Alternative
The Avalanches release “No Bad Memories” on 16 October through Modular Recordings. There are thirty-one tracks and Mike Patton sings on three: “Total Recall”, “Superfun™ TV Spot”, with actor Haley Joel Osment, and “Paradise Island”, with Tunisian producer Khadija Al Hanafi.
“I have been an Avalanches fan for a long time and was honored to be asked to be part of their new album, NO BAD MEMORIES, where you’ll find me on 3 tracks,” Patton wrote on 1 September, when his involvement became known.
It is the Australian group’s fourth album and the first since “We Will Always Love You”, of 11 December 2020: five years and ten months. There are three of them now, Robbie Chater, Tony Di Blasi and Andy Szekeres, and the source material this time is advertising jingles, app sounds and half-remembered audio logos from childhood. “It’s been interesting as adults to reflect on this often stunning period of marketing — the creativity, filmmaking, photography and music — but which was also… selling a completely unobtainable dream,” the group says.
The guest list also includes Karen O, of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, on “Blue Shadows”; Jamie xx on “Every Single Weekend”; Portraits of Tracy on “Can’t Get Over Losing You”, the single the album was announced with, and Panda Bear and Rivers Cuomo.
Text by Marçal Bonastre