Happiness

Fridge | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 2, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Temporary Residence
• ASIN: B00005Q6OU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #296,467 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Could be the Meaning Of., October 27, 2001

By 

"donkeye" (all up in your face) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Happiness (Audio CD)

The title of the album is not ironic, though it might be particular. Fridge is a British group who have been doing the post-rock thing for some time. Their early albums were quite noisy, but then, with two ep's, they became something of an amazing organic electronic group.
One of the guys in Fridge releases albums under the name Four Tet, his latest, called Pause, is an umistakably gorgeous album, easily up there with Boards of Canada's Music Has The Right To Children.
Happiness is almost a companion album to that. It has much the same quality of sound: lush, orchestral or gamelan style electronics. It's very organic.
The difference is that Happiness is more abstract, the songs have a more open structure, not built around songs, but almost a mindset, a development of a certain happy place. Once that place is reached, the song is complete.
In some ways its a strange album, and yet, it urges itself to be listened to. It's been on my stereo for a month now, happily in rotation.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars anything but cold, May 8, 2004

By 

Thaddeus (nyc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Happiness (Audio CD)

Fridge is working the electro-acoustic angle, creating organic electronic music within a rock idiom (though fridge is far from strictly electronic). Fridge have crafted a sonic euphoria, accessible without narcotics. When I put this cd on for someone I already know that they will like it, so instead of telling them how great it is or trying to describe it, I ask them "Do you want to hear some really weird music?" If you already like Fridge, you should check out Tortoise, the Books, Boards of Canada, Mum, Seefeel, Fennesz and Hrvatski. (Hrvatski liked it so much that he reviewed it; see the featured review above.) All are doing a similar thing in different ways, that is giving Edward the hands he deserves.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorites, June 12, 2002

By 

a1 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Happiness (Audio CD)

Like Tortoise, Fridge work in the grey area between rock and electronica, but they manage to carve out their own unique sound. They've got a good variety of sound material including xylophone, glockenspiel, piano, and electric guitar -- all tracks instrumentals of course. They are either cut up and spliced into beat-oriented mellow grooves (try 2 is oozey downtempo not unlike Boards of Canada), or played live. Last track is a real winner, using the "epic buildup" framework that has become almost a post rock cliche. Yes this is post rock, but not the cold/precise kind. This is a great disc with broad appeal, with enough sound variety and percussive force to keep it interesting, and an overall warm, billowy sound.