Since I Left You [Import]

Avalanches | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 24, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• ASIN: B0001K640O
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #715,243 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Avalanche rock, July 26, 2005

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Since I Left You (Audio CD)

The Avalanches are a DJ's dream come true -- six Aussies who took hundreds of sound snatches, and wove together a wildly playful kind of electronica. Their first (and so far, only) album, "Since I Left You," is a tangle of the delicate, the weird, and the incredibly danceable.

It kicks off with the sparkling "Since I Left You," but the best is yet to come. The Avalanches manage to attain both a typical "sound" and plenty of originality in their songs, such as the bleeps-and-horns "Different Feeling," the knob-twiddling basslines of "Radio," the sputtery dance number "Live At Dominoes," and the interference-laden Rastafarian rock "Flight Tonight."

But with all the dance tracks, the Avalanches have their softer side: the delicately upbeat "Two Hearts in 3/4 Time," the swaying "Electricity," the brief and staticky "Pablo's Cruise," and the gauzy, multilayered "Etoh." It rounds off with the majestically languid "Extra Kings," which has a long sweep of distortion and chaos in the middle.

It's almost too easy to dance to the Avalanches. They take almost a thousand mismatched sounds and manage to cobble them into some really brilliant music. What's especially brilliant is the way these patchwork dance tracks manage to find solid, simple grooves, and stick to them right to the end.

"Since I Left You" isn't perfect -- at times the fragments don't quite mesh together. Some parts are pure chaos, but oddly they don't mar the overall sound; instead, they enhance it. Scattered in amongst the melody is the sound of video games, horses, discos, golf instructions, flutes, pianos, and seagulls -- it adds a strangely whimsical sound to the dance music.

The vocals tend to be samples repeated over and over, just under the surface of the music. Among the vocal snatches are the ethereal "Since I left you/I found the world so new!" or determined "Book of flight tonight." So the lyrics are often quite simple, except for the hysterically funny "Frontier Psychiatrist" ("Lie down on the couch, what does that mean?/You're a nut! You're crazy in the coconut!").

"Since I Left You" takes hundreds of random sound fragments, and turns them into a mosaic. Fun, playful, fast and hypnotically bizarre, this is a must have for fans of quirky music.

5.0 out of 5 stars Eclectic at its best!, November 30, 2011

By 

Nodarg - See all my reviews

This review is from: Since I Left You (MP3 Download)

"Since I Left You" is the first and only full-length album to come from the Australian group named The Avalanches. It is a very distinct album, mostly because it is almost entirely composed of samples from other artists, including Blowfly, Sergio Mendes, Raekwon, Madonna, and others. This sampling of other music or sounds and altering them to make a new composition is also called plunderphonics, and The Avalanches make expert use of it to create an album that is very strange yet wildly catchy and glowing with energy.

This album was created first by recording over 3,500 samples, using both Yamaha Promix 01 and Akai S2000 samplers. In fact, so many samples were recorded, and in such an unorganized manner, that the Avalanches didn't keep track of what tracks they were actually using in their album, the main reason being that they didn't expect many people to listen to it, so they didn't think it would cause any legal trouble. Little did they know that their album would go on to win several awards and be listed as the tenth best Australian record of all time.

The opening song, "Since I Left You," is both warm and light, combining a lovely voice to a bright track, giving you many hints about what great things lie in the rest of the album. Following it is "Stay Another Season", a fun and catchy beat that comes alive with the sampled voices spattered throughout the song.

Some pieces of the pieces, such as "Pablo's Cruise", take a step back and let us enjoy ambient sounds, while others have heavy beats and a driving bass. "Live At Dominoes" is a great example of this, throwing down a groovy rhythm that makes you want to dance. The standout piece is definitely "Frontier Psychiatrist". Sampling from various films and songs that originated from the 1950s to the 1980s, The Avalanches, create a comedic and bizarre adventure.

One of the great aspects of record is its ability to remain connected to the past, yet unafraid to explore new territory. During the entire album, the listener hears record-crackling noises that pop in at just the right moments in each track. In addition, The Avalanches feature older recorded voices in most of their tracks, both speaking and singing, and usually repeated throughout the song. "Tonight May Have To Last Me All My Life." features a smooth and sultry voice, picturesque of a singer at a mid 1900s bar. During this track, the piano constantly slides in and out of tune, providing a great complement to the beautiful female voice.

John Oswald's development of plunderphonics has brought forth some great music in the world. His ideas and works have led many musicians to follow in his footsteps. The Avalanches do this in a way that is both fresh and fun. "Since I Left You" is a great album, combining catchy rhythms with well-used samples, providing an album that is both distinct and unique. If you are interested in electronic music, or even consider yourself a music person, you owe it to yourself to give this album a go, and chances are, you'll keep it spinning for quite some time afterwards.