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The Avalanches | Since I left You

CD, XL/V2

Tekst: Omar Muñoz-Cremers

Publicatiedatum: 15 mei 2001

The sample-based album has sadly become something of an endangered species in the past ten years. The copyright lawyers at XL Recordings are probably enjoying a nice holiday after working overtime clearing all of the samples on the debut album by the Avalanches. 'Since I Left You', released last year in their homeland Australia, caused something of a stir, which, through word-of-web, spilled over to Europe, where we have been awaiting the album with growing expectations bordering on the dreaded H-y-p-e. So can 'Since I Left You' claim its rightful place as sampladelic masterpiece along with 'Paul's Boutique' and 'Endtroducing'? An honest answer would be: It's too early to tell. One of the pleasures of sampladelic records is that you have to live with them for a long time, you have to grow into them like you do with a favourite sweater. The reason being that 'Since I Left You', like its stylistic predecessors, is filled with maddening detail, some of which will manifest itself after years of listening. Okay, so much for speculation on the potential place of the Avalanches in the history of sampling; what does the actual record sound like? The best examples would be the "we-mix-any-style-of-music" of Grandmaster Flash, Steinski, Coldcut, or the original Balearic spirit. 'Since I Left You' presents a heady mix of house, hip-hop, disco, and classic pop, with some nice scratching to top it all off. Strangely enough, the singles 'Frontier Psychiatrist' and 'Since I Left You' are the weakest tracks here, although this is as it transpires a relative quality since none of the parts of the album (or can we just say mix?) should be taken out of the overall context, it really isn't that kind of music. Of course there are highlights: the Mantronix bleeps on 'Flight Tonight', the Dr. Dre does disco of 'Electricity', or the last 15 minutes of 'Homework'-era filtered discohouse, including cheeky samples of Boney M. and a mysterious chanteuse. The aforementioned Balearic spirit rather neatly points to the overall atmosphere of 'Since I Left You'. With its continuous use of samples speaking of travel, flight, holiday, an overall impression forms of the ultimate Summer record. Not only in the breezy quality of those distancing filter-effects (surely the sound of approaching a beach on a hot day), but also Summer as a careless holiday from prevailing seriousness, the drudgery of musical trends. Daydream away then on musical beaches, of lost treasures and those mythical journeys into sound, out of time but somehow right on time. The sun also rises in 2001.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/the-avalanches/since-i-left-you/282/
Meer The Avalanches op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/the-avalanches