Executive Overview
Six years after the release of their universally acclaimed third studio album, We Will Always Love You, Australian plunderphonics pioneers The Avalanches are officially returning with their most ambitious and densely populated project to date. Titled No Bad Memories, the upcoming long-form record is scheduled for release on October 16, introducing a staggering 31 new productions, including three exclusive digital bonus tracks.
True to the group’s legacy of genre-defying collaboration, the album brings together an eccentric, star-studded roster of guest contributors spanning electronic music, indie rock, avant-garde composition, and Hollywood cinema. Artists slated to appear on the tracklist include Jamie xx, Barry Can’t Swim, Jessy Lanza, Nikki Nair, Suzanne Ciani, Ryoji Ikeda, Karen O, Rivers Cuomo, John Glacier, Carly Simon, and even actor Haley Joel Osment, alongside production contributions from Vegyn and Haruomi Hosono.
Beyond its sheer scale, No Bad Memories arrives with a pointed conceptual framework. Rather than a straightforward collection of sample-heavy dance tracks, the record serves as a sonic investigation into corporate advertising, consumer technology, and the ways commercial culture colonizes personal nostalgia. Ahead of the October release, the band has paired the announcement with an interactive alternate reality campaign, a cinematic trailer starring Haley Joel Osment, and the opening of pre-orders across digital and physical formats.
Detailed Chronology: The Road to No Bad Memories
A Six-Year Silence and Conceptual Seeds
The journey to No Bad Memories has been defined by deliberate pacing and high-concept world-building. Following the celestial, vocal-driven grandeur of 2020’s We Will Always Love You—which featured collaborations with Blood Orange, MGMT, and Tricky—The Avalanches retreated into the studio to dissect a more insidious cultural phenomenon: the commodification of human memory.
While the band’s landmark 2000 debut, Since I Left You (18 tracks), and its 2016 follow-up, Wildflowers (21 tracks), were known for their sprawling, rapid-fire sample collages, the concept behind No Bad Memories naturally demanded an even denser format. According to early press materials, the album explores "the simultaneously magical and insidious ways that advertising and name-brand technology wraps itself around our memories."
The Takumi Digital Archives Campaign
In early 2025, astute fans noticed strange digital footprints pointing toward a fictitious retro-themed corporation called Takumi Digital Archives. Operating as a guerrilla marketing campaign on the web, the fictional company purported to specialize in "stored recollections online," serving as a dystopian digital archive for human experiences packaged and sold as corporate assets.
The alternate reality game (ARG) served as the primary teaser for the new LP, inviting fans to navigate the uncanny corporate website (takumiarchives.com) and decode early aesthetic hints regarding the album’s themes of consumerism, office technology, and corporate memory banks.
Moon Music and Art Installations
The band’s exploratory year also took them quite literally out of this world. In 2025, The Avalanches participated in the far-reaching Piccadilly Un:Plugged art installation. Alongside artists like Massive Attack, the collective sent a curated collection of music to the Moon, highlighting their single "We Will Always Love You" (featuring Blood Orange) as a monument to human connection broadcast across the cosmos. This artistic detour laid the groundwork for the expansive, philosophical scope of No Bad Memories, bridging themes of cosmic isolation with terrestrial corporate saturation.
The Official Announcement
On October 16, the wait concludes. The group formally unveiled the album artwork, trailer, and the complete 31-track listing. The primary visual component—a cinematic trailer starring Haley Joel Osment—cements the eerie, retro-commercial aesthetic of the release, setting the stage for what is expected to be one of the most intellectually rigorous and sonically rich electronic releases of the decade.
Supporting Context & Metrics: Breaking Down the Tracklist
The sheer volume of music on No Bad Memories aligns with The Avalanches’ maximalist production ethos, yet the curated list of collaborators represents their most diverse lineup yet.
Scale and Formats
- Total Productions: 31 tracks (including 3 digital exclusives).
- Time Span Since Last LP: 6 years (following 2020’s We Will Always Love You).
- Physical Exclusives: The cassette, CD, and vinyl editions feature unique track placements, notably including the physical-only piece "Evergreen Altar" produced alongside Vegyn.
The Collaborator Ecosystem
The record reads like a masterclass in cross-genre curation, bridging underground electronic music with iconic pop and avant-garde legends:
- Electronic Innovators: Jamie xx, Barry Can’t Swim, Nikki Nair, Jessy Lanza, Vegyn, and avant-garde pioneer Suzanne Ciani.
- Iconic Vocalists & Indie Rock Royalty: Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Rivers Cuomo (Weezer), Carly Simon, and legendary Japanese electronic composer Haruomi Hosono (Yellow Magic Orchestra).
- Contemporary and Experimental Voices: John Glacier, Ryoji Ikeda, Panda Bear, Erick the Architect, Mike Patton, and Loaded Honey.
- Cinematic Surprises: Actor Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense, A.I. Artificial Intelligence), whose involvement bridges the album’s themes of artificiality, memory, and corporate media.
Full Tracklist Overview
- ‘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’ *** (Digital Exclusive)
- ‘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) *** (Digital Exclusive)
- ‘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) *** (Digital Exclusive)
- ‘Final Credits’ (feat. Loaded Honey) (Loaded Honey Version) *** (Digital Exclusive)
- ‘The Pavements Light’ (feat. Haruomi Hosono)
Official Statements and Conceptual Vision
The conceptual backbone of No Bad Memories moves away from the romanticism of past records, diving instead into a critique of late-stage capitalism’s grip on human sentiment.
In promotional literature distributed alongside the tracklist reveal, the band’s representatives elaborated on the album’s core thesis:
"The record explores the simultaneously magical and insidious ways that advertising and name-brand technology wraps itself around our memories. It is an examination of how corporate jingles, office hardware, and digital archives replace our authentic recollection of time, turning personal nostalgia into a manufactured product."
This thematic focus explains the inclusion of corporate nomenclature within the song titles—such as ‘Xerox Altalink B8055’, ‘Break Out Corporate Tag’, and ‘El Dorado TV Spot’—juxtaposed against deeply emotional vocal performances from artists like Carly Simon, Karen O, and Rivers Cuomo. The friction between cold, deadpan corporate iconography and warm, organic songwriting forms the emotional tension that drives the 31-track opus.
Future Outlook: What to Expect from No Bad Memories
As the October 16 release date approaches, anticipation within the electronic and independent music communities has reached a fever pitch. Pre-orders for the physical and digital editions are live via the official Avalanches links, with collectors eagerly eyeing the cassette, CD, and vinyl editions to secure physical-only cuts like ‘Evergreen Altar’.
For a group that redefined sample-based music with Since I Left You over two decades ago, No Bad Memories represents a maturation of their craft. Rather than relying solely on nostalgic comfort, The Avalanches are interrogating nostalgia itself—asking hard questions about who owns our memories in an era dominated by corporate archiving, digital footprints, and consumer surveillance.
With a cinematic rollout, an immersive alternate reality campaign, and an unprecedented lineup of guests, No Bad Memories is poised to be one of the definitive artistic statements of the electronic landscape in 2025.
