The Avalanches- Since I Left You

Since I Left You is a party. I mean that literally, it starts with people clapping and cheering, and someone saying “Have a drink, welcome to paradise.” It’s kind of the opposite of a breakup album, saying on the opening track “Since I left you, I’ve found a world so new.” This is an album about listening to music and letting your cares fall away. And it’s pretty good at allowing you do that.

One thing that impressed me with this album were the motifs of flutes and Spanish guitars. It helps unite the project and remind you that you’re listening to an album, not just a series of songs. The songs also lead one into the other, so it’s easy to lose your place on the track listing.

It’s actually pretty easy to forget that this album is pieced together from different samples. Everything just sounds so fluid. You find yourself absorbed in the music until you wonder “How did they do that?” and then you realize that this album is not just good, it’s an achievement. Hundreds of samples taken and turned into something that sounds original. And in different styles, from torch song to disco. It’s amazing stuff.

There’s a quote from someone on the advent of hip hop that I can’t find that goes something like “We didn’t have any instruments, so we played the turntable.” I’m reminded of this quote when I listen to this album, because in the hands of The Avalanches, the turntables, through it’s descendant the sampler*, is made to sing.

4/5 This is a little slow toward the end, but take it in small doses and it’s pure joy.

*My justification for this claim is that when hip hop was first invented by DJ Kool Herc, he would loop a drum break using two copies of the same record on two different turntables, switching between them as one ended. That way he could extend any part of a song for as long as he liked. Fast forward a couple of years, and you have machines that can do that without a turntable, just grab a section of a song and repeat it again and again, in other words, the sampler.