The Avalanches - Since I Left You
(Sire)
Modern rock! Whenever I am not listening to Princeton's WPRB or the local affiliate for brash NYC shock jocks or the all-news-all-the-time station or the rap station or the station that only plays O-Town, the first place my radio dial turns to is MODERN ROCK!!! The Avalanches are not the typical modern rock radio staple, however, major props to Y100 in Philadephia for being the first place I heard The Avalanches' "Frontier Psychiatrist."
Sounding like what would have happened if Beck collaborated with DJ Shadow instead of Timbaland, "Frontier Psychiatrist" is a fun and quirky little song. Made entirely from samples and scratches, quirky Man or Astroman-style samples of movie dialogue turn into not only the chorus of the song but most of the melody, mixing and matching the rhythm and delivery of the lines to create music. Drums and scratches rustle in the background, and there is a great use of trumpet and string samples, but the meat of the music are these vocal samples.
Based on hearing this song on the radio and reading a few ridiculously praising reviews, the album, Since I Left You, seemed worth at least a download. It wasn't. At least half of the album is run-of-the-mill ambient techno, with only a few odd samples thrown in, not only well below the quality of sampled-music pioneers DJ Shadow and John Oswald, but also well below the quality of run-of-the-mill ambient techno.
Since hearing DJ Shadow's Endtroducing in early 1997, I've looked long and hard for something similar in style and quality and, as of yet, haven't really found anything close. Hearing "Frontier Psychiatrist" gave me a little hope that The Avalanches would at least be similar. However, the rest of the album is not similar at all, as there is one important difference—drums. Yes, DRUMS! DJ Shadow uses more drum samples in one song then there are in the entire The Avalanches album, which feels like false advertising considering how prominent they are in "Frontier Psychiatrist." Not only that, the lack of drums seems to a big detriment to the more ambient songs whose use of orchestral parts of 60s pop songs makes them seem flighty and vapid.
Since I Left You is remarkably put together. Samples run through the entire album, creating themes, which can make the album seem like one giant song. Like Timbaland, The Avalanches take free reign as to what samples they'll throw in, and they always manage to make it fit. (Compare the baby sounds in that Aaliyah song to the horse in "Frontier Psychiatrist.") However, aside from that radio hit, the music on this album feels flat and uninspiring, light meaningless summer music which seems drably out of place in the seriousness of winter. It really is a shame this record will sell far more copies than UNKLE's Psyence Fiction.
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