sad song -lou reed
the loser-derrick harriot
you-bill withers
mon reve c'etait vous-josephine baker
kathleen(catholicism made easier)-randy newman
doin bad goin bad-4 deep
memories-mighty sparrow
find a friend-kaygees
mr.bojangles-nina simone
christmas-christopher komeda

WORST NIGHTMARE: when i was about 9 i dreamt that my mum had an illness that left her decapitated and her head was replaced with a straw scarecrow's head - it was yucky
WHERE YOU WANT TO BE IN TEN YEARS: k-mart
MODE OF TRANSPORT: just lost my license so i won't be driving as much.
LAST BOOK: atomic radiation and life-peter alexander
FAVE SNACK: those little dried up mini toasts
WHO IS YOUR HERO?: larry david
WHY WOULD I BUY YOUR RECORD?: that's' boring, you could find it on the
internet and make your own cd cover and even tape yourself talking
over the top of it like a radio dj.
ARE YOU SUPERSTITIOUS?: i had a thing about sunday nights
WHAT'S YOUR GREATEST VICE?: tiger balm
Please don't be afraid of being...silly.

NAME: robbie chater
STAR SIGN: shitbird
ROLE IN BAND: slapper

FIRST RECORD: acdc's back in black
FAVE POP STAR: elvis

TOP 10 FAVE SONGS.
"the creator has a master plan" pharoah sanders
"vera" thomas brinkmann
"cry me a river" justin timberlake
"go get lifted" bs 2000
"a change is gonna come" sam cooke
"beau mot plage" isolee
"mesopotamia" b52's
"cool water" beach boys
"black inventions" the mighty chalkdust
"cricket champions" lord kitchner

WORST NIGHTMARE: scary troll shit
MODE OF TRANSPORT: public

LAST BOOK: "a peoples history of the united states" by howard zinn
FAVE SNACK: roasted sweet potato,leek,rosmary and marinated goats cheese pasta.
WHY WOULD I BUY YOUR RECORD? australians should buy the book "a secret country" by john pilger instead.

Many of you might wonder what’s been happening with the Melbourne music sensation since their originally brilliant “Since I left You” album… The Avalanches boys are dj-ing, building home studios, making tees (The Avalanches T-shit Club) and laboring over their next album ‘that will be completely different from what people would expect’ says Darren Settman, one of the brains behind the band. Stay tuned!

*****
It's been another week of rankings for The Avalanches. Not only did the band take out two positions in Triple J's Hottest 100 [#7 for 'Since I Left You' and #76 for 'Radio'] they also charmed music retailer HMV, who awarded the band the eighth spot in their HMV Australian Act of the Year. The lucky winner of the poll [which was voted for by over 10,000 HMV shoppers via the HMV website] was Ms. Kylie Minogue.

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*****
The Avalanches have received a nomination for 'Best International Newcomer' at this year's Brit Awards, taking place on February 20 in London. In other [and very appropriate] news, the band has also received 2 nominations for the NME version of the event, The Brat Awards. The boys have been put forward for 'Best Dance Act' and 'Best Video' [Frontier Psychiatrist]. And finally, their album 'Since I Left You' has come out as the Album of the Year for 2001 in a UK poll of polls [as carried out by music retailer HMV in consideration of all major music titles].

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*****
Since the Australian release of their album 'Since I Left You' late last year, the Avalanches have gone on to release the record in Japan, the UK, South Africa, and now America.
Released in the states on November 6 through London-Sire, the US has been quick to jump on board in terms of showering the group with praise...

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"So madly glad, it's demented." Simon Reynolds - SPIN, 9 out of 10

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"...their album comes on like DJ Shadow shit-faced out of his mind movin' bodies at Studio 54." Brion Paul – XLR8R

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Their live show has been called "thrillingly unpredictable" in UK paper The Guardian and NME said, "They gleefully cast aside the rule book to deliver the most riotous, insane show you could ever hope to witness." And rightfully so. Indeed, The Avalanches put on one of the more astounding live shows that you are likely to see. At the recent MUZIK Magazine Awards, the band took home the award for BEST LIVE ACT. Two fifths of The Avalanches, DJ Dexter, the Antipodean DMC Mix Champion and Robbie Chater, mastermind of the mellifluous mix, will be heading to the US at the end of November to demonstrate their amazing decksmanship.

US Dates are as follows:

November 27 – SOBS, New York City
November 29 – Bossanova, Santa Monica
Further dates will be announced very, very soon.

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"The Avalanches are onstage, mixing in bits of the sample heavy album with the original sources... and throwing in Bob Dylan and sped up Kriss Kross [back-to-back in fact]" -- Vice

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"'Since I Left You…makes asses move." Eric Ducker -- THE FADER

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"'Since I Left You' is as sunny as an Australian summer." Anthony Bozza --ROLLING STONE

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"'Since I Left You' is an instant classic. Songs that would be perfect pumping on the dance floor of the Lido deck while Captain Stubing engages in his first threesome in a nearby broom closet." **** Jeff Johnson -- JANE MAGAZINE

Attribute it to cultural isolation if you must, but much like the Belgians, great Australian dance acts are few and far between. Sure, the country has supplied us with a smorgasbord of gnarly rockers, but when it comes to visceral thrills - to joyous, discofied grooves - Oz's contribution has been negligible at best.

Which makes Melbourne's The Avalanches that much more precious. A six strong crew who function like a close-knit gang from rock mythology. They're a dance band with a grasp of pop's life-affirming élan, a pop act whose approach to dance incorporates hip hop's cut 'n' paste code, a bunch of wide-eyed dreamers who abide by their own rules.

Live therefore, as is their wont, they swap instruments, emphasising their distaste for rock 'n' roll etiquette, while they eulogise such disparate talents as Neil Young, Wu-Tang Clan and Brian Wilson's co-writer on The Beach Boys' album 'Smile', the 'legendary' Mr. Van Dyke Parks. It's this
reluctance to adhere to dance floor 'do's and 'don't's that makes their debut album, the bewitching 'Since I Left You', such a glorious introduction to their madcap world.

Playful, twisted, psychedelic, sampledelic, delirious and infectious, it's the sound of six men who spent most of adolescence rummaging through bargain bins in Melbourne's record shops, constructing their own post-modern disco-pop amalgam from rubbish '50s rejects and saccharine '60s pap. "Our records make sense in their own world," says Robbie Chater, the group's baby-faced spokesman. "We always wanted to make a record with a life of its own that you could lose yourself in."

It was ever thus. When Robbie and his then flatmate, singer Darren Seltmann, decided to make music in the mid-1990s they were in thrall to Japanese punk band Ultra Bidet whose thrashy show Seltmann had seen while in New York, where he was the drummer in short-lived indie-rock group Ripe.

As, first, 'Swinging Monkey Cocks' then 'Quinton's Brittle Bones' (don't ask), Chater and Seltmann crafted their own take on trashy punk, culminating in the pair smashing up their kitchen and melting their freezer with a flame-thrower for, you know, a laugh. Slowly, with three long-term pals recruited to their ranks - Gordon McQuilten, Tony Diblasi and Dexter Fabay - they swapped their tired two-string guitars for an array of samples, transmogrifying into an unlikely hybrid of The Fall mixed with very drunk, innovative hip hop.

Their first single 'Rock City'/'Thankyou Caroline', released through a friend's label, Trifekta Records, attracted the attention of Modular Recordings with whom The Avalanches signed a long term deal. The group soon released a new EP 'El Producto' and toured Australia extensively - including support slots with The Beastie Boys and Public Enemy - before settling down to begin work on their debut LP 'Since I Left You'. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was their album.

It was during this time that UK label and XL offshoot Rex records licensed the band's original demos, releasing 'Undersea Community' - a four track EP - throughout Europe in late 1998. It was followed by the even better 'Electricity' - a 12" riot of quirky day-glo beats and junk shop-friendly funk - which afforded them features in highly regarded magazines such as 'The Face' and 'Jockey Slut'.

Since then, in little over 18 whirlwind months, the band has enlisted keyboard player James De La Cruz, watched Dexter finish runner-up in the world DMC contest, remixed and put their own inimitable slant on Badly Drawn Boy's 'The Shining' and Manic Steet Preachers' 'So why so Sad' and have become - in Chater's words - increasingly "spastic" live, with James in particular earning a thumbs-up for "setting things on fire and pissing in rehearsal rooms ".

'Since I Left You' was released in Australia in November 2000 and has gone on to achieve platinum sales and critical acclaim across the country. In the UK the first single from the album - the recording's title track - entered the UK top 20 upon release in March 2001. The album followed suit, with a Top 10 UK Album Chart debut in April and was heralded as the country's 'Album of the Month' by all major UK music publications. 'Frontier Psychiatrist', the second UK single lifted from the album, entered the UK Top Twenty upon release. While the single thrilled radio listeners and jocks alike, the video clip accompanying the song has gone on to become an MTV smash both across Europe. As their album approaches 'Gold' status in the UK just four months after release, the band is preparing itself for their first live European dates including spots on such festivals as Benicassim, Witness, V2001 and Creamfields.

"Right now," says Chater, "I can't put what we do into words." No? OK, allow me. The Avalanches - wizards of Oz. Fall (down) under their spell.

Paul Mardles (Jockey Slut)

VIDEO

since i left you | Frontier Psychiatrist | Frontier Psychiatrist(v2)