Tortoise Albums (7)
'Beacons of Ancestorship'
Release Date 6/23/2009
Tracks 11
Label Thrill Jockey
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Returning after a five-year gap (which, granted, included a box set and a collaborative record with Bonnie "Prince" Billy), Tortoise confronted a pair of age-old musical questions: does anyone really care about an experimental rock group after 15 years, and does said group actually have anything to say after that length of time? After all, the sound of rock's future circa 1994-1996 was beginning to sound tired by the time of 2004's It's All Around You, and the sense was growing that Tortoise should call it quits and begin accumulating enough years of inactivity to eventually be rediscovered, remastered, and reunited. Beacons of Ancestorship neatly squashes all those questions and assumptions, revealing a band that is just as fascinated with sound, just as intrigued by its myriad possibilities, and just as unerring in presenting those ideas in the form of entertaining instrumental music as when it debuted in 1993. The time signatures are constantly shifting, the lights of vitality and inventiveness Tortoise displayed 12 years earlier are completely undimmed, and the reference points for their music are constantly expanding (on tap here, among the dub and Krautrock and minimalism and jazz, is surprisingly abrasive punk for "Yinxianghechengqi"). The opener is eight minutes of bliss, wheeling and turning every few minutes, eventually leading to a great full-band jam that looks back to an earlier age of Chicago post-rock with a closing that's strikingly reminiscent of early Trans Am. The spaghetti Western impressionism of "The Fall of Seven Diamonds Plus One" would be perfect for their excellent TNT LP, and the group gets positively off the wall at the end, with a pair of songs ("Monument Six One Thousand" and "Charteroak Foundation") that pit guitar lines over drums-and-bass tracks that don't sound as if they were recorded for the same selection. It can be incredibly difficult for an experimental group to continue experimenting for years on end without getting stale, but Tortoise achieve that balance effortlessly. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
'The Brave and the Bold'
Release Date 1/20/2006
Tracks 10
Label British Domino
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What The Critics Say
Well, this one is a surprise. The Brave and the Bold is an all-covers collaboration between Bonnie "Prince" Billy (Will Oldham) and Tortoise, and it's got a set of songs that has to be among the most eclectic of any such project, ever. From Melanie to Devo to Richard Thompson to Lungfish to Milton Nascimento, this is one interesting mix. Some of the songs are done reasonably faithfully to the originals. "Some Say (I Got Devil)" is so faithful that the gender is left intact! And while "Cravo é Canela" keeps the rhythm and melody of the original, it benefits from beefed-up instrumentation, great production, and a surprisingly spirited Portuguese vocal from Oldham. "Love Is Love" trades the guitar grind of Lungfish's original for an industrial synth sound. Others are completely transformed, like the brooding "Thunder Road" and the newly ominous "Daniel." The Minutemen's "It's Expected I'm Gone" loses its tense punk rock edge but gains a great "out" solo section, and the cover of "Calvary Cross" is fantastic, but they should have let the guitar outro go on longer. This is a fun project to be sure, but don't expect more than that. It sheds a bit more light on what kind of eclectic music fans these guys are, and shows that Tortoise are consummate musicians, able to tackle virtually any style convincingly. It's not the new Tortoise album (that comes later in 2006), and it's clearly not your standard Bonnie "Prince" Billy effort, either. Approach it as a slightly goofy one-off, and you won't be disappointed. ~ Sean Westergaard, All Music Guide
'It's All Around You'
Release Date 1/1/2004
Tracks 10
Label Thrill Jockey
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Tortoise only release an album about once every three years, and their style is one of the most distinctive in rock music, so a record that fails to push them forward can hardly be termed a failure. And yet, It's All Around You is a disappointment since it's clear the quintet is in a holding pattern, making music derivative of old glory TNT and even its shabbier successor, Standards. Everything is in its place here, every shuddering bassline or wheezing synthesizer or ringing vibraphone; every minimalist repetition of a theme, accompanied by subtly changing counterpoint; every pause before the band reworks the theme from a slightly different angle. Everything in its place, all part of a process that goes back in a direct line to Tortoise's self-titled debut of 1994. Certainly, they have matured in a decade of work; the members of the band have grown as musicians, as producers, and as engineers. They've even grown as compilers and sequencers of their material -- the pacing and transitions are masterful during the first four songs, which nearly comprise a suite of unified compositions to rank near their masterpiece "Djed." Second song "The Lithium Stiffs" floats over a bed of wordless harmony vocals while a clipped percussion line segues into an exploratory dub clatter, devolving into chaos just before moving to the aptly titled "Crest," an evocation of cinematic stateliness that goes well beyond anything the usually informal Tortoise has ever recorded. But It's All Around You soon becomes just another Tortoise record, so close to previous records in composition and execution that it's virtually deja vu for any listeners who know the band well. Members of the band, as well as some fans, would argue that the Tortoise aesthetic isn't to continually push their music forward (as would their compatriots in post-rock) but to continue seeking a clearer expression of their methods (as would an experimental or jazz outfit). In the end, though, it's a philosophical argument, not a musical one. Hearing Tortoise play music derivative of Tortoise is an enjoyable experience, but to be faced with a record so familiar from a band once so fresh is clearly a disappointment. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Revered for their ineffably clean, precise playing, Tortoise couldn't help but mess with the formula slightly on their fourth album, Standards. And from the beginning of the first track it sounds like a major overhaul, with heavily over-miced drums and distorted guitars framing a pummeling groove from bassist Doug McCombs. On the second track "Eros," the phlegmatic synthesizer lines and clipped drums are more reminiscent of experimental electronica outfit Mouse on Mars than any fellow post-rock luminaries. When the band finally hits its stride, though, midway through the third track, "Benway," it's with a quintessential Tortoise groove, driven by repetitive bass figures and a vibraphone melody (plus a hilarious nod to prog-rock at the end, with several seconds of stop-start playing). Standards does return the group to the green fields of their last record, but only occasionally; John McEntire and company appear too restless to consider making the same album twice. Ironically, despite the range of sounds, Tortoise is still doing what they've been doing for nearly a decade: playing some of the most empathic, group-minded rock of their era, then indulging in much recomposition courtesy of the mixing desk and various effects. "Monica" is one of the least Tortoise-sounding tracks the group has ever recorded; it sounds like an early-'80s pop/R&B track (complete with talkbox guitar) filtered through the lens of British IDM, but then mutates into an intriguing stereo-separation drum workout. Overall, Standards has a few detours for fans conscious of any band's "progression," but plenty of interesting songs and great musicianship for less vested listeners. Though it doesn't develop the evocative or impressionistic side of Tortoise (as heard on TNT), the band is certainly as inventive as ever. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Expected by many to continue leading the post-rock brigade into a new fusion with dub and electronics, Tortoise instead turned yet another corner with their third album, TNT. Adding guitarist Jeff Parker to cement their musicianship as well as their connections to Chicago's fertile jazz/avant-garde scene, the band returned with a record of post-modern cool jazz, only slightly informed by the dub, Krautrock, and electronics of Millions Now Living Will Never Die. It shows from the first few seconds -- a lazy, slightly free drum solo frames a few tentative guitar chords and some teased effects, before the band kicks in with a holds-barred jam that encompasses a tremulous solo from trumpeter Rob Mazurek. With engineer/mixer/drummer John McEntire and company adding only a few post-production frills to the mix -- and those so complementary and subdued that they rarely even sound like effects -- TNT comes off as a surprisingly organic record. The evocative Spanish-style guitar on "I Set My Face to the Hillside" plays over an assortment of playground sounds, while "The Suspension Bridge at Iguazú Falls" deconstructs a classically angular Tortoise groove and re-emerges with an evocative, deeply affecting groove over shimmering vibes and precision guitar lines. There are plenty of nods to post-rock touchstones like Krautrock ("Swing From the Gutters"), dub, and minimalism ("Ten-Day Interval"), but Tortoise hardly sounds like a difficult band here. Instead of forcing studio experimentation to become an end to itself, the band mastered -- with a single, deft statement -- the far more difficult lesson of making technology work for the music. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
'Millions Now Living Will Never Die'
Release Date 1/30/1996
Tracks 6
Label Thrill Jockey
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What The Critics Say
Tortoise's production expertise hit an early peak with Millions Now Living Will Never Die, a work that not only references studio-centric forms like dub and electronica, but actively welds them to the group's aesthetic of sturdily constructed indie rock. The centerpiece is the 21-minute opener "Djed," a multi-part track which brought Tortoise's already impressive compositional abilities to a grand scale. It's almost a history of influences in miniature, first referencing tape music and dub for several minutes, then moving on to Krautrock with a chugging section incorporating wheezing organ and understated guitar chords. Halfway through, the band takes on minimalism with repeating figures of organ and vibes, then return to the green fields of their debut with a final few minutes of moody indie rock (though even this is spiced with a scratchy rhythm and various noise effects). With "Djed," Tortoise made experimental rock do double duty as evocative, beautiful music. The other songs on Millions Now Living are hardly afterthoughts, though; highlights "Glass Museum" and "The Taut and Tame" display the band quickly growing out of the angular indie rock ghetto with exquisite music, constructed with more thought and played with more emotion, than any of their peers. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
An album that not only set the tone for the new Chicago prog rock, but also cemented the musical niche for Thrill Jockey Records. Here, multi-instrumentalists John McEntire, Dan Bitney, John Herdon, Douglas McCombs, and Bundy K. Brown share equal responsibility and trust in each other, pouring out a thick stew of meditative grooves, light production experiments, and rusty guitar-string ambience -- the likes of which have rarely sounded so approachable, but this is not to say the album is a sellout leap into commercialism. There are a couple head scratchers and murky moments that fail to make much of an impact, but the quintet have spun such a rich web of mood and personality that any fall from grace barely changes altitude. Steady frontman McEntire wades confidently through uncharted waters, and his strength as a producer keeps a few odd moments from sinking. Tortoise sounds like a dark and wonderful garage full of dusty instruments. It's like looking at Avedon photographs -- the crevices and quirky imperfections are so richly explored that they become things of beauty. Disjointed twangy guitar riffs, distant harmonic overtones, bass mumblings, and a heartbeat make up tracks like "Flyrod," and "Ry Cooder" ebbs and flows organically through multiple key changes, tempos, and moods: foreboding, tense, plodding, explosive, hip, jazzy, cool, and funky (a signature piece for the band). "Cornpone Bunch" briefly tips its hat to the Who before unraveling a roll-the-credits finale to the disc: a bittersweet dialogue between bass, vibes, and drums than builds wonderfully to a close. The modest success of this CD proved to be a launching pad for several offshoot projects (several of which included founding members of this band), like Directions in Music, Isotope 217, Trans Am, Rome, and the Sea and Cake. In subsequent releases, Tortoise evolved to be a collective rather than a set roster of players. The ground broken apart by this solid debut would be tilled and cultivated by their outstanding follow-up Millions Now Living Will Never Die. Roll the dice for either album; you can't lose. ~ Glenn Swan, All Music Guide
