Refrigerator is the influential project launched by
brothers Allen Callaci and Dennis Callaci (vocals and guitar) in Upland
(not far from Los Angeles).
Their saga would originate a local scene (the "Shrimper scene") that also
includes the Nothing Painted Blue.
Originally, they were called Bux and released
one cassette a year starting in 1985. When they changed name, they had matured
both as songwriters and as vocalist/guitarist.
The cassette Lonesome Surprize (1991), the EP
Rocking Horse Loser (Jupa, 1991) and the album
33 1/3 Long Play (Eighteen Wheeler, 1991)
collected home-made tapes and live tracks. The first professional and cohesive
recording was the album How You Continue Dreaming (Communion, 1995),
an adult and romantic concept dedicated to their own suburban community
Spastic guitar and psychotic singing address domestic issues with the fair play
and the vulnerability of a drugged-out hippie (Son House, Colton).
The feeling is similar to New Zealand's 1980's naive pop.
Anchors of Bleed (Communion, 1996) is a tad too professional-sounding,
an improvement that actually takes away most of the charm from the duo's
eccentric songs.
The progression towards well-formed songs continued on
Refrigerator (Shrimper, 1998), that boasts a slab of
garage-rock (Young Confusion) and a trancey application of the
velvet Underground handbook (Somehow).
Now a stable quartet, Refrigerator cut
Glitter Jazz (Shrimper, 1999), yet another step towards a mainstream
sound. The resulting style sounds surprisingly closer to
Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, and even country-rock, than to
indie-rock reference frames
Pavement or
Guided By Voices.
Dangerous (Shrimper, 2011) collects demos.