These days, nostalgia sells.
Online trends have entered an era dominated by a resurrection of ‘80s film series or a return to the bygone eras of ‘90s fashion.
With No Bad Memories, The Avalanches look to capitalize on past sentiments by weaving in the evolution of music history and mass media monoculture.
The electronic powerhouse mashes popular advertising jingles with vaguely familiar childhood tunes to investigate how memories linger in our collective consciousness more than we realize.
Spanning more than 30 songs, the album combines close to a dozen skits with an equal amount of full-length songs. With this fractured structure, the band threads the needle of providing as many crowd-pleasers as possible, all while constructing intricate tracks with critical reference points.
The Avalanches’ maximalist approach leaves its central message at the mercy of a constant cultural slide from past to present. Ultimately, the onslaught of references collapses on itself, leaving us wondering: If nostalgia is all we have, what is left for the future of music?
On “Together,” the group reveals the value of long term commitment as they say, “Together/Forever and ever and ever.”
“Can’t Get Over Losing You” continues the sentiment of commitment as the group sings, “You oughta stick with me … stick by my side.”
The group affirms their desire for true, uplifting, reciprocal love on “Magic Wand” as they sing, “I’ll be your only one…Your love is right on time.”
Several songs describe the duality of love and its highs and lows as emotions fade and return. Too often though, The Avalanches end up on the side of hopelessness, failing to reclaim lost love.
“I Give Everything I Have 2 U” shares this sentiment as the band repeats, “You know our love can do no good…”
On “Blue Shadows” the band sings about the cost of a broken heart and the depths of sorrow that come with it :“Blowing out the sun/Does anybody know/How to mend a broken –?”
There’s a brief appeal to pantheism as the group sings, “I’m a part of the earth, I’m a part of the universe/And I’m just everything” on the track, “SUV Heaven”.
In one breath “Every Single Weekend” decries the party lifestyle yet celebrates it in another as they sing, “Maybe it’s the system/Maybe it’s the cost of livin/Every single weekend.”
On “Vida” The Avalanches describe the transactional nature of relationships as they sing, “I won’t take you back, they got the buyer’s remorse” when talking about a recent breakup.
“Highfield” unearths the lows of depression following the end of a relationship as the group sings, “The story’s told/Nothin left to do…Oh my soul/it’s broken.”
“Like Clockwork/Hit By Traffic” features the f-word repeated approximately 24 times in the line: “I cannot f— with the test, yeah.”
Other songs contain the f-word, s-word, “d—” and a reference to a beer commercial.
There is a fascinating dynamic between lyrics and sound within electronic music. Since lyrics are often sparse and sound is overwhelming in the genre, the messages can arrive vague and disjointed.
This is hardly the case with The Avalanches and No Bad Memories. They manage to construct an inventive, wholly original, dopamine-infused dose of tracks spanning generational divides.
But don’t mistake originality and intricacy for something wholesome, valuable, or worth admiring.
In enlisting nearly two dozen collaborators, The Avalanches open the door to a wide range of opinions regarding love and breakups in relationships often ending in the same negative place. This also introduces a smattering of profanity and harmful takes on what to do when love fails.
The Avalanches curate a chaotic investigation of nostalgia while concluding with sobering reminders on the emotional fallout when relationships go south. Despite nostalgia’s commanding pull to recycle and imitate, The Avalanches’ perspective on love and life is best left alone.
Jackson Greer is a High School English Teacher in the suburbs of Texas. He lives in Coppell, Texas with his wife, Clara. They love debating whether or not to get another cat and reading poetry together. Also, he is a former employee of Focus on the Family’s Parenting Department.
