Pitchfork

Oh Avalanches, since you left us, so much has happened. Girl Talk, for example. And M.I.A. And Diplo and Gwen Stefani and Fergie and...oh we have so much to tell you!

Not that you've completely vanished since your explosive debut album Since I Left You detonated over six years ago. There's been the occasional remix (Belle and Sebastian, Franz Ferdinand, Wolfmother) and DJ set, and various members have popped up here and there, but we haven't heard anything about a new album...until now.

Yesterday, January 29, a post on the Avalanches' official message board credited to "theavalanchesdotcom" offered a progress report, saying that a new album is in the works. The record will be "so fuckin party you will die, much more hip hop than you might expect" and "much of last year was spent cutting up the spoken word/instructional records we need to tell the albums musical story, and we have some 40 odd songs we're narrowing down and finishing."

No release date has been set yet, but "one day when you least expect it you'll wake up and the sample fairy will have left it under your pillow." Awesome! That's even easier than downloading!

To satiate fans, the group has posted a few new tracks on their website, including a Wham!/Digitalism mashup and a remix of a Carl Craig remix of their own "A Different Feeling" (yes, it's a remix of a remix).

Full text of the message board post below:

"abracadabra!

"happy new year yall. we've made a heap of mixes and stuff available while we finish the record. they wont give you a hint of the new albums magical sound unfortunately, but they will keep you pilgrims well nourished until the next harvest.

"its a really thrilling time for us right now as this record comes together, its so fuckin party you will die, much more hip hop than you might expect, and while there is still no accurate estimated time of arrival, were sure you're gonna love it when it arrives.

"much of last year was spent cutting up the spoken word/instructional records we need to tell the albums musical story, and we have some 40 odd songs we're narrowing down and finishing. so its real, it exists, and you know we wouldn't be serving anything up unless it was gonna give you that same special feeling that since has. funnily enough its ended up sounding like the next logical step to since, we just had to go around in a big circle to get back to where we belong.

"and one day when you least expect it you'll wake up and the sample fairy will have left it under your pillow.

"so big up to clint for all his work in making the downloads available for everyone to enjoy, and have a great oh seven."