Reviews:
The latest record by Refrigerator was recorded in the Callaci living room over a
weekend in August. Twelve originals featuring the quartet with the addition of
Franklin Bruno (Nothing Painted Blue, The Mountain Goats) on the piano. Where
the last record "Upstairs
in Your Room" featured the squeal & squall of two minute rock work outs in the
vein of their early work, "Bottles of Make Up" features no electric
instrumentation. A cohesive record, both musically & thematically, "Bottles of
Make Up" is far from Lo-fi-No-fi affectation, there is no muddled mix to get
lost in as the songs on the record have been lovingly recorded onto 2 inch
analog tape. With song titles Doffing the cap to artists ranging from A.P
Carter, Tim Buckley, Nina Simone, Need New Body & Elton, the record runs the
perverse gamut that these artists all lovingly fucked with. The music is another
matter as these guys aren't capable of the prog leanings of Buckley nor the Kiki
Dee action of Mr. John. "Bottles of Make Up" plays like the quieter moments of
their first record captured on a less crowded canvas. The band will be doing "Guerilla"
shows at bowling alleys & donut shops in the new year as well as a possible
small jaunt with Simon Joyner up the coast.
The band - Allen Callaci (vocals), Dennis Callaci (guitar, vocals), Chris
Jones (drums, piano), and Daniel Brodo (bass) - play as if they are the artiest
bar band in the world. They are the poets in the corner of the bar, trying hard
to ignore the frat boys at the pool table. - Pop Matters
"Heartbreak & loss without the forced drama of a Ryan Adams or histrionic
delivery of so many other artists that delve into this arena. Not weird enough
to be weird America, and far from an everyday find" - Mojo
Key Selling Points:
* 8th long player from Shrimper vets
* Full Promotion by Ba Da Bing & AAM
* Not Ryan Adams
- Midheaven Mailorder / Revolver USA (www.midheaven.com/fi/)
Bottles of Make Up, the latest from
REFRIGERATOR, was recorded in Shrimper boss 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. The band's eighth full-length release.
-
Ear-Rational (www.ear-rational.com)
feedback@ear-rational.com
If you've heard Refrigerator before,
you'll be a little confused by time you get to the fourth song.
"Where's the feedback? The noise?" And then you'll figure out
that you haven't heard a note from anything that sports a plug
and a cord. OK, that makes sense: no alternating current, no
feedback. You keep listening, all the way to the end, and
nothing ever plugs into a wall. Even without the guitar fuzz and
electrically induced dissonance, though, you have no trouble
recognizing Bottles of Make Up as a Refrigerator album. You'd
know Allen Callaci's voice anywhere, straining against the
melody and struggling to stay in time with the guitars, oozing
sadness and loss so effortlessly it feels like you're listening
in on a stranger telling his sob story to three fingers of Wild
Turkey. Your head hangs through "Blank Cassettes," grieving by
proxy. In "Sara Carter," you wince at the thought of "the
husband who put the black in your eye." And you're puzzled by
the ukulele in the standout track "I'm Nothing Without You" at
first, but as the song details the way little, ordinary things
can be so frustrating, so annoying when you're in pain, you get
it.
- Matt Hotz (www.citypaper.net)
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