I can see what Tom means about their sound being too predictably tasteful, but the single is unrepresentative. It's pretty much an introduction; when you get further into the album tracks like "A Different Feeling", "Two Hearts In 3-4 Time" and "Close to You" do the euphoric bliss thing far better and far less formulaically.
I don't think they're anything like as "wacky" as Dr C suspects; "Frontier Psychiatrist" is a red herring. "Etoh" and "Summer Crane" are where they really shine, after we're over that aberration; the latter has a rebirth of 70s radio pop cliche to at least equal Daft Punk's "Digital Love".
I think I may have overrated it slightly on Elidor, but only slightly. If you don't feel about halfway through "Electricity" that the rest of the world is suddenly far uglier and far more backward than it was yesterday, and it is now your duty to walk through each moment with a new zest, a new fervour, then I'm not sure whether you should be here.
― Robin Carmody, Monday, 9 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink
but seriously, yes, as tim brings up, i blame the lot of you -- tim, robin, otis, ian -- for building expectations up to olympian heights. i *like* the avalanches, but i get the feeling from some that that's not enough; that anything less than devoting your life to them amounts to effrontery of the highest order. i can take some tracks, but i'd end up leaving more. it's a great -- bear with the use of the word here -- "gimmick," but the tunes don't stand up for me. perhaps this will be different by the next album, perhaps this is merely a warm-up. as always, time will tell.
the feeling i'm left with is that an album that alters one's world view should be a bit more convincing. to my ears, since i left you seems content to be breezy and pleasant, but i need more than that. the album, and i almost feel like i can't say this enough, *for me*, lacks a core, it lacks heart. it seems less like music made with genuine joy and love (cf. discovery) than like music crafted with...no, it sounds crafted, period. allow me to pigeonhole it as dance so that i may wrap this up: i believe that dance music is an appeal to your heart and soul from the beyond, which is why i'm not feeling since i left you: it comes across as dance music for your head.
― fred solinger, Monday, 9 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink
"is being given to hyperbole a prerequisite for being an avalanches fans :)."
Well, maybe :). I do see what you mean that perhaps it doesn't necessarily utterly alter your view of the world in the way that such rapturous praise as thrown forward by myself and Tim, and that, by those criteria, it is a disappointment. I don't have any problem with others like yourself setting up their own, less ambitious criteria, and judging "Since I Left You" to be a success on those terms.
However, when the word "crafted" is used as a pejorative term, I do sometimes start worrying whether outmoded ideas about "meaning it" are being brought into the debate. I don't think *you* are, Fred, but I think you're stepping onto slightly dodgy ground. "Discovery" sounds to me at least as crafted as "Since I Left You"; obviously it's not based around sample collages, but the pomo craft mentality is still there, just less blatant.
However, when the word "crafted" is used as a pejorative term, I do sometimes start worrying whether outmoded ideas about "meaning it" are being brought into the debate. I don't think *you* are, Fred, but I think you're stepping onto slightly dodgy ground. "Discovery" sounds to me at least as crafted as "Since I Left You"; obviously it's not based around sample collages, but the pomo craft mentality is still there, just less obvious.
i highly agree with you that discovery is a crafted album: of this there can be no doubt. however, the point i was trying to make, though i think i failed, was that since i left you sounds crafted. period. like a chemistry experiment. whereas, yes, discovery is crafted, but it goes on from there. and of course this is all highly subjective. ;)
― fred solinger, Tuesday, 10 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink
I listened to the album again on good headphones on the way to university today, and yes it is still marvelous marvelous marvelous and I wouldn't change a word of my review. As much as I tend to be on the side of pop when it comes to double-standards, the deliberacy with which The Avalanches stake out their emotional targets doesn't strike me as a problem any more than it does with Destiny's Child or Britney. When I listen to "Born To Make You Happy" I recognise its manipulativeness (albeit not with such an English inflection) but I still *do* feel sad. So is the difference with, let us say, *alternative* music that there's a presumed smugness and/or claim to authenticity that irritates, or is it that we do in fact demand this authenticity in a way we have long ceased to in pop? Is the distinction with Daft Punk that they've so consistently played the artificiality card that the only recourse left to the thinking listener is to perversely perceive an *enhanced* authenticity or sense of meaning?
Ultimately Fred, as I noted before, I can't make you enjoy the album (and indeed you seem to take pleasure in that fact; how very Ned-like of you) but the implication of the "avalanches backlash" is that _Since I Left You_ is an album that dupes people, which hurts me in my heart.
― Tim, Tuesday, 10 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink
The authenticity thing is a bit of a red herring. I dont think manipulation has anything to do with the realness or not of pop music. The annoying dialogue around sample-based records tends to be one of look-how-eclectic-rare-etc.-these-sounds-are: you're invited to admire the artist's tastes. But that's not happened with the Avalanches so far.
I dont know though, I've just not liked what I've heard much and thought I'd better grope around for a reason. Basically it catapults yours and Robin's soul into an ocean of joy and it leaves me thinking hold on, this is a bit cloying and annoying. And it's always easier to explain why you like something than why you don't. I've got other criticisms but I want to listen to the album and decide whether I'm right about them or not.
― Tom, Tuesday, 10 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink
daft punk! they could be very well duping me into thinking that they mean all of what they're recording and it's really all just a big joke; i probably buy their simplicity of lyric and emotion because they're foreign and i potentially don't give them enough credit, etc. without getting further mired in theory, discovery hits the bullseye on my heart whereas since i left you merely grazes the ear. meanwhile, there is much hurt in that very same heart by your assertion that i take pleasure in disliking the album in ned- like fashion! ned-like! rarely have i been so insulted. but, yeah, i really wish that i loved since i left you as some of you do; i'm consistently looking out for new music to catapult my heart to the stars and based on all i heard i'm rather disappointed that it wasn't to be with me and the avalanches, though i shall continue to lend it my ear. most troubling, though, is that while i've not taken to the avalanches, radiohead's amnesiac, based on what i've listened to, is quickly becoming something i'm looking forward to. shocker!
Tom - I'd be *very* interested in your response to the album. I still think you'd realise after a while that it isn't that cloying and it *isn't* one of those emptily "smart", "superior" pomo projects, and in fact the most immediately striking thing about it is that it isn't like that. You were slightly disadvantaged by hearing "Frontier Psychiatrist" first - admittedly so did I, but I'd heard the whole album very soon and realised how (happily) untypical a novelty dud it is.
― Robin Carmody, Thursday, 12 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink
Yes, it works better as an album. It reminds me of a blither version of Hal Willner's Whoops, I'm An Indian - much more technically and sonically tingly but lacking the witty and beguiling mystery that album had for me. It's a good record, it'll soundtrack a Summer well and it deserves the praise it's getting if not the *degree* of praise.
― Tom, Friday, 20 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink
But to finally anwser Dr.C's query: it's very hard to find a record to compare it with. Certainly not 'Discovery' (impossible). It just reminds me a bit of DJ Food's 'Recipe for Disaster'. I would think a rock-crit description could be along the lines of Mantronix doing a megamix with Art of Noise.
― Omar, Thursday, 26 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink
― K-reg, Thursday, 17 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink
― Tim, Friday, 18 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink
― Nick Davidson, Wednesday, 20 June 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink
The way each song flows into the next (what brilliant editing!), I'm sure it works much better as a whole. This is not a record for the Napster freaks, I don't think. So anyone who has heard a track or two and is on the fence should take the plunge.
― Mark, Wednesday, 20 June 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 00:10 (9 years ago) Permalink
― mentalist (mentalist), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 01:10 (9 years ago) Permalink
― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 01:17 (9 years ago) Permalink
― s1utsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 01:20 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Sonny A. (Keiko), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 01:35 (9 years ago) Permalink
That luminarioes say he's great? well that just shows I'm a shallow person influenced by what other people say rather than what I hear.
That he's Australian? that my shallowness extends to the lowest most destructive emotion, patriotism,
That I am seeing him live in few weeks? that my general shallowness inevitably leads to the conclusion that I will have to see him live in the next few weeks (along with the Mad Professor).
Bring it on
― mentalist (mentalist), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 02:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 02:16 (9 years ago) Permalink
― mentalist (mentalist), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 03:03 (9 years ago) Permalink
― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 03:32 (9 years ago) Permalink
― mentalist (mentalist), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 04:10 (9 years ago) Permalink
That's from a t-shirt they sell on their website.
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 04:11 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 07:13 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 08:15 (9 years ago) Permalink
their supposed to be working on the new record now. who knows when it'll see the light of day. i doubt it would be before late 2004.
― glenny g2003 (glenny g2003), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 10:10 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 10:42 (9 years ago) Permalink
― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 12:03 (9 years ago) Permalink
ps chuck d hypin somethin is like yr mum choosin yr girlfriends.
― nebbesh (nebbesh), Tuesday, 30 September 2003 12:10 (9 years ago) Permalink
It takes a damn long time to make records like theirs. That is all, I'd guess.
― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Wednesday, 1 October 2003 00:51 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Chris B. Sure (Chris V), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 14:44 (9 years ago) Permalink
― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:17 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Chris B. Sure (Chris V), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:21 (9 years ago) Permalink
― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:26 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Chris B. Sure (Chris V), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:28 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:36 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Chris B. Sure (Chris V), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:37 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:39 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Chris B. Sure (Chris V), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:40 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 13 November 2003 05:25 (9 years ago) Permalink
― minna (minna), Thursday, 13 November 2003 05:30 (9 years ago) Permalink
I'm ordering that f*cking kitten shirt.
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 13 November 2003 08:05 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 13 November 2003 08:22 (9 years ago) Permalink
Here's the link to their interview: http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/triplej/livemusic/radiosoulwax/04_friday_110603.mp3
Skip to 46:45.
― _ANML_, Sunday, 12 June 2011 22:20 (2 years ago) Permalink
They played live last Friday?? And they sucked?? Was that their first live appearance in like five years?
― Mr. Snrub, Sunday, 12 June 2011 22:48 (2 years ago) Permalink
The Avalanches just come across as lazy bastards.
yeah but at the same time SILY is so UNlazy. Interview sounds like a wind-up. otm re "fuck 'em" tho.
― blueski, Sunday, 12 June 2011 22:53 (2 years ago) Permalink
They played live last Friday??
No, they DJed.
― all cats are gay (sic), Monday, 13 June 2011 01:06 (2 years ago) Permalink
In the meantime, fill the wait for the second album with a deluxe 10th-anniversary re-release of the first album, with a bonus disc featuring "new reworks from the likes of El Guincho, MF Doom, Canyons, Black Dice, Jackson and his Computer Band." Information regarding super-deluxe package versions and the release date will be released on Facebook, sometime.
They've lost the master for this Stereolab remix of Since I Left You, so someone in the office has ripped it from vinyl for Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/modularpeople/the-avalanches-since-i-left-you-stereolab-remix
― undeɹrated ærosm?th b∞tlegs I have pwned (sic), Friday, 8 July 2011 03:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
ha
― invite ← VERB (Schlafsack), Friday, 8 July 2011 03:14 (1 year ago) Permalink
i mean i know the underlying issues are not funny but still, ha
^ if ever there was a time for scare quotes
― also we’re divorced now and i hate this movie. (contenderizer), Friday, 8 July 2011 03:49 (1 year ago) Permalink
I hate this thread
― Janet Snakehole (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 8 July 2011 04:09 (1 year ago) Permalink
BTW, note that with no release date yet set, the "deluxe 10th-anniversary re-release" is likely to come out more than 11 years after the initial release - at time of announcement, it's already 8 months late.
― undeɹrated ærosm?th b∞tlegs I have pwned (sic), Friday, 8 July 2011 05:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
Hey, Jackson and his Computer Band. There's another guy who dropped off the face of the earth
― Number None, Friday, 8 July 2011 08:39 (1 year ago) Permalink
i believe he made some kind of Jamie Liddell-ish album a year or 2 back. maybe last year, even.
― Ludo, Friday, 8 July 2011 09:33 (1 year ago) Permalink
Really? I can't find any evidence of this online
― Number None, Friday, 8 July 2011 09:35 (1 year ago) Permalink
hmm googling myself now, and it seems i just made that up, i must have gotten him mixed up with some other idm cat who started singing. :)
― Ludo, Friday, 8 July 2011 10:01 (1 year ago) Permalink
That boy needs therapy lol
― Introducing the Hardline According to (jim in glasgow), Friday, 8 July 2011 12:27 (1 year ago) Permalink
hah I used to eagerly wait for a new Jackson album to drop but I think i've made my peace with the fact that it won't come out. I think he's done a ocuple of remixes in the last few years?
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Saturday, 9 July 2011 06:36 (1 year ago) Permalink
http://www.factmag.com/2012/03/19/danny-brown-to-appear-on-new-avalanches-album/
― Feebs K-Tel (NickB), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 09:35 (1 year ago) Permalink
Is that an Onion article.
― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Colored on TV! (Mount Cleaners), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 09:42 (1 year ago) Permalink
It does exist! Kind of an odd choice of rapper but i'm cool with it
― Number None, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 10:01 (1 year ago) Permalink
i heard that they accidentally deleted all the album files
― trimdon orange explosion (electricsound), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 10:22 (1 year ago) Permalink
Tuesday, 30 January 2001 01:00 (11 years ago)
― MikoMcha, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 10:25 (1 year ago) Permalink
Since I Left You double LP re-release on blue vinyl out now, 10th-anniversary deluxe reissue now running two years late, new mix up here
― ┗|∵|┓ (sic), Monday, 23 April 2012 02:27 (1 year ago) Permalink
Thanks for the link
― Spencer Chow, Monday, 23 April 2012 20:07 (1 year ago) Permalink
It's only a snippet but
http://www.factmag.com/2012/07/18/avalanches-tease-brand-new-track-online-listen-here/
― Number None, Wednesday, 18 July 2012 11:11 (11 months ago) Permalink
― no fear, Monday, 30 July 2012 16:15 (10 months ago) Permalink
listened to Cool Gays, the bit at the end sounds like a remix of a bit of SILY, zomg new track zzz
― ¥╡*ٍ*╞¥ (sic), Tuesday, 31 July 2012 02:39 (10 months ago) Permalink
there's some new song (demo) out there featuring David Berman reading a poem, but it's pretty half ass. the music underneath is barely audible.
― dmr, Thursday, 23 August 2012 15:30 (9 months ago) Permalink
:/i am becoming despondent.
― no fear, Tuesday, 4 September 2012 16:02 (9 months ago) Permalink
new david berman poem (ie 'like plastic Easter basket grass, falling from an overpass') >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> fully audible avalanches music
― very sexual album (schlump), Tuesday, 4 September 2012 16:35 (9 months ago) Permalink
Well! *tap tap tap* You've lost your cover now.
― Jedmond, Sunday, 3 February 2013 04:02 (4 months ago) Permalink
Them and Dre, in a race to do...something.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 3 February 2013 04:03 (4 months ago) Permalink
*sigh*
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 3 February 2013 16:26 (4 months ago) Permalink
don't tell me Them have re-united as well??
― charlie h, Sunday, 3 February 2013 16:38 (4 months ago) Permalink