The Avalanches

The Avalanches are an Australian electronic music group known for their debut plunderphonics album Since I Left You (2000), as well as their live and recorded DJ sets. Their lineup has undergone major changes over the years, but currently consists of Robbie Chater, Tony Di Blasi, and James Dela Cruz. The Avalanches' only full-length album, Since I Left You, was a critical and commercial success. The album received multiple awards and has been considered both one of the best Australian albums and top albums of the 2000s. The group has been working on a second studio album since at least 2005, including multiple guest collaborators since 2012.

Origins

Three of The Avalanches' future members formed Alarm 115 in Melbourne in 1994 as a noise punk outfit inspired by Drive Like Jehu, The Fall, and Ultra Bidet. The line-up was Robbie Chater on keyboards, Tony Di Blasi on keyboards, bass and backing vocals, and Darren Seltmann on vocals. By 1995, Manabu Etoh joined on drums, the group bought instruments, recording gear and numerous old vinyl records by the crate at second-hand shops. When Etoh was deported and Alarm 115 disbanded, these records became the core of a new project. Chater was a film student at RMIT and had access to a recording studio, which he and Seltmann used to turn the records into a 30-song demo tape labelled Pan Amateurs. In 1997 a new group of Chater, Di Blasi, Seltmann, and Gordon McQuilten on keyboards was assembled to play the tracks live. Chater, Di Blasi and McQuilten had all been school mates in Maryborough.

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. It was issued on Modular Recordings and produced by The Avalanches' members Robbie Chater and Darren Seltmann (under the pseudonym Bobbydazzler). The album uses sampling extensively, containing an estimated 3,500 samples from various genres of music. The album was created in 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 both 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. Five singles were released on the album, "Electricity", "Frontier Psychiatrist", "Since I Left You", "Radio" and "A Different Feeling". The group promoted the album by organizing headlining tours in Australia, Europe and the United States.

Sing Sing

Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, in the U.S. state of New York. It is located about 30 miles (50 km) north of New York City on the east bank of the Hudson River.

In 1970, the name of the facility was changed to "Ossining Correctional Facility" but, in 1985, it reverted to its original name. "Sing Sing" was derived from the name of a Native American Nation, "Sinck Sinck" (or "Sint Sinck"), from whom the land was purchased in 1685.

Sing Sing prison confines about 1,700 prisoners. There are plans to convert the original 1825 cell block into a time specific museum.

The prison property is bisected by the Metro-North Railroad's four-track Hudson Line.

History

Early years

Sing Sing was the third prison built by New York State. The first prison, Newgate Prison, was built in 1797 in Greenwich Village and a second one in 1816 called Auburn State Prison.

In 1824, the New York Legislature gave Elam Lynds, warden of Auburn Prison and a former Army captain, the task of constructing a new, more modern prison. Lynds spent months researching possible locations for the prison, considering Staten Island, The Bronx, and Silver Mine Farm, an area in the town of Mount Pleasant, located on the banks of the Hudson River.

Frontier Psychiatrist

"Frontier Psychiatrist" is a song by Australian electronic dance music group The Avalanches. The song was produced by group members Robbie Chater and Darren Seltmann, under their production alias Bobbydazzler, for the group's debut album Since I Left You. The song is built around many sampled elements, much like other tracks from its parent album, including prominent vocal samples of the sketch "Frontier Psychiatrist" by comedy duo Wayne and Shuster, and an orchestral background sourced from an Enoch Light version of the composition "My Way of Life" (1968).

It was released on 21 August 2000 as the second single from Since I Left You. Upon release, it peaked at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart and number 49 in the group's native Australia, becoming their first single to enjoy commercial success. "Frontier Psychiatrist" was well received by music critics, who praised the Avalanches' utilization of samples in making the song.

Background

According to group members, "Frontier Psychiatrist" was not planned beforehand by the group and in his words, "just happened from us just fucking around." Group members Robbie Chater and Darren Seltmann were driving figures in the production of the album's songs, spending months scouring Melbourne's "old record stores for old records" and spending hours sampling music from the records they found to create the songs on the album. The duo primarily worked with a Yamaha Promix 01 and Akai S2000 samplers. Dexter Fabay, turntablist and keyboardist for the band, brainstormed the idea for "Frontier Psychiatrist", and his scratching abilities are heard prominently on the song.