The Avalanches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUhVBufwQQY

kinda nothingy, weird choice for a single but at least it's not "frankie sinatra"

Nice Roches sample!

oh wow, didn't think THAT would be the source of the title

i like this

Hammond Song! cool

Fucking amazing. And I’ve been jamming Wildflower a lot lately. That album gets better the more I listen to it. Shame it was a bit of a commercial dud. “Subway” or “If I Was a Folkstar” should’ve been the lead single instead of “Frankie Sinatra”

I like it a lot more than Since I Left You

I do too, it was way underrated

Frankie Sinatra ruins the flow of Wildflower a lot for me, take that off the album and now you have something, but Since I Left You is kinda up there at "album perfection" levels for me. They'll never top it because they'll always be hamstrung with the BS sampling limitations

New single is pretty, but understated. Look forward to hearing whatever they put out because even with the more limited palette and frequent use of guest vocalists (something I am not a fan of with them), there's a joie de vivre to their music that is truly magical.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsjQ3Gblzys

this one is kinda baffling, rivers does not work with the backing at all

Really? His performance was so sincere to my ears that I briefly forgot this was the guy most recently on the charts for covering “Africa” on a dare

Yikes, I hated this even more than I expected to.

rivers in this sort of mode is one of the least sincere-sounding singers there is

I have a new appreciation for Frankie Sinatra after watching that

It's better than I expected. A Rivers Cuomo feature (guest spots in general) is not what I need from Avalanches.

Aah, so this is clearly the one with the David Berman writing credit that was foretold elsewhere!

Have they actually sampled anything here though? Not sure I have much use for an Avalanches without a conspicuous plunderphonic element.

It's nice!

Stumbled on the answer to my own question re the principal sample.

California life is alright with me !

I've been hearing "We Will Always Love You" on the radio a lot. Every time I do I think "another great song... ruined by bozos who can't write their own".

the avalanches debut alongside the go! teams debut are up on tim burgess's listening party on saturday april 25th.
i totally get the pairing as both were sample heavy, feel good albums.
perfect for a saturday night.

SILY one starts in just over half hour

We're very happy to share with
you the cover for our new album, "We Will Always Love You".

Designed by our dear friend Jonathan Zawada, the sleeve features Ann Druyan, (Creative Director of the Voyager Golden Record Project) , who’s cosmic love story inspired this music.

— The Avalanches (@TheAvalanches) September 9, 2020

i don't even remember their follow up at all

Not a fan of the concept and definitely not a fan of the aesthetic.

I haven't heard any of the new songs yet but that cover art has me curious. like there's no way I'd hit play on that thing and hear something like Frankie Sinatra, right?

gee, tough crowd.
running red lights is excellent, and wildflower exceeded expectations set by frankie sinatra / colors / subways (which i also love).

SILY was lovingly looking at a postcard from a trip.
wildflower was lovingly looking at a bunch of hazy summer photos from your childhood, BoC without creepiness.
i’m afraid this album will be lovingly looking at a photograph of somebody who’s gone, and i hope i’m wrong.

I remember when I first heard SILY, I was so bowled over by the sheer quantity of awesome samples/hooks/breakbeats... just being relentlessly slammed with killer cut after killer cut, good times. Minus frontier psychiatrist, fuck that shit

I’m not speaking about the music, just the album cover which looks unpleasant to me. I lliked the previous album covers a lot, it seems like they’re not interested in having a visual aesthetic of their own, and that’s fine, but this one is a downgrade for me. I guess the spectograph thing is cool if a bit of an outdated novelty but I find it ugly as the main album cover. Maybe the back-cover or a single release idk.

I didn’t care much for Red Lights but I like it miles better than Frankie Sinatra which is the only song I despised from Wildflower. I actually think the album will be good,

Wildflower sucked. Everything since then has also sucked.

I like this cover and concept, but I expect it to also suck.

I did like Wildflower. Well, most of it... probably a 3/5 for me. There’s probably a better album somewhere in there if they edit themselves and focus some of their ideas better but I think the lack of focus is sort of the appeal with them.

Yeah it was OK, agree with 3/5. Never feel an urge to listen to it.
Just realizing the "hit" singles from both it and SILY are horrendous.

yeah not feeling the cover (and the concept is a bit too whimsical but not in a good way, and already used by richard d james). even the initial art for "we will always love you" would've been better.

still going to reserve judgement on the new album though, they do have a tendency to release singles not indicative of the album. i would most definitely not recommend judging SILY by SILY and frontier psychiatrist. same for wildflower, frankie sinatra and colours don't really represent it. because i'm me / if i was a folkstar would've been more obvious choices.

frankie is fine, a concept track that works, unlike noisy eater, which is too much, and completely breaks the flow.

I really like Wildflower and "Noisy Eater" is one of my favorite tracks from it

Cover is lovely

Agree that because I’m me/folkstar would’ve been more adequate as singles.

Not sure what I’d choose for SILY singles instead. Maybe Electricity or Two Hearts. Tbh Frontier Psychiatrist works as a single if only for the music video. The song itself is not good, but when paired with the video it’s great. If Frontier Psychiatrist wasn’t a single with a music video I’d rather it was removed from the album.

I like the cover but I'm not expecting much from the album

"We Will Always Love You" really just makes me want to turn it off a minute in and throw on "Hammond Song" instead

Ann Druyan was Sagan's wife when he passed. Been rewatching Cosmos in lockdown and she and Sagan have been sources of positivity and inspiration.

Re: the new album, the singles have done absolutely nothing for me here and I'm actually not looking forward to it. Running Red Lights was by far and away the worst thing they've done, and makes Frankie Sinatra sound nostalgic and amazing. If the rest of the album is as generic, boring and annoying as that song, I'm writing these guys off.

Ultimately, I feel they're a sample driven band, and the fewer they use the more they lose the excitement and atmosphere that made them unique.

Copyright and the modern expense of sample clearing has seriously ruined wholesale subgenres of music.

* runs usual macro that posts "except they were better before they became a sample driven band" *

i donno, avalanches work best for me when i’m not listening to individual samples and thinking how well they used them. that’s why frontier and noise eater are more obvious concept tracks, and i can appreciate them as such, but i just don’t like them as tracks proper. i’m sure frontier was a “lol a dexter sample” taken to conclusion. frankie works because it works as an actual track.

surprised by such a strong reaction to running red lights tbh. it’s a nice track even if it doesn’t touch you. too constructed? seems showin? or something else?

It doesn't sound like Avalanches. It sounds like generic indie pop. The chorus is grating. It has no personality? The band has always had an amazing blissed out nostalgic vibe that simultaneously sounded fresh, present and energetic. Obviously the sampling is a source of this nostalgia.

Yes, it's nice but I don't listen to this band for nice. At their peak they are emotionally transcendent. I can listen to nice in an elevator.

all very fair points! i'd just sooner apply them to something like harmony.

i don't think the sampling is the only source for the nostalgic vibe (and i don't think you're saying it?). some of their best tracks transcend that too, or maybe just make samples part of the whole better. take away samples that aren't part of the arrangement itself, and frontier will sound silly. do it to stepkids and it'll still sound great. (and i keep thinking about how BoC use samples for that hazy childhood memories vibe vs how the avalanches do it).

The band has always had an amazing blissed out nostalgic vibe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY3Mfbwupvg

Running Red Lights isn't that bad, surely. Way better than the execrable Frankie Sinatra.

Having said that, I'm not expecting another Since I Left You or anything remotely comparable to it from these guys. Subways was by far the best thing on the last album.

Wildflower was fucking great, so I’m stoked for the new album. “Subways,” “If I Was a Folkstar,” “Harmony,” all great druggy trippy out-there stuff.

They put this up a couple of days ago. I think the operative word is . . . pleasant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdvxzc7FLow&ab_channel=TheAvalanches