The Avalanches - tba

[joshuatxuk]

^what about it? just curious.

[Kennylogg Bubblebath]

I pre-ordered the limited edition vinyl from newberry comics....I wish there was a version that didn't include Frankie Sinatra, it's just a brutal track. In a bad way.

 

Looking forward to the rest of the record, however! Colors is really nice.

 

I saw Vinyl Me Please had a nice ltd. red vinyl but ya had to sign up to some premium membership JUST to access the store. No dice.

[Nebraska]

^what about it? just curious.

 

for me, the reversed/slowed down lyrics are the most annoying part. i think if this was done just for a bit i would have really bugged me as it sounds very cheesy, but the whole song? also the beat is too simple. it's like a high school band drummer strumming something during a rehearsal.

 

the combination of both together is impressively annoying (although i have to add, i found the repetitious nature of 'frontier psychiatrist' to be equally, if not more, annoying)

[joshuatxuk]

 

^what about it? just curious.

 

for me, the reversed/slowed down lyrics are the most annoying part. i think if this was done just for a bit i would have really bugged me as it sounds very cheesy, but the whole song? also the beat is too simple. it's like a high school band drummer strumming something during a rehearsal.

 

the combination of both together is impressively annoying (although i have to add, i found the repetitious nature of 'frontier psychiatrist' to be equally, if not more, annoying)

 

 

Well admittedly it's the weakest one I've heard, as much as I like it. Certainly less impressive than other Mercury Rev collabs I've heard in the past, notably their work with the Chemical Brothers. Likewise I can't stand Frankie Sinatra yet it's the most catchy.

 

I think the reason the simple drum break in Frontier Psychiatrist worked was it served as a baseline structure for the whole song, which is driven by the loops and especially the spoken word samples. The Toro Y Moi song seems most akin to their formula for Since I Left You, which seems a bit harder to appreciate out of the context of the whole album. I haven't heard any other samples yet.

[EdamAnchorman]

the other day i was telling a younger co-worker about how excited i was to be pre-ordering the album and how their last album was out in 2001 (in the US at least). then he told me that he was five at that time.

[forcefielder]

Another new one, Subways. My verdict: better than Colours and Frankie Sinatra. The visuals on this video are pretty nice too

[caze]

blocked

[xyrofen]

Subways is really good. I'm in agreement with a friend that every new track shown has been better than the previously aired one.

[joshuatxuk]

Subways was alright, nothing groundbreaking or exciting but good, which so far that seems to be the general vibe of this album.

 

Sounds very dated, heavy use of 70s era sample loops, sounds like something pitched as a instrumental to Robbin Williams or Madonna in the early 00s.

 

In fact it most reminds of Justice's song D.A.N.C.E., which was catchy but a bit lacking. "Subways" has this French filter house vibe but without the compressed ducking 4/4 beats.

[Nebraska]

hrm.... not feeling 'subways' either. the first thing that came to my mind was something that sounds like the go! team except not as good. definitely better than the other songs released so far

[joew]

is subways made up of samples or original audio? why does it keep transposing around

[Kennylogg Bubblebath]

Wildflower is streaming in full for Apple Music users outside of Europe. Everyone else (me included) will have to settle for the previews.

 

Really like what I'm hearing. Definitely gonna pick up a copy next week! Looks like this and Cheetah will be providing the heat this summer...

 

 

Still not diggin Frankie Sinatra tho

 

[Guest bitroast]

Wildflower is streaming in full for Apple Music users outside of Europe. Everyone else (me included) will have to settle for the previews.

 

Really like what I'm hearing. Definitely gonna pick up a copy next week! Looks like this and Cheetah will be providing the heat this summer...

 

 

Still not diggin Frankie Sinatra tho

 

 

Frankie sinatra is pretty much a Reverse Single for me..

was vaguely interested in checking out the followup album to SILY but frankie sinatra gave nothing but 'don't bother' vibes. not 4 me

[romanticdude]

I can see the vague outline of a concept, just like on SILY, which I always felt was about the process of dying and how the afterlife would be like an endless cruise on a big, joyful ocean liner. On Wildflower, it seems to be about…smoking weed and getting high, maybe? In any way, the album is quite cringeworthy in parts (Frankie Sinatra and The Noisy Eater are to blame), and I feel like it leaves a big, fat stain on the Avalanches' legacy, instead of serving as a proper follow-up to SILY.

[EdamAnchorman]

I like the album as a whole, not as much as Since I Left You, but I still think it's good. I think it's a good, enjoyable experience overall.

 

I read somewhere, pitchfork maybe, that the album is supposed to be about just taking a drive out into "the bush" or somewhere rural and just getting lost; that kind of fits with the vibe I think.

 

My only complaint is that some of the production / mixing is repetitive. A lot of the tracks follow the same pattern of playing the main verse or hook in the background through some filters, then everything comes in clean sounding, repeats a few times, then back to the background, repeat again... I wish they had mixed it up a little better, like on SILY.

[Kennylogg Bubblebath]

Y'all need to see this...

 

https://vimeo.com/173438485

[BobDobalina]

Frankie sinatra is pretty much a Reverse Single for me..

was vaguely interested in checking out the followup album to SILY but frankie sinatra gave nothing but 'don't bother' vibes. not 4 me

 

Yeah, this is me to a tee g. The last time I felt this way was when I saw this (the trailer, not the movie thank god)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ESdH-CRUAE

[Nebraska]

i checked this out.

 

it's not as bad as the singles made it out to be; i really enjoyed 'because i'm me' and in the context of the album, i actually thought 'frankie sinatra' sounded good- although the danny brown feature is perhaps the biggest flaw in the song.

 

imo, i thought the album was too long and began to sound repetitive (i agree with charles nelson reilly's assessment of the production). i like the idea of this sounding like a nostalgic radio mixtape of sort that harkens back to saturday morning cartoons (the noisy eater) and 80s teenage life ('live a lifetime love').

my problem is that it never expands these ideas and rather just repeats the same point over and over again. in essence, this album is made up of 4 songs and the other 17 just being a matter of how much did you like the first 4. if you're answer is a lot, then there's 17 more. if your answer isn't so much, then you still have more than 16 tracks to sit through

[Kennylogg Bubblebath]

Pre-ordered the deluxe edish from my local rekkid stow, won a free Wildflower flag and t-shirt. Happy days! Bit of a shame I'm away for a week but at least I'll have some goodies waiting for me when I get back.

 

I'll resist any Spotify streams or listening of any kind until I'm spinning the wax. 8/10 (4 stars) seems to be the general score across the board. Glad it didn't flop lol

[Silent Member]

This is everything I could wish for in a new avalanches album, and almost none of the shit I feared. Well good.

Edited July 11, 2016 by Gocab

[EdamAnchorman]

i checked this out.

 

it's not as bad as the singles made it out to be; i really enjoyed 'because i'm me' and in the context of the album, i actually thought 'frankie sinatra' sounded good- although the danny brown feature is perhaps the biggest flaw in the song.

 

imo, i thought the album was too long and began to sound repetitive (i agree with charles nelson reilly's assessment of the production). i like the idea of this sounding like a nostalgic radio mixtape of sort that harkens back to saturday morning cartoons (the noisy eater) and 80s teenage life ('live a lifetime love').

my problem is that it never expands these ideas and rather just repeats the same point over and over again. in essence, this album is made up of 4 songs and the other 17 just being a matter of how much did you like the first 4. if you're answer is a lot, then there's 17 more. if your answer isn't so much, then you still have more than 16 tracks to sit through

i think this is a good assessment of the album. i read one review that essentially said this same thing, and pointed out that "since i left you" had "harsher" tracks like "radio" to break up that dreamy, nostalgic feel, whereas wildflower is basically just that one tone throughout.

 

after living with the album for about a week, i am liking it better than i initially did, and think it is "quite good" . i am enjoying it very much.

[Kennylogg Bubblebath]

Only given Wildflower two proper listens but I'm all over it. Superb release.

 

This is what I scored btw...

 

 

 

Edited July 17, 2016 by valleyinaire

[joshuatxuk]

Only given Wildflower two proper listens but I'm all over it. Superb release.

 

This is what I scored btw...

 

 

 

 

Damn that is a proper deluxe edition!

[joshuatxuk]

Holy overhyped debut follow up album Batman, this was actually really good!

 

 

i checked this out.

 

it's not as bad as the singles made it out to be; i really enjoyed 'because i'm me' and in the context of the album, i actually thought 'frankie sinatra' sounded good- although the danny brown feature is perhaps the biggest flaw in the song.

 

imo, i thought the album was too long and began to sound repetitive (i agree with charles nelson reilly's assessment of the production). i like the idea of this sounding like a nostalgic radio mixtape of sort that harkens back to saturday morning cartoons (the noisy eater) and 80s teenage life ('live a lifetime love').

my problem is that it never expands these ideas and rather just repeats the same point over and over again. in essence, this album is made up of 4 songs and the other 17 just being a matter of how much did you like the first 4. if you're answer is a lot, then there's 17 more. if your answer isn't so much, then you still have more than 16 tracks to sit through

i think this is a good assessment of the album. i read one review that essentially said this same thing, and pointed out that "since i left you" had "harsher" tracks like "radio" to break up that dreamy, nostalgic feel, whereas wildflower is basically just that one tone throughout.

 

after living with the album for about a week, i am liking it better than i initially did, and think it is "quite good" . i am enjoying it very much.

 

 

Since I Left You was a lot more chaotic in terms of sampling and frantic pace wise...it slowed down at the last half of the album but when it did it was still very much a musique concrete approach. Lot more 50s and 60s samples too on that album. Saturday morning cartoon comparison is very apt, at times it sounds even like Black Moth Super Rainbow or some older chillwave. "Noisy Eater" is a good example, it was a very very fun kids song (arguably) or something you would of heard from an indietronica artist circa 1999 but it was a well produced and catchy tune.

 

More observations:

 

- They actually put out the best album they could. Since I left you could never be topped, not so much because it was so damn good but because as a landmark album it's inspired and spawned so much stuff and music wise it's very much an important album in the context of 2001, which was pre-mash up pop albums like Girl Talk, pre-chillwave/(insert sample heavy trend genre here) and pre-beat scene music. And well, they where essentially out of nowhere the first time around whereas now they had huge press hype. It's the same kind of huge legacy that artists like DJ Shadow have had to wrestle with, moving on style wise at the risk of losing fans/critics versus re-inventing the wheel at the risk of being a one-trick pony. Some brilliant classics are just flukes that are impossible to follow up 100%. I think despite the long delays and hiccups and doubts (which I had personally speaking) they put together a great and distinct album.

- Some Beatles samples in there, subtle ones though. In fact there's a lot more subtle mixing in and out and less of the more jarring cut n' paste style from SILY. Samples seemed a little less random and more thematic per song as well.

- I swear I heard some reused samples from SILY sprinkled in like easter eggs.

- They utilized new vocals a lot more, the rap parts were alright, except for "Frankie Sinatra" which was clunky and still baffles me as a lead single. It's an ok song in the context of the album though.

- I was a little less engaged with the last third of the album and the beginning 1/3, which is most of the lead singles, kind of had to gain momentum. Middle part just kills though. Overall though it was excellent and very cohesive considering how diverse it was.

- "Harmony" was my favorite track, at least the most complete sounding (If I was a Folkstar" was good but kind of underwhelming by itself, doesn't sound fleshed out as a full track). "Noisy Eater" was another favorite, loved that kid choir singing Beatles bit in the refrain.

[keanu reeves]

i am still not understanding how since i left you was "important" to anyone but the music press hyping it. can someone explain what "influence" this "landmark" album had?