Avalanches - "Radio" Sample: "Sometimes You Don't Understand"

This is one of the main vocal samples used in the Avalanches song, "Radio" from their album, "Since I Left You." It's from the Main Attraction's album, "And Now..." and the song is titled "One Must Cry" from side 2. I sped up the record toward the end of the video to make it more closely resemble the way it is heard on "Radio."

Category:

Music

Tags:

• since
• left
• you

[WannaTradePants]

Pretty much exactly one minute in--it's the "da-da-da-da-da-da" that you hear in the background throughout most of Etoh. The Avalanches Official website is probably the best place to go for new information.

[Hakusha]

awesome find, mate! as for the gibberish, i've always assumed it was some clever editing of the same sample :D

[Edwiness]

@WannaTradePants Which boards? Is there an avalanches forum that i don't know of?! And I just listened to that Western Union song and couldn't hear anything from Etoh! Where is it?

[WannaTradePants]

@Edwiness True, they might have just used the Mr. Scruff song--especially because toward the end of the song, everything goes silent except the one sample in question, so it would be a good way to snip it. There's so much to find that it's overwhelming sometimes. I remember being at my local record store and hearing "Western Union" by the Five Americans--I got so excited when I recognized the Avalanches sample in there used in Etoh that I drove right home and posted about it on the boards.

[Edwiness]

@WannaTradePants Yeah I know about RIckyDown's videos, but as I said, the samples in those are only the tip of the iceberg. WHat makes you think that the Avalanches didn't just sample Mr. Scruff for Etoh? The album that song is on is from 1997 so 3 years before Since I Left You was released. It's not like they only sampled vintage music either, they sampled Thomas Bangalter as well as Daft Punk which were both 90s.

[WannaTradePants]

@Edwiness A user named RickyDown makes good videos listing the samples for each track. He didn't get to "Live At Dominoes" yet, but maybe will eventually. That and "Etoh" are probably the two most difficult tracks to recognize samples from because they're all so manipulated. One sample I recognized from "Etoh" (that weird distorted voice) is used in the track "Chicken In A Box" by Mr. Scruff. I'm sure Mr. Scruff took the sample from somewhere too, so that's probably not its original source.

[Edwiness]

@WannaTradePants Hopefully a second album is on the way too... You should do a video on the samples for Live At Dominoes, i'd love to see that.

[WannaTradePants]

@Edwiness Yeah, a few of the Wikipedia samples are there because of me, like this one and the "Rosemary" sample from "Two Hearts in 3/4 Time." Wikipedia lists "Frontier Psychiatrist" including a sample from the film "The 'Burbs." I've seen that movie a handful of times, and I still have no idea what, if anything, is being sampled from it. Pretty sure a two-disc special edition of "Since I Left You" will be out soon, so maybe some more light will be shed on things.

[Edwiness]

@WannaTradePants So do I... The samples listed on wikipedia from Since I Left You are only the tip of the iceberg. In Radio for instance, where does the wah wah guitar come from, the percussion and the high pitched sounds around 2:00? The latter sounds like the horse braying sample stretched or something...

[WannaTradePants]

@Edwiness It has bugged me for years, but I don't think it's anything specific--just the same sample cut up and jumbled so you "don't understand" it. I want to know what the "sending those signals, those digital signals" part is from.