‘Since I Left You’ by The Avalanches (TMR 35)
Behold undeniable proof that sampling is indeed an art
In 2000, The Avalanches did for music what William Dreyer did in 1929 by inventing rocky road ice cream: They mixed disparate great stuff into harmonious perfection.¹ Since I Left You, the Australian group’s debut on Modular Recordings, showcases an encyclopedic love of music through reems of samples reaching back half a century. WhoSampled.com lists the following and many more: Dexter Wansel, Tony Mottola, The Duprees, Marlena Shaw, Nancy Wilson, Fela Kuti, Sesame Street, The Main Attraction, Paperclip People. Then there are bits of movies: The Conquest of Everest, Club Med, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. And sound effects: applause, cuckoo clocks, a metronome, the crackle of vinyl records. The resulting blend is seamless, body-moving and sometimes humorous — a mega-sized helping of sampledelia.
Footnote:
[1] According to Mental Floss, the story is more complicated.
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