While this morning's faint chill made me lament the impending dissolution of the recent heat wave engulfing New York City, it also put me in the mood to listen to something bouncy and sunny--something that would let me pretend, at least for the twenty-odd minutes which comprise my morning commute, that the passing warmth was a harbinger of summer days to come, rather than a global-warming-induced anomaly. After some inner debate (Prince? Blood Sugar Sex Magik? Snoop?), I settled on Since I Left You, the first and (so far) only U.S. release from The Avalanches, a sextet of manic hip-pop heads from Australia.

Although the album was released stateside in November 2001 (a year after its release Down Under), I didn't find out about it until I stumbled upon this review back in the summer of 2006. Nothing catches the eye of a budding indie maven like a 9.5 from P4K, so I set out to obtain myself a copy of what our buddy Matt LeMay called "the perfect record for the party." And sure enough, Since I Left You lives up to the hype. The Avalanches cram enough samples into this album to make Gregg Gillis blush, and their crates of vinyl are so deep that you can almost hear an exasperated Madlib whisper "Damn! Where did they get that?" at some point on every track.

Though their music lends itself to comparisons with such genre-melding, crate-digging producers/DJs as the late J Dilla, Prince Paul, Dan the Automator, Cut Chemist, and Endtroducing-era DJ Shadow, I found that these Aussies craft a sonic space all their own from their pastiche of esoteric grooves. Think about what Röyksopp would sound like if they were stoned Aussie backyard-BBQ-pool-party dons, rather than Norwegian club waifs, and you're approaching The Avalanches' territory.  Seriously, try to listen to "Electricity" without wanting to dance; if you don't at least bob your head, you may be a quadriplegic. (You should really get that checked out...)

Seemingly unfazed by the remarkable critical acclaim and moderate commercial success brought on by Since I Left You, The Avalanches remained in Australia, founding the monthly "Brains" dance party / DJ residency in the backyard of St. Jerome's bar in their hometown of Melbourne, and going to work on their second album for Modular/XL records. Unfortunately, in spite of good "news" reported nearly a year ago over at Pitchfork, that album has yet to materialize. Nevertheless, the boys have attempted to satiate the public's thirst for their laid-back dance tunes by releasing remixes of songs by Franz Ferdinand, Wolfmother, Badly Drawn Boy, and Belle & Sebastian--many of which are available on the group's MySpace page.

Here's hoping the new album surfaces by next summer, in time for pool-party / concert festival season. In the meantime, feast your eyes on the award-winning, Flashdance-channeling video for the title track from Since I Left You: