Bio
The Avalanches - Since I Left You
Attribute it to cultural isolation if you must, but much like the Belgians, great Australian dance acts are few and far between. Sure, the country has supplied us with a smorgasbord of gnarly rockers, but when it comes to visceral thrills - to joyous, discofied grooves - Oz's contribution has been negligible at best.
Which makes Melbourne's The Avalanches that much more precious. A six strong crew who function like a close-knit gang from rock mythology. They're a dance band with a grasp of pop's life-affirming élan, a pop act whose approach to dance incorporates hip hop's cut 'n' paste code, a bunch of wide-eyed dreamers who abide by their own rules.
Live therefore, as is their wont, they swap instruments, emphasising their distaste for rock 'n' roll etiquette, while they eulogise such disparate talents as Neil Young, Wu-Tang Clan and Brian Wilson's co-writer on The Beach Boys' album 'Smile', the 'legendary' Mr. Van Dyke Parks. It's this
reluctance to adhere to dance floor 'do's and 'don't's that makes their debut album, the bewitching 'Since I Left You', such a glorious introduction to their madcap world.
Playful, twisted, psychedelic, sampledelic, delirious and infectious, it's the sound of six men who spent most of adolescence rummaging through bargain bins in Melbourne's record shops, constructing their own post-modern disco-pop amalgam from rubbish '50s rejects and saccharine '60s pap. "Our records make sense in their own world," says Robbie Chater, the group's baby-faced spokesman. "We always wanted to make a record with a life of its own that you could lose yourself in."
It was ever thus. When Robbie and his then flatmate, singer Darren Seltmann, decided to make music in the mid-1990s they were in thrall to Japanese punk band Ultra Bidet whose thrashy show Seltmann had seen while in New York, where he was the drummer in short-lived indie-rock group Ripe.
As, first, 'Swinging Monkey Cocks' then 'Quinton's Brittle Bones' (don't ask), Chater and Seltmann crafted their own take on trashy punk, culminating in the pair smashing up their kitchen and melting their freezer with a flame-thrower for, you know, a laugh. Slowly, with three long-term pals recruited to their ranks - Gordon McQuilten, Tony Diblasi and Dexter Fabay - they swapped their tired two-string guitars for an array of samples, transmogrifying into an unlikely hybrid of The Fall mixed with very drunk, innovative hip hop.
Their first single 'Rock City'/'Thankyou Caroline', released through a friend's label, Trifekta Records, attracted the attention of Modular Recordings with whom The Avalanches signed a long term deal. The group soon released a new EP 'El Producto' and toured Australia extensively - including support slots with The Beastie Boys and Public Enemy - before settling down to begin work on their debut LP 'Since I Left You'. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was their album.
It was during this time that UK label and XL offshoot Rex records licensed the band's original demos, releasing 'Undersea Community' - a four track EP - throughout Europe in late 1998. It was followed by the even better 'Electricity' - a 12" riot of quirky day-glo beats and junk shop-friendly funk - which afforded them features in highly regarded magazines such as 'The Face' and 'Jockey Slut'.
Since then, in little over 18 whirlwind months, the band has enlisted keyboard player James De La Cruz, watched Dexter finish runner-up in the world DMC contest, remixed and put their own inimitable slant on Badly Drawn Boy's 'The Shining' and Manic Steet Preachers' 'So why so Sad' and have become - in Chater's words - increasingly "spastic" live, with James in particular earning a thumbs-up for "setting things on fire and pissing in rehearsal rooms ".
'Since I Left You' was released in Australia in November 2000 and has gone on to achieve platinum sales and critical acclaim across the country. In the UK the first single from the album - the recording's title track - entered the UK top 20 upon release in March 2001. The album followed suit, with a Top 10 UK Album Chart debut in April and was heralded as the country's 'Album of the Month' by all major UK music publications. 'Frontier Psychiatrist', the second UK single lifted from the album, entered the UK Top Twenty upon release. While the single thrilled radio listeners and jocks alike, the video clip accompanying the song has gone on to become an MTV smash both across Europe. As their album approaches 'Gold' status in the UK just four months after release, the band is preparing itself for their first live European dates including spots on such festivals as Benicassim, Witness, V2001 and Creamfields.
"Right now," says Chater, "I can't put what we do into words." No? OK, allow me. The Avalanches - wizards of Oz. Fall (down) under their spell.
Paul Mardles (Jockey Slut)
Attribute it to cultural isolation if you must, but much like the Belgians, great Australian dance acts are few and far between. Sure, the country has supplied us with a smorgasbord of gnarly rockers, but when it comes to visceral thrills - to joyous, discofied grooves - Oz's contribution has been negligible at best.
Which makes Melbourne's The Avalanches that much more precious. A six strong crew who function like a close-knit gang from rock mythology. They're a dance band with a grasp of pop's life-affirming élan, a pop act whose approach to dance incorporates hip hop's cut 'n' paste code, a bunch of wide-eyed dreamers who abide by their own rules.
Live therefore, as is their wont, they swap instruments, emphasising their distaste for rock 'n' roll etiquette, while they eulogise such disparate talents as Neil Young, Wu-Tang Clan and Brian Wilson's co-writer on The Beach Boys' album 'Smile', the 'legendary' Mr. Van Dyke Parks. It's this
reluctance to adhere to dance floor 'do's and 'don't's that makes their debut album, the bewitching 'Since I Left You', such a glorious introduction to their madcap world.
Playful, twisted, psychedelic, sampledelic, delirious and infectious, it's the sound of six men who spent most of adolescence rummaging through bargain bins in Melbourne's record shops, constructing their own post-modern disco-pop amalgam from rubbish '50s rejects and saccharine '60s pap. "Our records make sense in their own world," says Robbie Chater, the group's baby-faced spokesman. "We always wanted to make a record with a life of its own that you could lose yourself in."
It was ever thus. When Robbie and his then flatmate, singer Darren Seltmann, decided to make music in the mid-1990s they were in thrall to Japanese punk band Ultra Bidet whose thrashy show Seltmann had seen while in New York, where he was the drummer in short-lived indie-rock group Ripe.
As, first, 'Swinging Monkey Cocks' then 'Quinton's Brittle Bones' (don't ask), Chater and Seltmann crafted their own take on trashy punk, culminating in the pair smashing up their kitchen and melting their freezer with a flame-thrower for, you know, a laugh. Slowly, with three long-term pals recruited to their ranks - Gordon McQuilten, Tony Diblasi and Dexter Fabay - they swapped their tired two-string guitars for an array of samples, transmogrifying into an unlikely hybrid of The Fall mixed with very drunk, innovative hip hop.
Their first single 'Rock City'/'Thankyou Caroline', released through a friend's label, Trifekta Records, attracted the attention of Modular Recordings with whom The Avalanches signed a long term deal. The group soon released a new EP 'El Producto' and toured Australia extensively - including support slots with The Beastie Boys and Public Enemy - before settling down to begin work on their debut LP 'Since I Left You'. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was their album.
It was during this time that UK label and XL offshoot Rex records licensed the band's original demos, releasing 'Undersea Community' - a four track EP - throughout Europe in late 1998. It was followed by the even better 'Electricity' - a 12" riot of quirky day-glo beats and junk shop-friendly funk - which afforded them features in highly regarded magazines such as 'The Face' and 'Jockey Slut'.
Since then, in little over 18 whirlwind months, the band has enlisted keyboard player James De La Cruz, watched Dexter finish runner-up in the world DMC contest, remixed and put their own inimitable slant on Badly Drawn Boy's 'The Shining' and Manic Steet Preachers' 'So why so Sad' and have become - in Chater's words - increasingly "spastic" live, with James in particular earning a thumbs-up for "setting things on fire and pissing in rehearsal rooms ".
'Since I Left You' was released in Australia in November 2000 and has gone on to achieve platinum sales and critical acclaim across the country. In the UK the first single from the album - the recording's title track - entered the UK top 20 upon release in March 2001. The album followed suit, with a Top 10 UK Album Chart debut in April and was heralded as the country's 'Album of the Month' by all major UK music publications. 'Frontier Psychiatrist', the second UK single lifted from the album, entered the UK Top Twenty upon release. While the single thrilled radio listeners and jocks alike, the video clip accompanying the song has gone on to become an MTV smash both across Europe. As their album approaches 'Gold' status in the UK just four months after release, the band is preparing itself for their first live European dates including spots on such festivals as Benicassim, Witness, V2001 and Creamfields.
"Right now," says Chater, "I can't put what we do into words." No? OK, allow me. The Avalanches - wizards of Oz. Fall (down) under their spell.
Paul Mardles (Jockey Slut)
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