Everything We Know About The Avalanches’ Highly Anticipated Second Album

The anticipation for the new album from Melbourne collage & mix-up geniuses The Avalanches has reached boiling point. After several years OVER 14 YEARS IN THE MAKING (way to put the pressure on yourselves, lads) the guys are dropping more hints that their RIDICULOUSLY teased-out sophomore album might be hitting our eardrums soon.

Today, the group updated their cover photo on Facebook and changed their profile picture and people are rightfully losing their minds. But as we’ll explore below, we’re not holding our breath – yet.

But ‘what does that mean’…

Most likely – we wouldn’t be surprised.

Everything we know about The Avalanches second coming

It’s Taken A Really Fucking Long Time To Make – Well Over 10 Years

After the success of their 2001 album ‘Since I Left You’, there has been a raft of speculation and conspiracy surrounding their promised second album. Some claiming to be close to the source say that this album has been sweated and slaved over by the gang from as early as the beginning of 2002, which would make it a staggering 14-15 years in the making.

Despite The Hype – It’s Going To Be Great

Back in August of 2006, their label Modular Recordings issued a press release confirming what we’d all hoped, stating that –

“It’s sounding like everything we dared not hope for, and so much more. They’ve made the record of their lives basically”.

On the back of this, the residents of the world got hungry and we thought it was coming… soon.

Then, having kept a low profile Modular revealed in a 2014 statement that the official party line was ‘stay tuned‘ – saying,

“Album sounds awesome, but there’s no dates or anything planned. The official line is ‘stay tuned.'”

That was two years ago and still nothing until today. This release strategy is on looooong play.

Their Secret Mix-Tapes Hold Clues To Their New Sound

On the back of that hype in 2006, The Avalanches teased fans to breaking point on Twitter. In April the band pointed their followers in the direction of a mysterious mixtape titled ‘Sleepy Bedtime Mix for Young Ones‘ on the website Pinchy & Friends. They unveiled the mix by tweeting to their fans: “may or may not be mixtape by ♥ ∆v∆L∆NCH∑≤ ♥.”

… and this got people talking.

You can listen and download the very Avalanchey sounding mix here.

It’s likely that this was the ‘ambient world music’ (see below) the guys were working towards before they went full circle and returned to more of a ‘party‘ sound.

A second mixtape was tweeted from their page much later – however, unlike the first, it features a final track that is uncredited and simply reads “a track that may or may not be The Avalanches”. You can download it for free by clicking here.

The mix features a rework of “Apples and Pears” by Perth band Canyons who, like the Avalanches, are signed to Modular.

A ‘secret information‘ page is accessible on the Pinchy & Friends website which lists current members of The Avalanches Robbie Chater and Darren Seltmann as two of the creators of the site.

There are too many coincidences here to doubt that this is a taste of new music from the mysterious Aussie lads.

The Evolution – “It’s So Fuckin’ Party You Will Die”

Darren Seltmann said that after starting out as “ambient world music“, the new record will return to a more “party” sound.

In January 2007, the band stated via its website that roughly 40 tracks were being considered for the new record.

They said:

“It’s so fuckin’ party you will die, much more hip hop than you might expect, and while there is still no accurate estimated time of arrival, we’re sure you’re gonna love it when it arrives.

… its ended up sounding like the next logical step to since, we just had to go around in a big circle to get back to where we belong. and one day when you least expect it you’ll wake up and the sample fairy will have left it under your pillow”.

Subsequent announcements were made in relation to the album’s release, however, it has never appeared.

Ariel Pink, Jennifer Herrema And Danny Brown Confirmed As Vocalists

In January 2012, American musician Jennifer Herrema revealed that she had worked with the Avalanches on the album. Likewise, American rapper Danny Brown confirmed that he too was featuring on a new track entitled “Frank Sinatra” in March of the same year.

The most exciting news is the confirmation that Ariel Pink also features on the album. Details around the song name are not yet known.

Their Remix Shows That The Guys have ‘Still Got It’

It’s kinda unrelated to the second album – but exciting nevertheless. The group dropped this Hunter and Collectors remix to Soundcloud two years ago. It’s unclear if it was ever intended as a contender for the new album but its origins are kinda mysterious. Why after so long being quiet would they randomly release it? Either way, it’s all kinds of rad and an pretty good nod that the guys have only improved their pioneering collage skills.

The Group Is Now Much Smaller

Modular records have confirmed that the group now consists of only Robbie Chater, Tony Di Blasi and James Dela Cruz (who left and later returned). Dexter Fabay and Darren Seltmann have both left the group while working on the second album, so it’s likely they’ll still have some creds.

New Tech

The Avalanches first album came about in a completely different time. The guys were one of the pioneers of remixing, mashup and even pioneered their own collage style through the use of insanely layering textures and melodies through the use of vinyl on turntables. There was some early digital components, but most of the record was impressively pulled off through analogue gadgets. Cut to 14 years later and the electronic and hip-hop production scene is a completely different ball game as a result of digital tools.

This album has been made throughout this evolution – so it’s going to be really interesting to see how the guys have used this new tech and how it influences the sound across the tracks considering they have been made throughout the decade.

In 2011 the guys told triple that they were planning to keep to their routes in maintaining the DIY ethos, stating:

It’s like a bedroom record just on a cheap computer which Robby still uses. The same Mac, a beige OS 7 with software they stopped using in 1997.

I have all these half written songs so if I throw the computer away I can’t finish them.

Every time we take the computer somewhere we have to be really careful with it and put in all these little blankets and all this stuff so it doesn’t get broken. We’re just waiting for it to die but it’s hanging in there.“

The Album Is Finished And Ready For Release

TheVine has spoken with various sources who have confirmed the album is done. Complete. Mastered. Ready.

Yes, the much awaited, talked about and conspired album from The Avalanches was apparently all finished and ready to be heard over 12 months ago. But don’t hold your breath.

Today’s new cover photos and branding is definitely step forward towards the release but if there was any deadline the guys were working towards, it’d already be in our mitts. We really want to hope that a new single will be our way by mid-2016, but as much as we cross our fingers and knock on wood – we’re well aware that this thing could still be years off – if we’re lucky.