This came out in 2001 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Samplers can be a lot like guns — in the right hands nobody gets hurt, but in the wrong ones they’re offensive weapons. Listen to Puff Daddy’s turgid ripoffs of The Police and Led Zeppelin if you don’t believe me. Then compare that to the genius of Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique and De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising, two albums that turned sampling into an art form.
Now there is a third: Since I Left You, the debut album from the inspired madmen of Aussie outfit The Avalanches. This hour-long party platter is a sampledelic groovefest of magnificently wild proportions, mixing and matching an almost endless supply of musical snippets — everything from the bassline of Madonna’s holiday to Debbie Reynolds’ Tammy to comedy sketches from Wayne and Shuster — into seamless, seductive tracks with hypnotically supple hip-hop grooves and a thick slice of wry humour. Since I Left You is much more than the sum of its parts, and The Avalanches are a group worth falling for.
