The Avalanches Albums Ranked
Australian group-turned-duo The Avalanches are plunderphonics’ celebrated practitioners. Plunderphonics! I learned that word recently! Basically, The Avalanches are samplers extraordinaires, moving from the Beastie Boys riffing on their debut EP EL PRODUCTO (1997, not ranked here) to the high acclaim of the SINCE I LEFT YOU symphony. But after its release in 2000, primary forces Robbie Chater and Tony Di Blasi (currently The Avalanches’ only members) were in a state of constant flux, working on new music here and there but not releasing another album until 2016’s WILDFLOWER, which as you might expect, was highly anticipated. With the release of the group’s only third album in 20 years, WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU, a few weeks ago, I took to re-listening to the prior two releases as well to put together this brief tour of The Avalanches’ long and storied career that nevertheless has a relatively minimal output to speak for it. And that’s because the dudes haven’t put out anything less than great.
#3 — SINCE I LEFT YOU (2000)
Favorite track: “Since I Left You”
This is not how I expected things to go. I meant it earlier when I called SINCE I LEFT YOU a symphony. It has all the brilliant complexity and impact of a major classical piece, just in the vein of electronic, funk, and dance music. It’s unclear exactly how many samples were used on this, The Avalanches’ debut album, but it could range from 900 to 3,500. Any number on that range is pretty impressive, and that the group was able to make something so cohesive from an array of musical influences is incredible. And yet the album is of course far-ranging; what all The Avalanches’ albums have in common is a starting point rooted in more conventional pop or dance music, that deviates into more experimental, aural musings. That is most evident on SINCE I LEFT YOU, and while that deviation is beautiful and worth experiencing, it doesn’t keep the hooks going from the great title track.
#2 — WILDFLOWER (2016)
Favorite track: “Because I’m Me”
The Avalanches finally returned 16 years after SINCE I LEFT YOU with WILDFLOWER, a long-awaited “sophomore” effort that was certainly no slump and delivered on its promise. I don’t know specifics on numbers of samples, as apparently no one does with even the first album, but I feel like The Avalanches’ work has become increasingly less dependent on the treasure trove of records the duo must cultivate. Oh, certainly, WILDFLOWER is still a fascinating tapestry of music from across genres and decades; “Because I’m Me,” the best track on the album, for example, feels at once present, classic, and timeless. The Avalanches also collaborated much more with other artists on WILDFLOWER, and for whatever the reason, the album turns out less experimental than SINCE I LEFT YOU. Although WILDFLOWER, too, turns into a different beast by the end of its 21 tracks, the whole of the record is a warm experience, in contrast to the stark cold (still shiver-inducing) of SINCE I LEFT YOU.
#1 — WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU (2020)
Favorite track: “We Go On”
I’m surprised that “The Avalanches Albums Ranked” turned into a chronological exercise; before I started re-listening, I would have thought that it would be the opposite. But around the fourth listen of WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU, on the track “We Go On,” the achievement here really struck me. If WILDFLOWER was a warm, hallucinogenic odyssey, WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU is the cool, chill comedown. The album is melancholy in some way, even on the movement-inducing “We Go On.” It may be my favorite Avalanches song, and go figure: it features Mick Jones, and I love The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite. WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU sees the duo work with an even greater array of artists, including my boy Rivers Cuomo. But that somewhat personal, melancholy vibe isn’t diluted by the other voices and outside influences; in fact, they seem to provide the levity and collective beauty of the whole album. WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU sees the least drastic change in song structure by its second half among The Avalanches’ discography. Its songs work better as standalone songs, and for this pop fan, that may be the distinction that puts WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU at the top of the list. I think it’s impressive that an album can make me want to get up and dance, sit and stare at a wall, have sex, and drift off to sleep with a smile on my face all at the same time.
