studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by Australian
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
group
the Avalanches
The Avalanches are an Australian electronic music group formed in Melbourne in 1997. They are known for their studio albums ''Since I Left You'' (2000), ''Wildflower'' (2016), and '' We Will Always Love You'' (2020), as well as their live and ...
, released on 27 November 2000 by
Modular Recordings
Modular Recordings (known simply as Modular) is an Australian record label founded in 1998 by Steve Pavlovic that is currently owned by Universal Music Australia. It has released music from local artists such as Eskimo Joe, Ben Lee, The Avalan ...
. It was produced by group members Robbie Chater and
Darren Seltmann
Darren Richard Seltmann is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician and producer. He was a co-founder of Australian electronic music group, the Avalanches, in 1997, and appeared on their debut album, ''Since I Left You'' (2000). He married Sa ...
(under the pseudonym Bobbydazzler), and samples extensively from various genres. The album was recorded and produced at two separate, near-identical studios by Chater and Seltmann, exchanging audio mixes of records they sampled.
After the album's positive reception in Australia, the duo considered an international release – its date was held back until 2001 in the United Kingdom and North America and appeared in slightly altered forms. The delay and changes occurred so that the group could obtain permission to use the samples or use replacements. Four singles were released from the album: "
Electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
", "
Frontier Psychiatrist
"Frontier Psychiatrist" is a song by Australian electronic music group the Avalanches. It was released on 21 August 2000 as the second single from the group's debut album '' Since I Left You''. Produced by Avalanches members Robbie Chater and ...
", "
Since I Left You
''Since I Left You'' is the debut studio album by Australian electronic music group the Avalanches, released on 27 November 2000 by Modular Recordings. It was produced by group members Robbie Chater and Darren Seltmann (under the pseudonym Bob ...
", and "Radio". The group promoted the album by organising headlining tours in Australia, Europe and the United States.
''Since I Left You'' was acclaimed by critics. It peaked in the top 30 on the
ARIA Albums Chart
The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...
, number 12 in Norway, number eight on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
and, in the United States, at number ten on the
Top Electronic Albums
Top Dance/Electronic Albums, Dance/Electronic Albums (formerly Top Electronic Albums) is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine which ranks the top-selling electronic music albums in the United States based on sales compiled by ...
chart and in the top 40 on the
Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...
chart. At the
ARIA Music Awards of 2001
The 15th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards) were held on 30 October 2001 at the Capitol Theatre. Rock band Powderfinger won the most awards with six from eight nominations. Lea ...
, it won in four categories: Breakthrough Artist – Album, Best Dance Release, Producer of the Year for Bobbydazzler, and Breakthrough Artist – Single for "Frontier Psychiatrist". ''Since I Left You'' became one of the best-reviewed albums of the 2000s, and was listed at number ten in the book ''
100 Best Australian Albums
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
''.
Production
The Avalanches began work on the album in 1999 under the working title ''Pablo's Cruise'', primarily working with a
Yamaha Yamaha may refer to:
* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below).
** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...
Promix 01 and
Akai
Akai ( ja, 赤井, ) is a Hong Kong manufacturer of consumer electronics. It was founded as Akai Electric Company Ltd in Tokyo, Japan, in 1946. Grande Holdings in Hong Kong purchased the Akai brand, and now distributes various electronic produc ...
S2000 samplers. Group members Darren Seltmann and Robbie Chater spent hours sampling music from vinyl records to create the songs on the album: Chater has estimated that there are over 3,500 samples that were used overall although some estimate the number to be much lower, roughly 900. After sampling and arranging, the pair would swap their tapes, listen to each other's ideas, and expand on whatever they had heard. Despite working separately, both Chater and Seltmann had nearly identical studio set-ups.
Initially, Seltmann and Chater were not planning for an international release. They were not concerned with copyright restrictions and so did not keep a list of which tracks were being sampled. According to Chater they "were really unorganised 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 harbouring a 'No-one's going to listen to it anyway' sort of attitude." The sources span many different styles of music, sampling artists such as
Françoise Hardy
Françoise Madeleine Hardy (; born 17 January 1944) is a French former singer and songwriter. Mainly known for singing melancholic sentimental ballads, Hardy has been an important figure in French pop music since her debut, spanning a career of ...
Sérgio Mendes
Sérgio Santos Mendes (; born February 11, 1941) is a Brazilian musician. His career took off with worldwide hits by his group Brasil '66. He has over 55 releases and plays bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk. He was nominated for ...
,
Raekwon
Corey Woods (born January 12, 1970), better known by his stage name Raekwon The Chef, or simply Raekwon (), is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, which achieved mainstream success ...
,
Wayne and Shuster
Wayne and Shuster were a Canadian double act, comedy duo formed by Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster. They were active professionally from the early 1940s until the late 1980s, first as a live act, then on radio, then as part of ''The Army Show'' ...
, and
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
. Seltmann felt that " e 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". He described how making sample tapes for each other created some samples which were intended as "funny samples" that they had no original intention to get clearance for. In particular, Madonna's song "
Holiday
A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or tra ...
" 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". Later, Seltmann and Chater had a few problems when trying to clear all the samples. One sample that had to be removed was from
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popu ...
in the intro that featured harps and girls singing. After checking clearances, " e album is slightly different to its original form in that it had a whole new introduction, which apparently was really recognisable, so we had to take that off straight away". The Avalanches worked with sample-clearance expert Pat Shannahan to clear the thousands of samples in the record. The group played their songs to flatmates to get input on which tracks were worth including on the album. "
Electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
" was the first song the group felt that worked; it was a last-minute addition to the album as the Avalanches felt the song "still sounds good". In February 2000, Seltmann (as Dazzler) and Chater (as Bobby C) finished production on the album under the pseudonym Bobbydazzler, and its official title was revealed as ''Since I Left You'' in March 2000.
Style and themes
''Since I Left You'' was originally developed to be a
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
. Chater described its initial theme as a love story, "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." The concept album idea was abandoned when the group felt they should not make their themes too obvious. The album's sound was in response to dance music at that time, that Chater felt was "about big drums, big production: think of a record like the
Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat genre ...
"
Block Rockin' Beats
"Block Rockin' Beats" is a song by British big beat duo the Chemical Brothers. Released in March 1997 as the second single and opening track from their second studio album, ''Dig Your Own Hole'' (1997), it topped the UK Singles Chart and peaked ...
", with those amazing drums, and how huge those records sounded". The Avalanches felt their early music could not compare to that sound and desired a recording with less bass that was influenced by 1960s music such as
the Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...
and
Phil Spector
Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...
.
Release
When ''Since I Left You'' was being recorded, the Avalanches had trouble choosing songs to be released as singles, finding them not sounding as good outside the context of the album. On 13 September 1999, they issued "
Electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
Modular Recordings
Modular Recordings (known simply as Modular) is an Australian record label founded in 1998 by Steve Pavlovic that is currently owned by Universal Music Australia. It has released music from local artists such as Eskimo Joe, Ben Lee, The Avalan ...
) and as a two-track 7" vinyl single in the United Kingdom (on Rex Records). Chater felt that Modular was very patient with the group releasing the record. On 21 August 2000, "
Frontier Psychiatrist
"Frontier Psychiatrist" is a song by Australian electronic music group the Avalanches. It was released on 21 August 2000 as the second single from the group's debut album '' Since I Left You''. Produced by Avalanches members Robbie Chater and ...
" was released as the second single from the album by Modular in Australia in both a four-track and two-track version. The initial release date for ''Since I Left You'' was going to be 11 September; however, it was delayed due to issues with sample clearance. On 27 November, the album was issued in Australia with plans to have a worldwide release in early 2001. The later release date outside Australia was due to additional sample clearances needed for international markets. To celebrate the album's release in Melbourne, the group had a boat cruise party through
Port Phillip Bay
Port Phillip (Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is completel ...
. On 5 February 2001, they released the album's
title track
A title track is a song that has the same name as the album or film in which it appears. In the Korean music industry, the term is used to describe a promoted song on an album, akin to a single, regardless of the song's title.
Title track may al ...
as the third single in Australia, and followed on 23 July with "Radio".
In April, ''Since I Left You'' was released in the UK through
XL Recordings
XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been ran and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group.
Although only releasing an average of six album ...
with the album selling far more copies than the label's original target amount. On 28 April, it entered the
UK Album Charts
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
, which peaked at number eight and remained in the chart for 25 weeks.Warwick, 2004. p.89 In late March, the single "Since I Left You" was issued in the UK and entered the charts at number 16 on 7 April 2001. On 6 November, ''Since I Left You'' was released in the United States by
Sire Records
Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records.
History Beginnings
The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer ...
, and charted on the US
Top Electronic Albums
Top Dance/Electronic Albums, Dance/Electronic Albums (formerly Top Electronic Albums) is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine which ranks the top-selling electronic music albums in the United States based on sales compiled by ...
, peaking at number ten, and on the
Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...
chart, peaking at number 31. The album artwork features an excerpt of ''Sinking of USS President Lincoln'' by Fred Dana Marsh (1920).
Versions
Several versions of the album were created due to sample clearance difficulties.
For the first international release, multiple samples had to be cut from the original Australian release, including dialogue by
Robert DeNiro
Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
from the film ''
Midnight Run
''Midnight Run'' is a 1988 American road action comedy film directed by Martin Brest and starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. Yaphet Kotto, John Ashton, Dennis Farina, Joe Pantoliano, and Philip Baker Hall play supporting roles.
At the ...
'', an
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...
excerpt, and flute sounds from
War
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
's "H2 Overture". A version of "Frontier Psychiatrist" with re-recorded vocal lines was also included on a number of releases. A mixtape named ''Gimix'' was sold as tour merch in 2000, designed to combat bootlegged copies of the album which were circulating due to the album's publishing delays. The mixtape contains tracks from ''Since I Left You'', songs sampled on the album, songs with copyright clearance problems, and other favorites.
In July 2011, a deluxe reissue of ''Since I Left You'' was announced that would include the original album as well as a bonus disc containing b-sides, demo tracks and remixes of songs from the original album by artists including
El Guincho
Pablo Díaz-Reixa (born November 17, 1983), professionally known as el Guincho, is a Spanish musician, singer, and record producer.
Díaz-Reixa rose to prominence with his 2008 album, ''Alegranza''. His musical style relies heavily on the use ...
,
MF DOOM
Daniel Dumile ( ; July 13, 1971October 31, 2020), best known by his stage name MF Doom or simply Doom (both stylized in all caps), was a British-American rapper and record producer. Noted for his intricate wordplay, signature metal mask, and ...
,
Black Dice
Black Dice is an American experimental noise music band based in Brooklyn, New York and consisting of brothers Bjorn and Eric Copeland along with Aaron Warren. Formed in 1997, the group was initially inspired by hardcore and noise rock, but subse ...
, and the Avalanches themselves. In 2016, it was announced that a reissue of ''Since I Left You'' would be released on 27 January 2017 in a limited edition of five thousand copies. Fans were allowed to vote on which color vinyl the album would be pressed on, as well as which record store the album would be sold at.
In December 2017, some retailers listed a 33-track deluxe edition of the album online. Later, a finished 4xLP deluxe edition copy made its way into the hands of a collector, who submitted pictures and details about the release to
Discogs
Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...
. The deluxe edition features alternate artwork and a collection of new remixes from MF DOOM, Deakin,
Leon Vynehall
Leon Vynehall is a British artist and producer. He released his second album '' Rare, Forever'' on 30 April 2021 via Ninja Tune.
Biography
After becoming a resident DJ at Akaakaroar, a Brighton club, Vynehall released several EPs on labels such ...
, Canyons,
Sinkane
Sinkane (born Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab in London, England) is a Sudanese-American musician who blends krautrock, prog rock, electronica, free jazz and funk rock with Sudanese pop. He is signed to City Slang Records.
Born to college professors in ...
Edan Idan or Edan may refers to: People
Given name
* Edan (musician), American alternative hip hop artist
*Edan Everly, American guitarist, musician, singer songwriter
*Edan Gross, American child actor
*Edan Milton Hughes, American art dealer and art c ...
alongside select previously released remixes, and the original demo of Thank You Caroline. In November 2018, the band promised the deluxe edition was "nearly ready". In April 2021, the band announced the 20th anniversary edition, consisting of the aforementioned deluxe edition, would be released on June 4th.
Tour
To promote ''Since I Left You'', the Avalanches organised their first Australian head-lining tour in October 2000, planning to head to all the capital cities. All dates on the tour were sold out. In their
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
show, Seltmann broke his leg in an on-stage collision with bass guitarist and singer Tony Di Blasi. From January to February 2001, the Avalanches toured with the
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typically in January of eac ...
festival in Australia, visiting four capital cities. While on tour in Europe, Seltmann broke his other leg, thereafter the rest of the tour's shows were DJ sets. The British
dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...
magazine ''
Muzik
''Muzik'' was a British dance music magazine published by IPC Media from June 1995 to August 2003.
''Muzik'' was created by two former ''Melody Maker'' journalists, Push and Ben Turner. Push was the editor of ''Muzik'' from its launch until he ...
'' awarded the Avalanches as best live act.
Critical reception
Seltmann and Chater did not initially think that ''Since I Left You'' would receive much attention. However, the album garnered widespread critical acclaim from the music industry. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, it received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 89, based on 21 reviews. It became one of the best reviewed albums of 2000, as well as being the highest rated dance album on that site. The album peaked in the top 30 on the
ARIA Albums Chart
The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...
and number 12 in Norway on the
VG-lista
VG-lista is a Norwegian record chart. It is presented weekly in the newspaper '' VG''. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continents around the world. The data are collected by Nie ...
Top 40 Albums Chart. At the
ARIA Music Awards of 2001
The 15th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards) were held on 30 October 2001 at the Capitol Theatre. Rock band Powderfinger won the most awards with six from eight nominations. Lea ...
, the Avalanches won four awards from nine nominations, including Breakthrough Artist – Album, Best Dance Release and Producer of the Year (for Chater and Seltmann aka Bobbydazzler) for ''Since I Left You''. The fourth award win was for the related single, "Frontier Psychiatrist" as Breakthrough Artist – Single.
Christian Ward of ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' hailed it as "a joyous, kaleidoscopic masterpiece of sun-kissed disco-pop", and Andy Battaglia from ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' called it "a psychedelic disco fry-up", while Andy Kellman of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
called it one of the most intimate and emotional dance records that is not vocal-based. Marc Savlov of ''
The Austin Chronicle
''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...
'' found the album as surprising as "
Primal Scream
Primal Scream are a Scottish rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie (vocals) and Jim Beattie. The band's current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes (guitar), Simone Butler (bass), and Darrin Mooney (drums) ...
's life-changing ''
Screamadelica
''Screamadelica'' is the third studio album by Scottish rock band Primal Scream. It was first released on 23 September 1991 in the United Kingdom by Creation Records and on 8 October 1991 in the United States by Sire Records. The album marked a ...
'' was a decade ago. It's downright shocking how fun this is". ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
''s Matt LeMay credited the Avalanches for developing a "unique context" for the songs without compromising their original "distinct flavor" and said that the album "sounds like nothing else" because of how the samples are employed rather than their quality or volume. '' Q'' magazine's Gareth Grundy remarked that its clever music is delivered as engagingly as "more conventional dance sounds" and that the album "finally fulfils sampling's original promise" of producing new, extraordinary sounds from artfully appropriated pieces of existing songs. Amy Bell of ''
Drowned in Sound
''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums.
History
''D ...
'' praised it as one of the year's best albums.
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
of ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' was less enthusiastic and said that the Avalanches deliver "the long-promised new-songs-from-old-songs trick, in which untrackable samples are stitched together until they mesh into compelling music that never existed before. Unfortunately, the music in question is string-section disco." ''
Stylus Magazine
''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog.
Addi ...
''s Tyler Martin felt that the tracks lack innovation, nuance, and rhythmic complexity, but that several of them are exceptional. The website later placed the album at number 16 on their list of top 50 albums from 2000 to 2005. In a retrospective review for ''
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide
''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...
'', Michaelangelo Matos praised the Avalanches' balance of "the familiar and obscure" through their sampling techniques and their "playful, airy grooves", as well as the album's "surprisingly resonant emotional core".
Accolades
''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 and 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." '' Q'' listed it as one of the best 50 albums of 2001. The album was voted the 11th best album of the year in ''The Village Voice''s annual
Pazz & Jop
Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...
critics poll for 2001. In 2008, the Australian newspaper ''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' assembled a panel of experts ranging from its own 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." ''Since I Left You'' was placed at number six on ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
''s list of "50 most influential Australian albums ever". ''
Resident Advisor
''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. It was established in 2001. ''RA''s editorial team provides news, musi ...
'' declared it to be the seventh best album of the decade. ''
NOW Toronto
''Now'' (styled as ''NOW''), also known as ''NOW Magazine'' is an online publication based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Throughout most of its existence, ''Now'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper. Physical publication of ''Now'' was suspen ...
'' called the album a " sampledelic classic".
On ''
Slant Magazine
''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...
''s "Best of the Aughts" list, the album was placed at number six out of one-hundred. Reflecting on the album's reception, Chater felt it was well received because "It's light-hearted and fun to listen to and there is depth there as well. There are some sadder moments that I think has made it resonate and made it last. It does sound like a 23-year-old kid in his bedroom making a record to me, but you can hear that innocence and joy in the discovery of finding all those sounds. So that was kind of infectious for people." In October 2010, it was listed at No. 10 in the book, ''
100 Best Australian Albums
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
''.
Philip Sherburne
Philip Sherburne is an American journalist, musician and DJ based in Barcelona. He coined the term "Microhouse" (in a 2001 article for ''The Wire'')Cox, Christoph; Daniel Warner (Eds.) (2004). ''Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music''. Continuu ...
, writing for
Rhapsody
Rhapsody may refer to:
* A work of epic poetry, or part of one, that is suitable for recitation at one time
** Rhapsode, a classical Greek professional performer of epic poetry
Computer software
* Rhapsody (online music service), an online m ...
, said that "along with
DJ Shadow
Joshua Paul Davis (born June 29, 1972), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American DJ, songwriter and record producer. His debut studio album, '' Endtroducing.....'' was released in 1996.
Biography Early years (1989–1995)
DJ Sha ...
's '' Endtroducing'', this is one of plunderphonic music's greatest LPs". The album was also included in the book ''
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...
''. In 2019, the album was ranked 34th on ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
s 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century list. In December of 2021, the album was listed at no. 8 in ''
Rolling Stone Australia
''Rolling Stone'' Australia is the Australian edition of the United States' ''Rolling Stone'' magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture, published monthly. The Australian version of ''Rolling Stone'' was initially published in 197 ...
Credits according to album notes and AllMusic.
The Avalanches
* Robbie Chater – mixing,
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
, Yamaha Promix 01 and Akai S2000 samplers
* James Dela Cruz – turntables
* Tony Di Blasi – keyboards
* Dexter Fabay – turntables
* Gordon McQuilten – pianos, percussion
*
Darren Seltmann
Darren Richard Seltmann is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician and producer. He was a co-founder of Australian electronic music group, the Avalanches, in 1997, and appeared on their debut album, ''Since I Left You'' (2000). He married Sa ...
– mixing, production, brass band, vocals, Yamaha Promix 01 and Akai S2000 samplers
* Bobbydazzler/Bobby Dazzler (aka Robbie Chater and Darren Seltmann) – choir, chorus, guitar, design, mixing
Additional personnel
* Chris Corby – assistant
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
* Dave Davies – assistant engineer
* Tony Espie – mixing
*
Antoinette Halloran
Antoinette Halloran is an Australian operatic soprano.
Education
Antoinette Halloran grew up in the Melbourne suburbs of Rosanna and Deer Park.mastering
* Richie Robinson – mixing
* Sally Russell – vocals
*
Saïan Supa Crew
Saïan Supa Crew (, ) was a French hip hop collective that was composed of three bands: Explicit Samouraï, OFX and Simple Spirit. It formed in 1997 and separated in 2007 after the departure of one of its leaders (along with Feniksi), Leeroy ...
– vocals
* Chris Scallan – computer (
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...
transfer and
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
overhauls)
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Notes
See also
*
2000 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2000. This year was the peak of CD sales in the United States, with sales declining year on year since then.
Specific locations
* 2000 in British music
*2000 in Norwegian m ...
*
The Avalanches discography
The discography of Australian electronic music group the Avalanches consists of three studio albums, five extended plays, four mixtapes, sixteen singles, and four music videos.
Trifekta Records released the group's debut single, "Rock City" ...
References
*
*
External links
*
* ''Since I Left You'' at Rate Your Music
{{good article
2000 debut albums
ARIA Award-winning albums
The Avalanches albums
Modular Recordings albums
Sire Records albums
XL Recordings albums
Sampledelia albums
Plunderphonics albums