Do You Care If The Avalanches Release Another Record? If You Do, Is This Evidence Of It?
Hold the phone, “A track that may or may not be the Avalanches” has surfaced on a
Pinchy & Friends mix, "Cool Gays". The site, supposedly created by '
Frontier Psychiatrist’s video director Tom Kuntz, has previously hosted mixes which have t
hen been posted about on Twitter by the Avalanches. But even if it is the real deal, we’re a bit sceptical about the whole thing. It does sound a lot like
Since I Left You, but is it going to blow minds?
You can check it out here (you’ll need to skip right to the very end of the mix).
We don’t so much mind the waiting (and waiting), but after years of talk about ‘impending’ new Avalanches material, we can't help feeling a little screwed. Actually, we feel like that to the point that we have to ask: do you even care any more?
Since I Left You is a fairly perfect album. It brought something fresh and new to our ears; the way so many elements (we’re talking an estimated 3,500 samples) were sewn together is a definition of brilliance. It cemented the Avalanches into the infinite lists of ‘Greatest Records of All Time’. We think it’s fair to say though that a lot of those samples and expertise would have come from DJ Dexter ... who hasn’t been part of the group for almost ten years now.
If you don’t see where we’re coming from with this, just check out Dexter at the DMC Championships in 2000. He mightn’t have won, but he was the guy everyone was talking about. It’s like one youtube commenter says, ‘Dexter is the Jimi Hendrix of turntables’ (and he was mixing guitar solos before a lot of dudes, too).
From the short snippet on the Cool Gays mix it does sound good, but considering the reach and influence the Avalanches' only full length record had on music, will a similar sound today offer the same levels of extraordinary? With no Dexter and the weight of high expectations, can the Avalanches really reach the similar musical glory? And, more than that, do people still care?
What do you think?
WORDS: Anna Horan