Who are The Avalanches?
The Avalanches are an Australian electronic music group from Melbourne, famous for their 2000 debut album Since I Left You, built from thousands of samples of other records.
The group formed in the late 1990s, led by Robbie Chater and Tony Di Blasi. They used vintage vinyl records found in second-hand shops, combining fragments of music, dialogue and sounds into new songs.
Since I Left You is said to contain around 3,500 samples. It received critical acclaim worldwide and is regarded as one of the most influential albums in electronic and sample-based music.
A long wait
After their debut, the group became famous for the long wait for a second album. Wildflower was finally released in 2016, 16 years later, featuring collaborators such as Danny Brown and Father John Misty.
Their song Frontier Psychiatrist, with its humorous spoken samples, became a cult favourite.
The Avalanches released We Will Always Love You in 2020. Clearing the rights to so many samples was a huge task, which partly explains the time between albums.
Did You Know?
Since I Left You won ARIA Awards and often appears on lists of the best albums of the 2000s.