Tortoise: Classic or Dud

yep. i think they do pretty well in europe still.

buchla: http://www.vimeo.com/902069

in europe I know a few people who like them enough to put on millions occasionally, but no one who would turn out for a show.

yeah a friend of mine is sorta friends one tortoise member and i guess they get paid some pretty big dough to go play like a jazz fests overseas sometimes. like basically dude doesn't have a day job.

ive been playing Standards several times in the last couple days, and honestly I don't think it's dog poo. there are some great drum sounds on there and it's nice and accessible enough to play in the background but still worth the attention.

I love Standards.

standards is brilliant

Standards is my favorite Tortoise record, and the only one I've ever really loved. It has enough structure to keep it grounded, unlike "Djed" or something, which is interesting for about five minutes until my attention wanders.

i'm about ready for a new tortoise record. i ended up really like "it's all around you".

Their weakest album, but the material improved a hell of a lot played live.

it's prettier and more memorable than standards, i think. the best tracks from standards and iaay would make a pretty sick record.

unlike "Djed" or something, which is interesting for about five minutes until my attention wanders.

b-b-but "Djed" totally changes every few minutes! you should be the ideal audience!

be happy, rejoice: NEW TORTOISE IN APRIL.

gotta say i hate hate HATED "it's all around you." it's the only one of their albums i sold back to a store. it's like their version of that one Sonic Youth album, the one with "small flowers crack concrete" - just indefensibly weak.

P.S. It's funny how I'm all surprised upthread that people would hate on Tortoise during the circa-2000 push back against post-rocky stuff -- now that that stuff doesn't feel at issue anymore, it's genuinely hard to imagine many people caring to hate them.

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/new-tortoise-album-coming-in-april-1003932126.story

the title track from "it's all around you" is great.

is the will oldham covers album worth hearing?

YES!

http://www.staticmultimedia.com/music/reviews/review_1141521087

during the circa-2000 push back against post-rocky stuff

i blame the strokes

If you take Wicker Park to be post-rock central, it was actually De Stijl that seemed to do something -- there was a season where that seemed to be playing constantly in every cafe and bar, and I definitely assumed it was as a reaction to what had been going on in the area, stuff that made the idea of the Stripes strike people as refreshing.

I saw somewhere that one of the guys from Tortoise said the new album is close, sonically, to Standards.

well if they claim it is synth heavy then that makes sense

is the will oldham covers album worth hearing?

My favorite thing by either of them. I don't have much use for Oldham, but he is incredible on almost all of these tracks.

xp i'm looking much forward to that one. may I add the final track on "It's all around you" is also an excellent, swedish prog noodle closer.

Any of you guys heard the old synthpunk band The Units?? Check out this track 'Tight Fit' from their 1980 LP and tell me it doesn't sound like a Tortoise jam.

coincidence? I've been playing Standards as of late also.
also, It's All Around You is pretty good.. it just has more of an disciplined loungey atmosphere which is why I think some people don't like it as much. They don't want disciplined... They don't want loungey...

Do I remember right that Standards was the first one they recorded fully digitally? I do feel like it has a "colder" sound than the other ones, but I think the coldness serves it well.

Stretch (You Are Alright) is a great track off It's All Around You.

HORSE HAM:

Looking forward to the new one.

Salt The Skies

one of the best live bands in the world

Total drummer's band too, ha.

There career arc mirrors stereolab quite a bit imo (though not as prolific)...

fresh, creative singles
a couple solid albums
some insane remixes
lineup tweakage
widely unpopular shift of direction

also wildly derivative as well...

ie, their mutual ability to wear then-obscure influences on their sleeves.

1996 NEVER FORGET

Pretty sure TNT was recorded on a computer.

"widely unpopular shift of direction" with original fans since Stereolab's widely unpopular shift resulted in them selling a lot more albums.

what period of stereolab do you consider the john mcentire produced records?

@shasta

i'm sure it's a mix of analog and digital...soma has a ton of analog gear, no reason not to use it.

Thread inspired me to start a Tortoise Pandora station. It's amazing how many competent post-rock bands I have never heard of!

... such as:
Tommy Guerrero
Maserati
Benevenuto & Russo Duo
The Six Parts Seven

El Ten Eleven

I never posted on this Tortoise thread, but I did gush on how much I liked them on some of the others and the big 'post rock' thread that is around here somewhere. That being said, I STILL have not gotten around to hearing their last couple of releases. Really odd considering I probably listened to their first three albums constantly for years even to now.

I can kind of understand why people don't like Tortoise, 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, so I say classic.

I've seen them live three times and thought they were always really good band to go and check out.

That being said, it probably time to check in.

dots&loops = shift... but yeah i can see where they shifted with mars, then the groop played, then emporer... but dots was the biggest departure... thematically, popularity, critically.

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.

what

I was like 18 or 19 years old, granted. I remember reading the back of one of the Chicago Underground albums and there was this admittedly kind of pretentious text on the back about a more unified approach to music: "Start with SOUND!" etc. But at the time it was quite mind-expanding.

boring and masturbatory.

your opinions are, yes

― earlnash ― try A Lazarus Taxon (3 cds) - so much new material (or maybe I should say rare) mixed with old classics