since i left you - the avalanches

[Modular: 2001]
Like a gust of arctic breeze through the Maldives, the Year 2001 saw the release of the most cool and elusive record releases of the decade. Packed with over 3000 samples it had an indefinable voice, but one that somehow managed to connect to a huge crossover audience. The recipe was a diverse mix of live instruments, turntables, live vocals and, of course, licks pulled from Madonna to Raekwon to Rogers and Hammerstein. The results? An exciting, at times beautiful, evocative, amusing and highly danceable opus – the perfect party soundtrack and a cinematic escape via a narrative of sounds, beats, melodies and voices.

Kicking off with the single of the same name, “Since I Left You” is an enigma of a debut record that sounded like nothing else we had heard. From the stunning electro-infused lounge track ‘Electricity’ that feels like a romance under a star-filled sky, to ‘Frontier Psychologist’ – a fusion of vocal samples, sound effects and a country n western loop, to ‘Flight Tonight’ which surges with hip hop beats and electro explosions – “Since I Left You” feels both nostalgic and futuristic at the same time.

If you haven’t discovered this brilliantl album yet, there’s no time to waste: Get thyself to the record store and purchase. And, for the rest of us, let’s hope the rumours about the Avalanches’ second album are true: it’s coming to a store near you by the end of this year. Fingers tightly crossed.




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