25 years later, The Avalanches 'Since I Left You' mad-scientist sampling still slaps

Sorry to make you feel old, but it’s been 25 years since the year 2000. For those who were there (you know who you are), you’ll recall that we humans did not die on account of Y2K, but instead lived on and were rewarded with all manner of pop culture gems, especially in the noise department.

Naturally, the year had its share of poppy bubblegum radio hits, but looking back at the list of top albums, 2000 is a buffet of eclectic tastes. Join us as we revisit the music of the millennium, and see if it still holds up. 

Music to mashup to

I didn’t listen to The Avalanches’ “Since I Left You” when it came out in 2000—or care about it. As a gangly and insecure 15-year-old in all black, my interests were far from plunderphonics, hip-hop, or nu-disco in 2000. It would take another five or six years before the novel concept of mash-ups would alter my meager understanding of music. Later, Girl Talk’s “Feed The Animals” simply walloped my musical senses silly, where Foreigner classics could co-exist with Jay-Z raps. The deft merging of old and new sounds was simply astounding, but it was the methodical and painstaking process that blew my mind. How many deep cuts could this guy possibly have patiently fused together? Gregg Gillis must’ve been an ardent student of The Avalanches. 

“Since I Left You” hasn’t aged a day since its birth in 2000 and goes down smoother than a Concorde landing. Throughout its ephemeral hour runtime, each track seamlessly blends into the other like waves colliding until you realize that the end has come far too quickly and you’re not ready to get off yet. It’s a refreshing and exotic ride, but one that’s also blanketed in a sense of longing.

The album’s bleak cover comes from the painting “The Sinking of the USS President Lincoln on 31st May 1918” by Fred Dana Marsh, while the repeated “Since I Left You” lyric serves as the album’s bookends, giving the entire experience a sense of melancholy, like something just out of your reach. Sampling, it seems, has just as much emotional punch as any other medium. 

Sampling gets esoteric

Take for example the first fifty seconds of the eponymous title track: Tony Mottola’s melodious guitar picking plays over a crowd cheering before the beat drops alongside flutes, strings and a doo-wop chorus elevating everything to new heights. Make no mistake, these aren’t just “beats to study to,” but full-fledged compositions that can include anything from 60s-era jazz to samba, plus a lyrical sample that ties it all together. In this case, the song’s only line is supplied by the 1967 band The Main Attraction. The who, you may ask? It doesn’t matter. As with the entire album, the sum of the track is greater than its parts, but the patchwork quilt of clandestine sources is still its biggest—and most alluring—selling point. At least it used to be.

Thanks to sites like Who Sampled, we can now break down the once-elusive snippets used in each track, and the knowledge is a treasure trove in and of itself. You’ll find no 80s or 90s pop, grunge, or metal here, but obscure albums between the decades of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. In the band’s own words, they were going for more of a record “inspired by Phil Spector and the Beach Boys”, but in doing so, they created something even more innovative than if they’d played their own guitars. 

With over 3,500 samples, “Since I Left You” is an endless vacation ahead of its time. Its influence can be heard in electronic bands from Thievery Corporation to Fatboy Slim, as well as fellow crate-diggers Madlib and DJ Shadow. It is a journey best taken multiple times, with the first to simply lean back and enjoy the ride, and the rest to unpack the precious details and genius within.