Review: THE AVALANCHES - "No Bad Memories"

THE-AVALANCHES-No-Bad-Memories-album-2026

Thirty-one tracks in fifty-two minutes average one hundred seconds a piece, less than what a DJ needs to close a decent passage.

The calculation is enough to understand that “No Bad Memories”, the fourth album by the Avalanches and the first since “We Will Always Love You” in 2020, should be listened to like you watched TV as a kid: remote control in hand, nervous thumb, no intention of staying on the same channel for long.

This time the starting material is advertising. Jingles, computer startup sounds, sound logos that no one remembers having learned and that everyone recognizes at the first note. Even the title comes from an old floppy disk commercial, and on the cover Jonathan Zawada puts an iPod and a cartoon floppy disk walking side by side like two classmates. The thirty-one tracks delve into how deeply commercial culture has penetrated our memories, and they do so by speaking the same language as the commercials they tell.

The result is a deliberately overloaded kaleidoscope, which turns fragmentation into a gold standard.

The Avalanches rarely let a song end without changing the proverbial channel, and the samples jump from commercial to product demonstration before you’ve figured out where the previous one came from. Those who have been following them since “Since I Left You” know their style. Here the editing runs faster, and the sensation is that of scrolling through a feed rather than crossing an album.

The glossy production recalls the technological optimism of advertising from the early 2000s, that of skies that were too blue and families smiling in front of the monitor. The text, however, talks about the struggle to recognize oneself in old photographs, and the mirror-polished nostalgia cracks. Every Single Weekendfeaturing Jamie xx, reverses the pattern: a dance groove that pushes towards the dance floor and lyrics that lament the cost of living. Saturday night escapism and rent anxiety end up in the same drop, and it’s a collision that makes you laugh and dance together.

Surrounding the Melbourne trio is a cast that looks like a festival lineup compiled with your eyes closed. Panda Bear on HighfieldKaren O on Blue ShadowsMike Patton on Paradise IslandBarry Can’t Swim alongside Suzanne Ciani on Our Love Is AliveJohn Glacier on Far AwayPortraits of Tracy on garage batteries by Can’t Get Over Losing You. And then Carly Simon, who shouldn’t have anything to do with an album like this and instead fits in very well.

There is something liberating that “No Bad Memories” showcases to perfection. It goes from silly to sentimental in the space of a transition, and often leaves you disoriented halfway through.

The Avalanches know how little a jingle, or the sound of an old computer turning on, is needed to reopen a memory drawer that has been closed for twenty years. By stitching familiar sounds into new compositions, they offer another gateway to our memories, which weren’t so bad when we listened to them again.

SCORE: 7.50

THE VOTES OF OTHERS

Variety – Rating 9.30
Clash Music – Rating 9.00
New Musical Express (NME) – Rating 6.00
Uncut – Rating 6.00

TO LISTEN NOW

I Give Everything I Have 2 U (feat. Loaded Honey) – Every Single Weekend (feat. Jamie xx) – Vida (feat. Erick the Architect)

TO BE SKIPPED IMMEDIATELY

Insert coin and the sound game starts where it’s almost impossible not to move your head!

TRACKLIST

Bd-R
Together (feat. Nikki Nair, Jessy Lanza & Prentiss)
Xerox Altalink B8055 (feat. Ryoji Ikeda)
I Give Everything I Have 2 U (feat. Loaded Honey)
Every Single Weekend (feat. Jamie xx)
Friends Forever
Blue Shadows (feat. Karen O)
Logoland
Like Clockwork / Hit by Traffic (feat. Khadija Al Hanafi)
All the Time in the World (feat. Rivers Cuomo, Vegyn & Baby Marlboro)
3D Glasses Not Included
Vida (feat. Erick the Architect)
Paradise Island (feat. Khadija Al Hanafi & Mike Patton)
Unicorn Quest™ (feat. Ryoji Ikeda)
Far Away (feat. John Glacier & Khadija Al Hanafi)
He Lives in the Old World
Can’t Get Over Losing You (feat. Portraits of Tracy)
Watch Out! It’s Cloudy (feat. Khadija Al Hanafi)
Highfield (feat. Panda Bear)
El Dorado TV Spot (feat. Haley Joel Osment)
Under Yr Power
SUV Heaven (feat. Khadija Al Hanafi)
One More Fantasy (feat. Carly Simon)
Break Out Corporate Tag (feat. Ryoji Ikeda & Portraits of Tracy)
Magic Wand (feat. Barry Can’t Swim)
Superfun!™ TV Spot (feat. Mike Patton & Haley Joel Osment)
No Bad Memories
Our Love Is Alive (feat. Suzanne Ciani & Barry Can’t Swim)
Total Recall (feat. Mike Patton)
Final Credits (Loaded Honey Version) (feat. Loaded Honey)
The Pavements Light (feat. Haruomi Hosono)