Since I Left You

Since I Left You
Studio album by The Avalanches
Released	November 27, 2000 (2000-11-27)
Recorded	1999-2000
Genre	Electronic dance music
Length	60:39
Label	Modular Recordings
Producer	Robbie Chater, Darren Seltmann
Professional reviews
Allmusic [1] Alternative Press (8/10)[2] The Austin Chronicle [3] The A.V. Club (favorable)[4] Drowned in Sound (10/10)[5] NME (9/10)[6] Pitchfork Media (9.5/10)[7] PopMatters (favorable)[8] Rolling Stone [9] Stylus (B-)[10]

Since I Left You is the debut studio album by Australian music group The Avalanches released on November 27, 2000. Produced by Avalanches members Robbie Chater and Darren Seltmann, it was released on Modular Recordings. The album was created in two separate near-identical studios by Charter and Seltmann passing audio mixes of records they sampled. The album contains samples of various genres and styles of music. The album was originally not intended for wide release, leading the duo to not worry about copyright restrictions and attempting to keep track of samples of music they would need to clear.

After the album's completion, the release date was held back leading Since I Left You to not be released until 2001 in both the United Kingdom and North America in slightly altered forms. Four singles were released from Since I Left You, as well as headlining tours in Australia, Europe, and the United States. During this tour member Darren Seltmann broke both of his legs, leading the shows to become DJ sets. Since I Left You was released to very favorable reception, including winning four ARIA Music Awards and becoming one of the best reviewed albums of 2001.^[11]

Production

Under a working title of Pablo's Cruise, the album was recorded primarily with a Yamaha Promix 01 and Akai S2000 samplers.^[12][13] To create the songs on the album, members Darren Seltmann and Robbie Chater spent countless hours sampling the chords from many records. Chater estimates the numbers of samples on the album to be over 3,500. After sampling and arranging, the pair will would swap their tapes, listen to each other's ideas and expand on whatever struck their ear. Despite working separately, both Chater and Seltmann had nearly duplicate studio set-ups.^[12]

Seltmann and Chater didn't keep track of what tracks were being sampled when creating the album, with Chater stating that they "were really unorganized and were just sampling on the fly as tracks progressed, We had no idea the record would get such a wide-scale release so we saw no need to keep track of what we were using — we were definitely guilty of harboring a 'No-one's going to listen to it anyway' sort of attitude."^[12] The album takes its sources from various recordings spanning many different styles of music. Artists sampled include Françoise Hardy, Blowfly, Sergio Mendes, Raekwon, Wayne and Shuster, and Madonna.^[14] On the choice of sampled material, Seltmann stated that "The more rejected and unwanted the record that a sample comes from, the more appealing it is, I guess it's almost a reaction to rare record finding, but occasionally things like 'Holiday' come up".^[12] On sampling Madonna's song "Holiday", Seltmann stated that while making sample tapes for each other, they sampled songs which were intended as funny samples that they had no original intention to get clearance for. Seltmann said that " "Holiday" was one of those where we put something together, ended it with "Holiday" and all had a big laugh. It ended up where we couldn't live without it so I guess we just had to make that one work".^[12] Seltmann and Chater came in to only a few problems when trying to clear all the samples. One sample that had to be removed was from Rogers and Hammerstein in the intro that featured harps and girls singing.^[15] Steltman noted that "The album is slightly different to its original form in that it had a whole new introduction, which apparently was really recognizable, so we had to take that off straight away".^[12] In early 2000, Seltmann and Chater finished production on the album. It received the official title of Since I Left You in March 2000.^[13]

Style and themes

Since I Left You was originally developed to be a concept album. Chater explained described the album original theme of a love story. Chatner described it as "an international search for love from country to country. The idea of a guy following a girl around the world and always being one port behind. And that was just because we had all these records from all over the world, and we'd like to use all that stuff."^[16]

Release

The group initially had trouble choosing songs to be released as singles, finding them not sounding as good outside the context of the album.^[16] The Electricity EP was first released on September 13, 1999 in Australia and the United Kingdom.^[13][17][18] The next single for the album was "Frontier Psychiatrist" which was released on August 2000 in Australia. The initial release date for Since I Left You was going to be September 11, 2000 was delayed due to issues with sample clearance. Since I Left You was released on November 27, 2000 in Australia with plans to have a world release in early 2001.^[13] The later release date outside Australia was due to sample clearance.^[19] To celebrate the album's release in Melbourne, the group had a boat cruise party through Phillip Bay. In mid-2001, "Radio" was released as the third Australian single from the album.^[13]

Since I Left You was released in the United Kingdom through XL Records with the album selling far greater amounts than the label's original target amount.^[19] The album entered the UK Album Charts on April 28, 2001 and debuts and peaks at number eight. The album remained in the chart for 25 weeks.^[13][20] The first single "Since I Left You" is released in the United Kingdom and enters the charts at number 16 on April 7, 2001.^[13][20] Since I Left You was released in the United States and Canada on November 6, 2001 through Sire Records.^[8] The album charts in the United States on the Top Electronic Albums chart peaking at ten and on the Top Heatseekers chart peaking at number 31.^[21]

Tour

The Avalanches had their first Australian head-lining tour in October 2000 planning to head to all of Australia's capital cities. All dates on the tour were sold out. In Brisbane while touring, Darren broke his leg in an on-stage collision with Tony Di-Blasi. In 2001, the Avalanches tour with the Big Day Out festival in Australia, again visiting all capital cities. While on tour in Europe, Darren breaks his other leg leaving all of the rest of the shows of the tour to be DJ sets.^[13] The British dance music magazine Muzik awarded the Avalanches as best live act.^[19]

Reception

The Avalanches won several awards for Since I Left You at the ARIA Music Awards in Australia. The Avalanches win four of the nine awards nominations, including "Breakthrough Artist - Album", "Best Dance Release" and "Producer Of The Year" for Since I Left You.^[22]

Darren Seltmann and Robbie Chater did not initially think that Since I Left You would receive much attention.^[12] Initial critical response to Since I Left You was very positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 89, based on 21 reviews.^[23] Andy Kellman of Allmusic awarded the album four and a half stars out of five, stating that "There's little doubt to Since I Left You's status as one of the most intimate and emotional dance records that isn't vocal-based".^[1] Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle wrote a very positive review, declaring the album "is as much of a revelation now as Primal Scream's life-changing Screamadelica was a decade ago. It's downright shocking how fun this is..."^[3] Matt LeMay of Pitchfork Media gave the album a rating of 9.5 out of ten noting that "what really makes this album brilliant is not as much the volume or quality of the samples used as the way that they're employed. The Avalanches have managed to build a totally unique context for all these sounds, while still allowing each to retain its own distinct flavor. As a result, Since I Left You sounds like nothing else".^[7] Among the less enthusiastic reviews, Tyler Martin of Stylus Magazine gave the album a B- rating, and wrote that "Many of the tracks show promise; they just don’t offer us much in the way of innovation. Despite their lack of nuance and primarily straightforward rhythmic groove, several tracks are actually quite good."^[10] Stylus later placed the album at number 16 on their list of top 50 albums from 2000 to 2005.^[24]

Since I Left You was placed in some year-end polls. Pitchfork placed Since I Left You at number three in their top twenty albums of 2001 poll.^[25] The album also placed at number 11 in the Village Voice 2001 Pazz & Jop critics poll.^[26] In 2008, The Australian newspaper The Age included assembled a panel of experts ranging from Age critics and music journalists to musicians, broadcasters, record shop owners and band managers to pick a list of definitive fifty Australian albums. Since I Left You was included on this list with Chris Johnston declaring the album to be "a beautiful piece of musical art made entirely from samples."^[27] Since I Left You also appeared in The Daily Telegraph's list of "50 most influential Australian albums ever", placing at number six on the list.^[28] Online music magazine Pitchfork placed Since I Left You at number 10 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s, declaring the album "a masterpiece of mood-setting that riffs off an ideal where getting on an airplane and landing in another corner of the world was the most exotic thing a person could do."^[29]

Track listing

All music composed by The Avalanches.

Personnel

Notes

References

• Dimery, Robert; Michael Lydon (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Universe. ISBN 0789313715. 
• Warwick, Neil; Jon Kutner, & Tony Brown (2004). The Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles and Albums. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1844490580. 

External links

• Since I Left You at Discogs
• Since I Left You at Metacritic
• Since I Left You at Rate Your Music