May 23rd, 2006 1:06pm
Like I've Got To Set You FreeWolfmother "Woman (...
Like I've Got To Set You Free
Wolfmother "Woman (Avalanches Millstream Remix)" - I don't have an enormous problem with people ripping off Robert Plant, or Jimmy Page, or John Bonham. It's actually pretty understandable, if you've got the chops. However, I really can't get behind a band full of members aping all three of them at the same time, especially if they don't bother to mimic post-IV John Paul Jones while they are at it. So this is why I had to take a pass on Wolfmother the first seven or eight times I was sent their record. But oh, those damn Avalanches had to come along and break their song open and turn it into something pretty fantastic. Short of radical filtering in post-production, there's not much you can do to take the Plant out of this guy's voice, so the Avalanches don't bother. They embrace it, and basically drop everything else from the arrangement except for a some Rick Rubenesque guitar chunks dropped in for isolated bursts of excitement. Avalanches, please - make more remixes, or another album, as soon as possible! This periodic teasing is driving me crazy. (Click here for the Avalanches' site.)
Wolfmother "Woman (Avalanches Millstream Remix)" - I don't have an enormous problem with people ripping off Robert Plant, or Jimmy Page, or John Bonham. It's actually pretty understandable, if you've got the chops. However, I really can't get behind a band full of members aping all three of them at the same time, especially if they don't bother to mimic post-IV John Paul Jones while they are at it. So this is why I had to take a pass on Wolfmother the first seven or eight times I was sent their record. But oh, those damn Avalanches had to come along and break their song open and turn it into something pretty fantastic. Short of radical filtering in post-production, there's not much you can do to take the Plant out of this guy's voice, so the Avalanches don't bother. They embrace it, and basically drop everything else from the arrangement except for a some Rick Rubenesque guitar chunks dropped in for isolated bursts of excitement. Avalanches, please - make more remixes, or another album, as soon as possible! This periodic teasing is driving me crazy. (Click here for the Avalanches' site.)
5/23/06 2:54 pm
Matthew, usually I think most of your observations are spot-on, but your Wolfmother diss is way of the mark.
Or maybe it’s not.
I guess I don’t view the band as a crew of copy-cats. Instead I see them reclaiming a certain joy that’s been missing from heavier, proggier rock for a long time now.
However I suppose it depends on how you approach the subject in the first place that will define your final critique, no? So if you think they’re a bunch of copy-cats you’ll never get past that and find the fun hidden within.
Or maybe you will, since The Avalanches seem to have uncovered a vein lying underneath the original song that you can finally relate to, no again?
Finally, the dude totally sounds like Ozzy, not Plant.
5/23/06 3:11 pm
Matt,
This is perfect, I really haven’t been enthralled by the wolfmother album, but I can definitely dig this track..
Thanks.
5/23/06 4:04 pm
frankly, i was quite disappointed with this remix. there doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason behind the vocal placement, causing the vocals to grate against everything else. same thing with the guitar stabs. rubenesque maybe, but a poor imitation if so. i would have expected avalanches to pull off something a little stronger, but even so, i don’t think it could come close to the near perfection of the MSTRKRFT remix - the vocals fit in perfectly, but are not overbearing, and it has more 80s style than you can shake a slap bracelet at.
5/23/06 5:11 pm
Interesting — I also had about zero interest in Wolfmother until I heard this remix (and the MSTRKRFT one). Hear hear on demands for Avalanches to produce more work ASAP. Pretty please, ya’ll?
5/23/06 5:36 pm
It’s funny that you should post this today, an Avalanches song (for the record, “Etoh”) came up on my iPod on the train this morning and I finally came to the realization that I just don’t really care for them. I really can’t pin down what it is, but with the exception of “Frontier Psychiatrist” I just find that album kind of shrill. And anything that smells of Led Zeppelin is something I stay far away from, so no thank you to Wolfmother…
5/23/06 10:46 pm
this remix is awful. The Avalanches seem to have garnered more support through not releasing anything and nostalgia than anythign else. - this remix is close to unlistenable its so annoying..
5/24/06 1:26 am
I actually like this track.. but i was wondering if you caught U2 on Conan O’Brein last night? I remember you being a fan and i thought it was pretty wild.
5/24/06 2:43 am
This track is further proof that The Avalanches are terrific. I think they could turn anything into a great song.
Matthew, congrats on your EW ranking- well deserved!
5/24/06 3:55 am
So we have a consensus on this track then?
I assume that yr talking about U2’s appearance on Conan from a few months back, right, Nadim? Yes, I did see that.
5/24/06 8:12 am
The Avalanches djed before Jamiroquai at his gig here in Sydney a few months ago and were fantastic.
I expected a lot more from them with this remix though… Surely with a record collection as good as theirs, they could have played around a little more.
A few more listens may sway me though… I wonder if that Wolfmother acapella is available somewhere…
5/24/06 12:54 pm
The Avalanches rock. Thanks for sharing! Any word on a new Avalanches album? I’m dying over here for one.
5/24/06 6:53 pm
if that was the one where they took over the entire show then yup. it was new to me though.
5/26/06 4:55 am
Hey, You’re so dead-on about wolfmother, that even iTunes picked up on the “copy-cating”. i’m afraid they have too much novelty and not enough substance to fit into my tastes. what would Lester Bangs say about them?
im on a friends comp, so i cant download the remix now, but ill swipe it later tonight. thanks for the heads up.
+joe
5/26/06 4:47 pm
Thank you so much for posting this track. It reaffirms everything I love about The Avalanches.
5/29/06 3:51 pm
apparently they (Avalanches) had made a new record but decided to scrap it completely. Last i heard they’re working on a new ‘Party’ album…no word of a release, but they’re doing more and more shows at the moment, so that’s a good sign…right.
PS. MSTRKRFT remix is far superior.
6/1/06 4:32 am
I’m with Tankboy. They sound more like Sabbath.
And didn’t it take a year just to clear the samples on the last Avalanches album?
8/28/06 9:53 pm
I couldn’t download the track, and as such I will be unable to offer another snobbish comment.
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