Tortoise: Classic or Dud

but to me they were a group that kind of changed my musical outlook. They were just the right kind of band heading in a different direction at the right time that really appealed to me

Yeah, me too, actually. At the time my friends got me into Tortoise I was mainly listening to straight-ahead jazz, classical, some "classic rock" like Pink Floyd and Zeppelin, Fugazi, and old blues records. I think Tortoise and their Chicago counterparts (Isotope 217, Brokeback, Chicago Underground, Sea and Cake, etc.) got me to start thinking of music in a less compartmentalized way -- more of a sonic continuum.

― Joe Bob 1 Tooth (Hurting 2), Tuesday, January 27, 2009 2:45 AM (5 months ago)

Yeah, they're a reasonable gateway band into a lot of better music, for younger listeners. And my impression is they'd be happy with that--as maligned as they are for being a pastiche-of-all-things-old-and-hip, I think it's evident they're sincerely in love with music, and probably don't think they're doing something revolutionary (unlike the impression I got from hearing/reading quotes from far worse "post-rock" bands who seemed never to have heard a fucking Can or Reich or Morricone record and thought they were inventing some new dramatic language). They surely aren't ashamed of their influences.

(or at least they pretended never to have heard any "experimental" music. It's possible, as Mogwai and GSYBE and Sigur Ros and all those Constellation bands seemed to take their sense of dynamics from Smashing Pumpkins or U2 more than anything else.)

I saw Tortoise live in LA last week. They were good, absolutely. Still, when they brought out "Djed" for the encore... man, that song is still so electrifying and exciting. It accidentally made the entire rest of the show feel lazy. Like, "Oh, you can be this good? Oh." I just don't get the sense that these guys are pushing themselves as hard as they once did.

saw these guys recently, sadly they didn't play Djed. they did Seneca though and a lot of older material. i agree with pgwp above, however tight and great it was, they didn't even break a sweat. i can appreciate the art in sounding like a cd on stage, but it would be cool to see them put a little more at risk.

...and oh yeah to my big surprise i saw at least half a dozen trucker hats in the audience

Off to see these guys tonight as part of the Melb Jazz Festival. The new album is so not-typical of them (and much less jazzy than their older work) that I'm wondering what material they'll be playing!

As long as there is a load of duelling glocks I'll be happy.

or vibraphones, or whatever they are.

Have fun :)

Its in the best venue in melb too. Gorgeous old deco theatre. Totally stoked!

i'm listening to the 6th song on the directions in music album... wow.
anyone listened to this lately? i think it's aged much better than the tortoise stuff.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, September 18, 2003 2:30 AM (7 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i still love this album, been listening to it a lot recently.

psyched for this Tortoise show in Minneapolis at the Walker Art Center on Friday!

http://www.walkerart.org/calendar/2012/tortoise-minneapolis-jazz-all-stars

Part of 2011-2012 Performing Arts Season

“Tortoise is one of the rare groups that defy easy classification despite their status as founding fathers of the late-’90s post-rock boom.” —Paste Magazine

Chicago’s indie legend returns to the Walker and joins some of the Twin Cities’ most influential jazz and rock innovators for an exploratory collaboration in sound and form. Unique in the world of contemporary music, Tortoise is known for its boundless intellectual curiosity and unmistakable instrumental collage of jazz, rock, electronica, dub, dance, ambient, and minimalism.
This 612-meets-312 experiment features gifted players, new ideas, and a remarkable shared musical vision. One show only: Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire, and Jeff Parker—along with Minneapolis’ Douglas Ewart, Mike Lewis, Greg Lewis, JT Bates, and Michele Kinney—are featured in this singular performance.
The performance will be broadcast live by KFAI “Radio Without Boundaries” (90.3/106.7 FM).

^^the minneapolis dudes are all super awesome jazz guys, drummer JT Bates is just amazing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjsGnnwYjNU

* sets Audio Hijack to catch this *

seeing them tomorrow night! sans mike lewis et al, unfort.

saw them this past Saturday, it was wicked good.

The performance will be broadcast live by KFAI “Radio Without Boundaries” (90.3/106.7 FM).

This is starting now, kfai.org

this was one of the best shows i've seen in forever!

how did it go down? mpls jazz dudes improvising on top of tortoise tunes, or?

yeah it was definitely a collaboration to the fullest...could have easily been billed as Mpls Jazz All Stars feat Tortoise

two drummers - dan bitney & jt bates

stage right was the jazz all star stage left was tortoise - mccoombs/parker on bass/guitar, herdon & mcentire on various keyboards/electronics/laptops

i didn't really recognize proper tortoise songs per se, they seemed to work off a main riff or theme and kind of all go off from there....i think i recognized some riffs from tortoise songs here and there (LOL i also realize how much i don't know ANY tortoise song titles except for djed)....then they did a encore of "galapagos" which mccoombs said that the jazz guys didn't know and they hadn't practiced but it went off well..

mike & greg lewis were both great....never seen ewart and goddam he was the fucking BOMB, also dressed so fucking "jazz guy" - flowing african v-neck style kinda tie-dyed looking shirt, beret, and neat beard, so cool....but yeah he's a great player

surprise was michele kinney who i wasn't familiar with but she was great...

jordan - does your ILM mail work? I have a link that, shall we say, might be of interest :)

it does!

cool, sent! let me know what you think, but it's sounding just a good in the harsh light of monday morning

thanks man! can't download at work but i'll check it out tonight, looking forward to it.

wow could I also have that link?

One of my issues with Tortoise has been that for all their individual talents, they don't really improvise live. So it's exciting to hear they're at least trying to push themselves a little, belatedly.

yeah i really enjoyed seeing them last week but it seemed, i don't know, a little rote. they covered all the parts but i was hoping that they'd let jeff parker off the leash a little or get into more double-drummer fire.

just about ten minutes in, but yeah sounding great! thanks m@tt

hurting - check you ILX mail :)

josh you want the link?

i'd be happy to take a link!

some photos here

http://www.reviler.org/2012/05/07/photos-tortoise-minneapolis-jazz-all-stars-at-walker-art-center/

nice. looks like herndon on drums btw.

Tortoise + guests Festival Sons d'Hiver Creteil 2013.23.02 Maisons des Arts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwL74stwgQY

The last twenty minutes are really nice, Tortoise minimal music style...I wonder if this is new work?

New album, The Catastrophist, out in January. From the press release:

It’s an album where moody, synth-swept jams like the opening title track cozy up next to hypnotic, bass-and-beat missives like “Shake Hands With Danger,” a downright strange cover of David Essex’s 1973 radio smash, “Rock On,” sung by U.S. Maple/Dead Rider’s Todd Rittmann, and the bittersweet, honest-to-goodness soul ballad “Yonder Blue,” sung by Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley.

I'm enthusiastic. "Gesceap" doesn't sound like a significant change in sound but that's okay with me. Tortoise have matured into a very dependable, still unique band.

I'm a little sceptical of vocals over tortoise tracks, but I like gesceap

lol what -- the new album includes a downright strange cover of David Essex’s 1973 radio smash, “Rock On,” sung by U.S. Maple/Dead Rider’s Todd Rittmann

actually come to think of it the record they did with BPB was not bad, maybe I'll revisit

I was just thinking abt how much I wish I could see them live again like a week ago and my desire has manifested a new song and a tour! Thank you power of positive thinking!!!!

was "rock on" really a radio smash, or is that just one of those things publicists say? am i supposed to know this song? i know "shake hands with danger". was that a radio hit?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSucj0XKmHk

Looks like they're going to be on the road enticingly close to the Big Ears dates next year. Wouldn't be surprised to see them booked for that.

'rock on' got to number 5 in the US apparently. it's a song worth knowing imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pYwtq8gZ3Y

the new song is good!

Straight out of 1996, which works for me.

"Rock On" is one of the stupidest songs ever recorded

Rock On is great, can't see Tortoise topping the Toni Basil version, though

Rock On is stupid it's true, but it's a *great* stupid song, also a really weird sounding song too

oh, i've heard that song. it's just one of those songs that's too generic for me to bother remembering. thanks!

and yeah, if we start disqualifying songs for being stupid marc bolan's entire career goes out the window. not that david essex is exactly marc bolan...

kind of seems like he was trying to convince himself he was

if 'rock on' is that generic then i would love some suggestions of similarly weird stripped-down funk that sounds like it's swimming in a bucket of glue. closest thing i can think of is john martyn's 'big muff'?

...which i guess is what tortoise were picking up on - think they're JM fans?

If Tortoise + a guy from US Maple do a straightforward cover of "Rock On," I will be shocked. I think it's pretty safe to withhold judgement of their song choice.

http://secondhandsongs.com/performance/48628/all