The Avalanches

The Avalanches

The Avalanches is an electronic music group from Melbourne, Australia, best known for its live DJ sets and debut album Since I Left You, which was assembled from approximately 3,500 vinyl samples [1].

Pre-History

The Avalanches began as Alarm 115, a garage-punk outfit inspired by Drive Like Jehu, The Fall and Ultra Bidet [2]. Members Darren Seltmann, Robbie Chater, Tony Diblasi and Manabu Etoh bought their instruments from junk shops, where they also discovered piles of old records. A friend introduced Seltmann and Chater to the Akai S900 sampler, and the pair spent 1996 turning dusty vinyl into a 30-song demo [3]. A new lineup (Seltmann, Chater, Diblasi, and Gordon McQuilten) rehearsed the songs, calling itself The Swinging Monkey Cocks, then Quentin's Brittle Bones [4]. Its first gig was in July 1997 [5].

Early Releases

Re-christened The Avalanches, the band rose to prominence quickly - its fifth show was as support for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Trifekta Records released the debut 7" Rock City in August 1997. This was followed in December by the El Producto EP on Steve Pavlovic's Wondergram Records. Around this time DJ Dexter officially joined the band on turntables [6]. Based On the EP's success, Pavlovic signed The Avalanches to his new Modular Recordings label in May 1998. Months later, Leo Silvermann signed them to his Rex Records for the exclusive UK 10" Undersea Community [7].

Since I Left You

The Avalanches' profile grew with support slots on tours by the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, Stereolab and Beck. Modular released the Electricity EP (featuring new member James De La Cruz) in September 1999, while work continued on an album. By July 2000, with Since I Left You now overdue, the Gimix cassette was made available to fans and critics hungry for new material. It was a mixtape blending previews of the forthcoming album with some of the band's favourite songs.

The first Australian single, Frontier Psychiatrist, was released in August. It peaked at #48 in Australia (and #18 in the UK) and reached #6 in Triple J's 2001 Hottest 100 countdown.

Since I Left You was eventually released in November 2000 and went on to win four ARIA awards and six Australian Dance Music Awards. The UK version, released by XL Recordings in 2001, debuted at #8. London-Sire Records released the US version in November 2001. When that label dissolved in 2003, The Avalanches switched to Elektra. Critics worldwide included Since I Left You on their "Best of 2001" lists.

Live Performance

Initially The Avalanches played live using samplers, analogue keyboards, bass guitar, drumkit and theremin [8]. Their set up later included four turntables, a percussion stand, and a battery of MIDI-controlled special effects [9].

The band was a favourite at 2000/2001 festivals, including the Big Day Out, Falls Festival and V1. Peter "Snakey" Whiteford joined as percussionist for the August European tour. At the Electric Ballroom in London, Seltmann shattered an ankle on stage, which meant the remaining shows were DJ sets only. This format continued for the US and Japan Since I Left You tours. Chater, Dexter and De la Cruz also took the DJ show around Australia, calling themselves The Magic Midgets.

Brains

The Avalanches had vanished by 2003. Rolling Stone revealed that the band was now officially a three-piece featuring Diblasi, Chater and Seltmann. After almost two years of silence they founded Brains - a club night in a tiny Melbourne bar. Brains basically took the shape of soca-inspired DJ sets augmented by Kenyan dancers, Gambian vocalists and expert percussionists. The Brains experience toured Australia in early 2005, and spilled over into the band's DJ sets at that year's St Jerome's Carpark Festival and Meredith Music Festival. The new DJ show also toured Australia supporting Jamiroquai, but was not received well by Jay Kay fans. Incidentally, Kay retired from touring at the end of his Australian visit. The Avalanches continued DJing at Australian festivals such as Golden Plains and Splendour throughout 2006 and into 2007.

The Second Album

Details of The Avalanches' second album are sparse. Seltmann said in 2005 that after starting out as "ambient world music", the record was returning to more of a "party" sound. In 2006, Modular issued a press release stating "it's sounding like everything we dared not hope for, and so much more. They've made the record of their lives basically" [10]. This was in response to a joke email which had reached the music press, in which Modular claimed it had rejected The Avalanches' new album [11]. in January 2007, the band stated via its website that roughly 40 tracks were being considered: "It's so fuckin' party you will die, much more hip-hop than you might expect, and while there is still no accurate estimated time of arrival, we're sure you're gonna love it when it arrives ... It's ended up sounding like the next logical step to Since, we just had to go around in a big circle to get back to where we belong. And one day when you least expect it you'll wake up and the sample fairy will have left it under your pillow" [12].

Discography

Albums

• Since I Left You (2000)

Singles and EPs

• "Rock City" (1997)
• "El Producto" (1997)
• "Undersea Community" (1999)
• "Electricity" (1999)
• "Frontier Psychiatrist" (2000)
• "Since I Left You" (2001)
• "Radio" (2001)
• "A Different Feeling" (2001)
• "At Last Alone" (2001)

Remixes

• Gerling - "Enter Spacecapsule" (Enter the Spaceship Mix by The Avalanches) (1999)
• Badly Drawn Boy - "The Shining" (The Avalanches Good Word for the Weekend Remix) (2000)
• Manic Street Preachers - "So Why So Sad" (Sean Penn Mix - Avalanches) (2001)
• Belle & Sebastian - "I'm a Cuckoo" (Avalanches Mix) (2004)
• The Concretes - "Chico" (Avalanches' Wernham Hogg Remix) (2004)
• Wolfmother - "Woman" (Avalanches Millstream Remix) (2006)
• Franz Ferdinand - "Fade Together" (Avalanches Remix) (2006)

External links

• The Avalanches - Unofficial Site (news, downloads, and more)
• The Avalanches - official MySpace profile
• The Avalanches at AllMusic
• Tracklists & Details for Avalanches Mixes