The Avalanches HHV Records 7 Items

Records in the Rehearsal Room

In the mid-90s, the spectacle began in the Australian Melbourne: in the name of Noise Punk, the band Alarm 115 came together, consisting of Darren Seltmann, Robbie Chater, Tony Diblasi, and Manabu Etoh. In addition to the classic band circus, the members brought all sorts of records into the rehearsal room that they had picked up in stores: experimental hybrid forms emerged, combining the original with samples—initial ideas for the later massive success Since I Left You came together here. However, this first band didn’t last long—in a new lineup, the group brought Gordon McQuilten on keyboards and recorded a first demo tape, simply labeled Pan Amateurs. The process of using various samples became essential, with the group drawing from their beloved records, both old and new, and capturing it in a creative chaos on tape. Despite that, the band couldn’t decide on a name, and various variations were played out until the four settled on The Avalanches—inspired by a band of the same name that achieved only moderate success in the 60s. After some shows, in 1997, the indie label Trifekta Records took on the new formation and released their first Single Rock City— the wild mix of genres soon fascinated fans across the country.

Sound Collage as a Genre

In the same year, their first EP El Producto appeared, with which they increasingly filled halls in and around Melbourne, because the whole thing was fluid in style and quite danceable. In mid-1998, work began on their first full-length album, which combined hundreds of small samples into new compositions and quickly became an Australian classic after its release in 2000. The innovative style of the unusual collective spread throughout the country, but the unexpected success did not come without problems: for legal reasons, especially Chater and Seltmann feared bringing the record to the international market—without a clear overview of their countless samples, they hardly knew exactly what they had selected from the vast field of Hip-Hop, Rock, and Pop for their tracks. After some changes, the album was still delivered to the rest of the world and struck in the UK and the United States like hardly any other experimental album. They now stood at the forefront of the Plunderphonics genre: a form of sound collage coined by the Canadian composer John Oswald. In short, The Avalanches created something new from the old, and they did it as well as hardly anyone else.

Finally, a Completely Normal Band

The work on a successor was delayed. By a whole 16 years. It remained silent around The Avalanches for what felt like an eternity, during which they engaged in a whole lot of other projects—whether it was composing for a King Kong musical or collaborating with renowned artists worldwide. However, the musical world awaited their 2016 album Wildflower with an unparalleled indie guest list: from MF DOOM to Tame Impala and Danny Brown, many visionaries had their fingers in the pie to create another work in the style of a fantastic collage. The story continued on We Will Always Love You in 2020: collaborations with MGMT, Johnny Marr, Rivers Cuomo, and Mick Jones were on the agenda, and another hypnotic album emerged. Often praised as their best work, the album made waves worldwide in the charts and is especially revered in indie circles. And it ensured that the status of The Avalanches had changed: “Now we’re just a regular band instead of the band who made an amazing debut everyone’s talking about.”