good selection of raga-drones, oriental instrumentation and otherworldly Sun City Girls-like throat singing" - Foxy Digitalis

Refrigerator Mothers "Ghosts of A Primitive World"

Hand wrapped in Chinese Ghost Money.

$10.00 (includes shipping)

Track list:

Bedding down the revolution with a mouth full of shit! (Live, 2003)

Arab National Anthem (Acoustic/7" Version)

Tied in Sacks

Black Moth Scrap Serum (7" edit)

Pasilla Mangoes

Spiritscar

YaYa Suitor

Christifari's Collapse

Instrumentation:

kitchen sink, juno 1, juno 106, cura cumbus, melodica, sh-101, pipes, chains, industrial filter

device, electric guitar, twelve string acoustic guitar, electric bass, soft synths, computers, frame

drum, floor tom, various cymbals and bells, harmonium, effects processors, Ruan (moon guitar),

prepared acoustic guitar, prepared piano.

REVIEWS:

'Ritualistic and tribal post-punk folk dreamweavers': that is how the
Refrigerator Mothers call themselves. It's a loosely organized
collective of over twenty participants, including musicians (of course I'd say),
visual artists, film makers, business owners, dancers 'and much more'
(mothers perhaps?), and together they have a whole array of instruments
at their disposal: from analogue synthesizers to guitars, prepared
guitars and piano, but also frame drum, floor tom, various cymbals and
bells and the kitchen sink. I assume that their material is conceived
during lengthy jams which are then cut to shape. They also have a 7" out
called 'Arab National Anthem', which along with the b-side can also be
found on this CDR release (for reasons not entirely clear to me), and that
might show some of their love for love for middle-eastern sounding,
tribal percussion and vocal chanting. Ever since Muslimgauze picked up a
tabla and played too much, I can't hear a tabla without thinking o f
Muslimgauze, which makes I have some problem with this too. But the
Refrigerator Mothers get the benefit of the doubt from me. Their addition
of a whole blend of other instruments makes this into something that is
wholly more enjoyable than the more single minded Muslimgauze. Their
freaking sound goes out into the directions of No Neck Blues Band at
times, but with a slight touch of arabic sound. Quite a great release of
improvised music in something that might very well be considered their
own sound. (FdW) Vital Weekly

"Refrigerator Mothers is a project led by Carl F. Off, one of the founding-members of Hop-Frog collective playing Oriental-toned, mystical and rather primitive music that combines modern technology and acoustic instruments in a great way. This over one-hour-long CD-R has eight tracks of psychedelic, tribal and mostly rather peaceful music recorded 2003-2006. The album starts with ”Bedding Down the Revolution with a Mouth Full of Shit” that has minimal beginning and reminds me of Dead Can Dance a bit and has for example some electronics, loops, Egyptian-sounding guitar and also faint vocals. Around the eight-minute-marker I’m reminded of Anubian Lights. This is mystical going with a psychedelic touch for all of its over 20 minute duration. “Arab National Anthem” includes a rather relax comp and exciting tone progression. The faster, very percussive “Tied in Sacks” features some funny, psychedelic speech samples. ”Black Moth Scrap Serum” begins in a very laid-back manner with some quiet talk and is a minimal and monotonic number before it gets wilder, hypnotic tribal/industrial stuff with distorted guitar before the three-minute-marker. “Pasilla Mangoes” is a tranquil, ethnic-sounding and soft over nine-minute-long track that also has more psychedelic stuff from another dimension. The peaceful, pretty folky instrumental “Spiritscar” has some drone and acoustic stuff. The experimental and primitive “Ya Ya Suitor” is very minimal, although it grows a bit. The sad, short piano piece ”Christifari’s Collapse” finishes the album. This was a pleasant surprise for me and the album comes wrapped in Chinese ghost money, by the way.

”Arab National Anthem” and ”Black Moth Scrab Serum” have also been released on vinyl single limited t 428 copies on red, yellow, green and blue vinyl. I think these tracks are the same versions as on the CD-R, but the nice covers and that lovely analogue sound make this limited 7” worth buying, even if you’d also get the CD-R. Both of the tracks are good choices for a single release." - (DJ ASTRO) Psychotropic Zone

"Midi-eastern past-asiatic psychedelic dron-e raga punk". That was the first description I read of hop-frog's Refrigerator Mothers. "post-post-punk kraut punk folk-noise punk sound" was the second. Do these descriptions make any sense to you? To me, they made just a tiny bit of sense. Besides being just a bunch of genre tags thrown together, they actually do somewhat inform you of the music they play. Somewhat. I prefer to call it simply 'experimental psychfolk'.

The first song itself takes already over 1/3rd of the total time this disc plays. Nearly 22 minutes, and not one minute boring. It drones on and on with its soundscapes and minimalistic sounds, but it entertains. There is a structure to be heard, but the song is not at all divided in different refrains and choruses. It sometimes feels as if every instrument is just jamming by itself, but it actually sounds like one big thing altogether. Surely it's not easy to digest and devour, but when you spend a few times listening this track, more and more beauty reveals itself. Towards the end, it becomes heavier and heavier, until it mutes and fades out against it will.

In the 'Arab National Anthem' Refrigerator Mothers have really captured a very neat eastern sound. This is an acoustic version, originally on a 7inch vinyl record. The string instruments are played really neat, and the bells only add to the eastern sound of them. Just like the previous song, this song just goes on and on without being boring for one single moment. It's due to the continuous small differences in the music that causes it to stay interesting.

'Tied In Sacks' has a very tribal sound. It's a pretty short song, just over two and a half minute, but it's very interesting. It's uptempo and highly energetic. This is in full contrast to the next song, another song that's originally from a 7inch vinyl record. This is the first song with actual lyrics to it. The first thing that I thought when hearing this song, was "Current 93... ". But so far, I have found nothing to back that thought up, except of course 'Judas As Black Moth'. After nearly three minutes, this song increases its speeds from slow droning sounds towards, well, faster droning sounds. Can't explain it better.

These first four songs were also the most interesting in my opinion. Though I must say that the vocals on "Ya Ya Suitor" were impressive as well. But with describing these first four songs one has a pretty good idea of what to expect. Now, when you like some experimental folk stuff, do not hesitate to get this. Only $8, including shipping. In return, you get a neat CDr package, folded in Chinese Ghost Money. Don't be a fool like me, and cut that wrapping open, in the hope of finding something underneath it. It's only a black CDr sleeve, so save yourself the time and the effort. And most of all, a damaged wrapping. I could, with my non-existent skills, repair it, luckily. So it still looks neat." - Heathen Harvest

‘Ghosts of a Primitive World’ is attributed to Hop-Frog’s apparently defunct Refrigerator Mothers collective, including the three aforementioned core members as well as another ten or so performers and guests. The disc begins with the 22-minute “Bedding Down the Revolution with a Mouthful of Shit”, a slowly unraveling psychedelic raga of Eastern strings, guitars, and sparse, programmed beats; embellishments of melodica and electronic textures are added slowly, as is a dance of cymbals and hand percussion; a strangled chant enters mid-way, ushering in a Muslimgauze (major Hop-Frog reference) panic-drone of synthesizers. I’d be curious to hear a defense for titling the second track, as “Arab National Anthem” is a relaxed ritual of guitar and percussion, markedly neither dynamic nor doctrinaire, lacking any accessible melodic structure, and - like the last track - defying its lofty, incendiary title with the vagaries of psychedelia. “Tied in Sacks” marks a pleasing turn toward the hybrid activity of ‘Bets Ov, Vol. 1’, beginning with a verse of Eastern folk rhyme before breaking into the crazed dance of a drum circle – not unlike Porest’s most glorious moments - with vocal samples strewn about for embellishment; the track ends with the declaration “You’re god is a bore, like a tortoise!”, the sample a central paste of the jubilant “Eastern Spleen 3” of the previous disc. The pinnacle of 'Ghosts...' is the 8 ½ minute centerpiece “Black Moth Scrap Serum” (also the flip-side of the ‘Arab National Anthem’ 7”): the least-"Eastern" of the album, the track features a sparse, gothic-industrial beat of timpani and electric guitar exchange, over which a Peter Murphy/Swans-era Michael Gira speaker blasphemes “I am black moth/I am wasteland/I am warhead” before giving way to a full-band dark jam, striking the creative space between Current 93 and Suicide. “Pasilla Mangoes” carries on in a similar fashion, this time with a new voice canting in a smoky veil over a background of drugged-percussion and space effects, reminiscent of the album by Text or recent Bastard Noise projects. “Spiritscar” and “Ya Ya Suitor” both resemble various moments of Sun City Girls history, the former a near perfect Richard Bishop acoustic-guitar piece, the latter an out-of-tune mock ceremony with metal strings, gongs, and throaty chants. Final piece “Christifari’s Collapse” is a stunning, emotive and playful piano composition of definitively-Western form, swaggering with an antique bravado like a hypothetical score by Morricone and Nyman; simply incredible and completely unexpected. Though future listens will reveal the truth (and there will be many future listens), the hazy listlessness of the opening pair, while not unwelcome, is thankfully broken by the frenzy and wonderful eclecticism of the subsequent tracks. - Animal Psi

Refrigerator Mothers- Ghosts of a Primitive World (URCKarm Recordings)
Really nice package on this quite strange and far out CD by the members of the Hop-Frog Collective. There were about 10 people involved in making what you hear on this CD and they play all sorts of synths, guitars, effects, drums, harmonium, bells, piano, effects processors, bass and pipes and chains. The key to their quite spaced out approach is to have some sort of basic rhythm that drives the track along and allows them to experiment. The rhythm can be beating on a drum, bass, guitar, just about anything.. Clanging on a pipe. The music has a quite eastern flavour to it in many ways but is very spaced out. The opening track is like a 21 minute psychedelic raga without any sitar. I really liked the CD a lot but I am a freak.. IT is impossible to describe adequately. One must hear to experience the sound and mantra of the Refrigerator Mothers…  www.lowcut.dk