SC Distributon

Originally released on Trevor Jackson's fledgling Output Recordings, Fridge's early releases playfully skated all over the musical map, jumping from bashing lo-fi punk to sublime expanses of downtempo dance with equal enthusiasm. Always produced by the band at home (and often mixed directly to cassette), these early records drew much deserved fanfare. With Output Recordings now defunct, and Fridge having spawned no less than three successful side-projects (most notably Four Tet, Adem and Kieran Hebden's collaborations with jazz legend Steve Reid), Early Output 1996-1998 is a band-curated collection of the most memorable tracks from those wildly prolific early years, including six previously unreleased tracks from that era. Remastered from the original master tapes, the package also includes photos and extensive liner notes from the friends, collaborators, and the band themselves.

Before Four Tet was remixing Radiohead and Coldplay and before Adem was performing with David Byrne and Fairport Convention, they were breaking new ground as Fridge, a trio formed in 1996 with fellow schoolmate Sam Jeffers. After three critcally-acclaimed albums, the group took an inadvertent hiatus when its members' various solo projects took off. Six years later, the group are back with The Sun, their most celebrated album yet. To celebrate their triumphant return, we are releasing their astonishing 2001 album, Happiness, on deluxe limited edition double vinyl. Strictly limited to 2,000 copies, and pressed on 100% virgin black vinyl, this is the first time Happiness has been available on vinyl anywhere in the world in over five years.

It may have been a while since Fridge's last record (2001's Happiness), but contrary to what some may think the band never went away, never went on sabbatical and certainly never broke up ? they just stretched a little at the edges, and ended up with a bigger, wider sound than ever for their new record, The Sun. The pure and simple fun of playing music with friends that you can hear in a garage pours off the record. It's the impulse behind everything the band does. But the The Sun is still orchestrated with all the musical intelligence to be heard on the Adem and Four Tet records. Process is key, with the studio itself being integrated as one of the instruments Fridge 'play'. But really it's Fridge's harmonies that hold The Sun together, joining up the dots between their disparate interests and influences. It's not a part of the band's sound that gets recognized enough, but there are plenty of tunes here that will get stuck in your head for weeks.

Now, for the first time ever, all of Fridge's Go!Beat-era recordings are available in one convenient package for a much more appealing price. No more will folks have to settle for rumors of this masterpiece. Included in the Double CD set is the original "Eph" album in its entirety, plus a second disc containing the out-of-print "Kinoshita Terasaka" single and "Of" EP. And just for good measure, we threw in two previously unreleased remixes from uber-hyped Matthew Herbert and mix maestro P Pulsinger. A total of about 100 minutes worth of music. We're talkin' boombox-on-the-shoulder type shit. Get bent.