UK post-rock trio, not unlike Tortoise, prone to toy with electronic and sometimes jazzy improvisations. Although Fridge can sometimes resort to experimentation for experimentation’s sake, these tracks are a fine sampling of their more accessible work. FYI: Fridge has spawned two solo projects, Four Tet (Kieran Hebden) and Adem (Adem Ilhan).
Greg Davis
Reluctant beats rinsed in rippling, melancholic guitars — perfect for after hours listening (assuming you’re driving home after getting dumped).
Blockhead
Another Ninja Tune victory: scratchy electronic that sounds like how the movie 28 Days Later felt. This track seems to feature a bit of Strongbad right towards the end as well.
Salvatore
Is it live or is it Memorex? (Wow, that reference seems really dated…) A band or someone hiding behind a curtain of computers? Either way it’s as if robots recorded My Bloody Valentine music in the Mojave desert. But robots like the Tin Man, who had heart.
n.ln
A prolific chap, Nyles Lannon (Film School, n.Lannon), a double major (how far can a I push the collegiate allusions?), hard at work in his computer science courses (I can run them into the ground I tell you).
Havergal
Prairie drawl and bug zapper glitches = campfire music for the computer age.
Magnus
Distant vocals served over cool techno and coupled with solid funk basslines and snappy guitars bring an old-school (circa 1994?) vibe to today’s dancefloor.
RF
If you had to pigeonhole RF, you might label it Intelligent Acoustic Music. His whispering guitars and gentle programming make me want to snuggle up with my iPod and a good Haruki Murakami novel.
Intuit
German duo enlist flamboyant Brazilian vocalists to add their smooth touch to this shimmering, summery jazz track.
Anna Oxygen
Bouncy, new wave stream-of-consciousness — as catchy as it is fleeting.