980’s. The Shrimper/Union Pole co-release sees the fellas turn songs by Pavement, Quarterflash, Crowded House, Prince and others inside out. You may know Fuccillo as the head honcho of Union Pole, a member of The Irving Klaw Trio or for that collaborative record he did with John Fahey. Allen’s work outside of his band Refrigerator has included collaborations with Adam Lipman, Falcon Eddy and a forthcoming team up for a song with Shrimper stalwarts Goosewind. The cover art features a spectacular drawing of our two lads being led out of the wasteland by Tina Turner as drawn by Allen Callaci. A more fitting cover for these times, I can’t properly imagine.

Davis, John & Dennis Callaci

Arches & Pathways

Shrimper

In 1995, John Davis and Dennis Callaci improvised an album of songs together live to one track. Not an ambient, instrumental meander of a record, but songs complete with them / there lyrics, melodies and hiccups. In the time since that record was recorded Davis went on to record a follow up record with The Folk Implosion and a number of solo records. Callaci continued recording records with Refrigerator as well as solo records. Over three days in July of last year, the two songwriters improvised this record, Arches & Pathways, in the same manner, except that there was an engineer on hand and the thing was recorded in Hi-fi. Songs were recorded, layered, overdubbed, scratched in real time, with the two of them sharing vocal and guitar duties. Additionally, Davis’s drumming adds that left-bank swing to the stands, and the Callaci piano dust is shaken from the ivories. The result is an expansive record that is equal parts pop melody and avant-en-garde living inside one another, not side stepping for a bit of this or that between the dead wax grooves.

V/a

Shrimper: A Psst Compilation

PSST

***A 30th anniversary reissue of the debut Shrimper cassette. The first Shrimper cassette was not on Shrimper, it was on a label called PSST. The name of the only proper release on PSST was a compilation entitled Shrimper. The cassette, “Shrimper” was, for the most part, an amalgamation of various bands related to The Bux (the pre-Refrigerator band of Allen & Dennis Callaci) & KSPC DJ’s. The Jim Bishop Guitar Army, Punk Rock, The Sunday Supper Club & Welfare all featured DJ’s from KSPC; Girlhole, Pigsnuff, Mark, Asshole Mouth & The Satnam Puppets were offshoots of The Bux. Also featured on the tape is a live cut by The Deli Creeps (Featuring gtr maven Buckethead and the unique voicings of Barnum in their bizarro horror/comedy begins), Oskar Meyer (A bridge from the nascent LA punk scene of the late 70’s to the Inland Empire. He was in circles that featured Geza X. This limited edition reissue includes original cover art as well as the original PSST catalog from 1990.

V/a

Shrimper 25th Anniversary Cassette

Shrimper

Celebrating 25 years of Shrimper whose first cassette came out way back then. Features exclusive, brand new recordings by Calexico, The Babies, Simon Joyner, John Davis, Woods, Refrigerator, Franklin Bruno, WCKR SPGT, Liz Gilbert, Dump & Paste. Hand numbered/colored edition. Folded in the Callaci home by some of yer fave Shrimper recording artists. Edition of 300. Proceeds donated to EarthBagNepal for victims of Nepal earthquake.

Debts, The / Dennis Callaci

Split

Shrimper / Unread

The Debts are an ongoing collaboration of scientists and musicians centered around the songs of Dane Sybrant. Originally hailing from Omaha, NE, this outfit has released their tunes through Unread Records, consisting of a few cassettes and a 7" single. On this split LP the group explores themes of loss, death, and hope, all within a shifting landscape of tape hiss and raw spirits. side of this split LP runs up & down the spine of loss & death. Now centered in Oregon, The Debts will be doing a series of show on the West Coast in support of this record. Dennis Callaci is in the band Refrigerator, and follows up a collaborative record he recorded with another Omaha native, Simon Joyner a few years back. His 5 songs run the gamut from acoustic laments, a keyboard/vocal drone and a no-shit Scratch Acidesque vocal/drum machine breakdown. All songs recorded live to one track, in stereo. This record follows Refrigerator’s “Temple City” which came out a few weeks back on Shrimper, garnering 9 out of 10 stars from Magnet. This is a hand screened/hand numbered limited edition of 300 copies by Chris Fischer featuring artwork by Callaci & Dane Sybrant. Includes download code.

Kivel, Matt

Days Of Being Wild

Woodsist

***CHECK STOCK!!! Received a 7.6 rating from Pitchfork. Days of Being Wild was recorded over the course of six weeks in the summer of 2013 with Paul Oldham in a small detached shed in Los Angeles. The album art features original drawings by Max Markowitz.  “I had worked with Paul on the last record I did, 2013’s Double Exposure, and I was lucky because he decided to move to LA right after that record was finished. My friend Brian Cosgrove has this house in the Echo Park hills, kind of a punk house where everyone who lives in it plays in bands. It’s got a front porch with a refrigerator on it and it’s got a one room shed in the back where bands rehearse. A lot of bands have rehearsed there over the years. Paul and I started meeting there over the summer and I would buy Paul beer. We drank whiskey on the first day, but I think we both got too drunk to do anything productive—well, at least I did, Paul’s from Kentucky, so he has an even higher threshold—so we switched to beer and things went smoothly from then on. I played most of the instruments, Paul played bass, and my friend David Kitz joined in on drums for two of the harder songs. Paul told me some great stories about all of the musicians he’s worked with over the years. He even told me the secret to I See a Darkness—Bunny Wailer’s ‘Blackheart Man.’...

Lipman, Adam

Prove The Beast

Shrimper

Adam Lipman has moved into the modern era with his new album Prove the Beast, his third release on the legendary Shrimper label. While From Your Mouth to God’s Ears (2009) was a record of words, and Glacial (2013) was a record of a voice singing those words in perfect pitch, Prove the Beast is a record of worlds: basketball legends, misogynistic feminist fables, love through the prism of drink, slow counterpoint piano, hip-hop beats, off-key / off-kilter hand-claps and drums, Peruvian pop goddesses, income inequality, Jesus as unrealistic sex god role model, dating as ritual death dance, and love as catalyst for death-inducing high-speed country driving. Helping this project along was Michael Sherk (Mandarin Dynasty), who took the helm as producer and engineer. Cooped up together in an oceanside cabin in Big Lagoon, Trinidad, CA, the pair recorded mostly live for four days. Completing the recordings with overdubs over several months was Allen Callaci (Refrigerator, singer on Glacial) adding vocal touches, Tommy Seven (also known as Controller 7, hip hop instrumentalist and Anticon label alum) with drum programming, Taryn Popplewell on vocals, Kevin Ferguson on drums, Matt Longwell on saxophone and Aaron Alcala on piano. The cover is drawn by Bay Area artist Gonzalo Perez Acosta.

Nothing Painted Blue

Taste The Flavor

Shrimper

*** Taste The Flavor, Nothing Painted Blue's sixth full-length, brings together the veteran Inland Empire trio for 13 songs that are louder, looser, and stranger than their previous reputation. Recorded at Tucson, Arizona's famed Wavelab by Craig Schumacher (Giant Sand, Calexico, Neko Case), most of the disc emphasizes performance and feel over elaborately overdubbed arrangements - opener "One Who Fell" and epic closer "Swansong" capture the band's confident interactions as well as any studio recording can. This is NPB's least restrained and most varied album, ranging from the touching pop ("Back in Town," with Schumacher's harmonica solo) and angular speedballs ("Emphasis") you'd expect, though a Stones-y riff-rocker ("A Longer Leash," complete with cowbell), and an acoustic dub excursion ("Dry Spell"). Frontman Franklin Bruno's sharp-witted lyrics and emotionally engaged vocals are still in place, but they're augmented by newfound guitar firepower, and tough, no-bullshit rhythm arrangements by drummer Kyle Brodie and bassist Peter Hughes.  Nothing Painted Blue can play fast and loose with the indie-rock rulebook - and even throw it out, when they like - because they helped write it. They've released albums and singles on several of key '90s labels - Scat/Matador, ShimmyDisc/KokoPop, Simple Machines, and current home Shrimper -- and have shared bills with everyone from Beck to Tortoise, from Beat Happening to The Jesus Lizard. Formed in 1987 by Upland High School buddies Bruno and Brodie, plus original bassist Mike Neelon, they released A Baby, A Blanket, A Packet of Seeds in 1990 on their own...

Omit

inSec

Siltbreeze

Omit’s in/Sec is “new,” but not new. Recorded in 2013, the masters lost in the label’s murky somewheresville that always shows up when moving. For those who don’t know, Omit is an experimental electronics artist from New Zealand’s south island who, since 1990, has released thirty-some xerographed cassettes and CDrs in the Dead C orbit for those who do. It’s not enough to say that in/Sec is an ambient masterpiece bringing to mind a John Carpenter soundtrack performed by the Hub because listening to it engineers new species. The infectious and corrupting sounds synthesize new life forms in your brain's enzymes. If you specialize in a niche too much, you are prey to predators outside, but Omit never goes for low-hanging fruit and isn't simulating anything. I can vomit a better looking face than the ones on these little fuckers eating my brain right now. In this century that flatters itself to be of drinking age, it is a queer thing we haven’t come face to face with aliens. There is a time for everything and they're all intermixed. Besides the xenobiological effects, Omit constructs your sentiment through timbral concepts that repeat and shift with minimal reference to harmony, melody, key, or mode. Streams jump and skitter, knitting tightly high and low in a dense rattling driven to the long and most plaintive tones amongst the countless gizmos (that’s including you, but not “you”). This one is for big fans of Anode/Cathode, Ikue Mori, Papa Srapa, Fronte Violeta, and Insignia...