Since I Left You - Avalanches

Many people think that sampling is a cardinal sin of music - plagiarism if you will. Often it is done with no style or panache whatsoever, and people like Abs have managed to wreck some classic songs with a just a few bars of inane rapping. However, when sampling is done well, it can produce the most wonderous of sounds, and some of the most creative music. The Avalanches manged to produce arguably the finest sample based album since De La Soul's 'Six Feet High and Rising' in 2001's 'Since I Left You'. Juxtaposing obscure snatches of the sorts of dusty 12" records you find in jumble sales with some modern beats, it's an album ...

Wednesday night saw a gathering of stereotypes at the electric ballroom in camden for a display of just what only a handful of people i dare say predicted. I have to admit i was not one of them. After trawling through the new releases section in early december i came across a freshly imported, and thus rather expensive copy of the Avalanches "Since I Left You" and took a gamble. Interested in the physical and moral effects of sampling and feeling just rewarded for earlier faith in outfits and artists of this nature that grew ( we all remember DJ Shadow's debut ... don't we? ) adding this to my measly collection seemed appropriate. I must say that it ...

A lot of hype has been surrounded the Australian DJ collective The Avalanches. The majority of the music press has sung their praises, insisting they are the best thing since sliced bread, etc… Normally I’m very suspicious of so much praise being heaped on a band. Although ‘Since I left you’ has been out for several months I had decided to give it a miss. However I recently heard The Avalanches new single ‘Frontier Psychiatrist’ and was mightily impressed by it’s cool cut ups of B-movie samples and funky beats. So impressed with the single I head down to my local record emporium and purchased ’Since I left you’. ...