TORTOISE
FULL DISCOGRAPHY DEEP DIVE
INTRO:
I’m not sure how you feel about genre-labeling (and all the variable subsets that can go along with that), but I find them to be a bit of a double-edged sword. I like the convenience of being easily corralled into a ‘holding’ of music that I know appeals to me. However, on the other hand, particular genre umbrellas (take ‘Alternative’ for instance) end up being too broad and don’t always do a great job of capturing all of the varieties that work to exist within.
All of this is to say that I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I came across ‘Post-Rock’. I’m pretty sure I first encountered it in regard to the brilliant late albums of former New Wave English band Talk Talk. The group completely overturned their synth sound and made a deep dive into a sound that combined elements of jazz & ambient in a highly experimental and improvised way - almost completely foregoing traditional ‘rock’ instrumentation. I absolutely loved those albums, but they didn’t prepare me for the strain of ‘Post-Rock” that was further developed by the Chicago outfit Tortoise. I can’t say exactly how the band came on my radar, but when I decided to give their full discography a listen, I realized that I already had two of their albums downloaded into my personal library - though I couldn’t tell you, if my life depended on it, what my thoughts were or even what the band sounded like.
All that said, I was eager to gain an understanding of a band hailed as one of the main proponents of ‘Post-Rock’. I dove in with open ears and an open mind.
Tortoise
Produced by: Tortoise
Released: 1994
Two bass players AND a song titled “Onions Wrapped In Rubber”??
Red flag duly noted.
Even as mostly ridiculous and contrived as I find the whole ‘post-rock’ label (and let’s be honest, simply a critic moniker), I have to say - assuming that Sigur Ros, Explosions In The Sky, & the last few albums by Talk Talk all fit under this umbrella, I just don’t find this first album of Tortoise to land in that same exalted company.
After a few listens (including on headphones - Spoiler alert: headphones didn’t help) I would be more apt to call these guys nerd-rock - a distant cousin of the same sort of thread of modern prog that features bands like Symphony X. That is, math over feeling. Truthfully, the same sort of reaction that Frank Zappa’s music usually pulls from me.
This isn’t to say this collection is completely devoid of any interesting moments. On the two numbers that more prominently featured marimbas/vibraphones (“Ry Cooder” & “Cornpone Brunch” - which also housed the album’s best drum part) the band came closest to solidifying a more engaging ‘sound’ - one that walked the jazzier fringe of another far more successful ‘post-rock’ act, Stereolab. I really found myself wishing they had mined that approach more deeply. The ambient surrender of “His Second Story Island” also scored a few points.
Unfortunately, the majority of what bounced around with the rest of the album felt too unbaked and only half worked out. Improvised noodling with nothing really gelling as finished.
I’ll also say that I’m pretty sure that was the point and EXACTLY what they were after. I am all for experimentation, and I think I’m more than on record as not needing to be spoon-fed commercialized fare, but I found this to be a true case of the Emperor not wearing any clothes.
I’ll go a step further in saying that while each of the songs had flashes of moments I liked, they were then throw off the tracks with injections of choices that were just too spastic and out of place. The pseudo-funk breaks in “Magnet Pulls Through”, the fucking horrible & jarring snare sound on “Night Air”, the crazy annoying mosquito feedback throughout “Onions Wrapped in Rubber”. The list goes on.
Look, these guys at one point blipped on my radar - and it’s clear a band like this must solely survive on that niche cultish ‘checkout this band I discovered that nobody knows about’ kind of level. I am certainly not dismissing the rest of the discography - in fact, for purely selfish reasons, I’m truly hoping things develop in more engaging ways - but this first album wasn’t a great place to start & I don’t agree with the accolades this album garnered.
CONCLUSION: While not a huge waste of my time, most of this album simply isn’t my cup of tea - and definitely not a collection I will return to again. Thumbs Down and a Grade of an unconvinced low C-.
Millions Now Living Will Never Die
Produced by: John McEntire
Released: January 1996
The importance of an open mind: You’re never too old to learn new things!
I’ll ask that you indulge me for a moment with another chapter of my relentless timeline exploration, as I feel it relates in profound ways with this band and album.
I’ve said it before (and I feel certain I will say it again), but perhaps my favorite aspect of deep, concentrated listening are the side avenues that sometimes happen - especially as that relates to squaring away or re-configuring the precise chronological understanding of how certain sounds or genre niches are really constructed.
After a few initial listens through this entire album, I was feeling obliged to again mention Stereolab - feeling slightly superior in recognizing that band as an inspirational precursor to Tortoise - based on the fact that Stereolab had released three albums before Tortoise’s debut and that their sound is so closely associated the use of vibraphones and quirky, jazzy stylings.
But here’s the hole that a little deeper digging got me.
The truth is, the first three Stereolab albums - though solid in their own right - definitely walk a much more elemental modern alternative, guitar-driven path - think Velvet Underground foundations and Krautrock stylings (especially Neu!) through the filter of My Bloody Valentine’s groundbreaking ‘91 release, Loveless.
Stereolab’s seminal Emperor Tomato Ketchup (which was released the same year as this second Tortoise album) was a huge leap for the band and the first to more dramatically develop the static, jazzier approaches they came to be known for - including the folding-in of vibraphone use and ‘60s easy listening lounge tendencies.
So color me seriously fucking surprised to learn that Tortoise’s John McEntire produced that amazing Stereolab album!!! (as well as continuing to collaborate as Producer on Stereolab’s next two albums - the even more perfect Dots & Loops and the fantastic Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night). Moreso, he was the one that played the fucking vibraphones on those Stereolab albums!! Not to mention that other Tortoise members contributed their instrumental talents as well.
In other words, Tortoise and my beloved Stereolab were thick as thieves!! And out the door goes my ‘lifting’ or ‘who came first’ accusations as it is painfully clear these two acts were recording and collaborating on each other’s projects at the exact same time.
NOW - here’s where the intriguing variables come in - not to mention the insanely stupid properties of sub-upon-sub genre niche umbrellas and style titles. In the early ‘90s I fell in love with music that had the general label of ‘electronica’ - perhaps as a sort of antidote to all the more aggressive alt-rock I had been listening to (& playing with my band) for the better part of the previous 4 or 5 years. Like “new wave’, ‘electronica’ housed an extremely wide and varied sound landscape - everything from intensely darker, downtempo sounds of Massive Attack to the pulsing rave music of The Crystal Method - with all kinds of offshoots like the pure ambient of Moby, big club beats of The Chemical Brothers, oddball collages from Fatboy Slim and classier hybrids from The Orb, Underworld, Portishead among others. It was down rabbit holes of this discovery that brought me to Stereolab - a band I immediately connected with early in my listening of this genre and one that would remain a steady companion throughout the years.
However, I never once came across Tortoise - and trust me, I mined and mined the tunnels of this particular sound. Like I shared, I’m not exactly sure when and how this second album of theirs was added to my personal library, but I am absolutely sure it was in hindsight. I’d guess within maybe even the last 5-10 years. The point is, they (maybe given their more closely associated ‘post-rock’ kinship just kept them clear or maybe I did check them out at some point and just didn’t love what I heard). Regardless, here we are. I’ve been set-straight and with this new knowledge have been given a more appropriate (or at least more educated) take on this act.
Onto the album!
Based on the title alone, I entered hopeful.
Though this Tortoise album was added to my music library at some point - I have to admit, I can’t recall why and wouldn’t have been able to adequately describe the sound prior to these listens. Additionally, to compound the positive feelings entering this listening experience, Apple Music has selected this as the sole ‘essential listening’ album in Tortoise’s discography.
Good news, this collection is definitely an improvement on their debut. While the band remains within the basic confines of their noodling exploration comfort zone, at least the foundations of the tracks feel more structured - or are simply more interesting.
This is established right out of the gate with opener “Djed”. Now - seeing that the first song was over 20 minutes long worried me as I was not looking forward to some of the numbers from the first collection being repeated in ‘extended’ versions, but my concerns were quelled as the number housed a really great feel - as if the added space seemed to allow the ensemble the opportunity to make more collaborative choices as opposed to the silos of sound I felt I mostly received on their debut.
High points included “Glass Museum” (both the languid first half and the more frantic second half worked well) and my favorite - the one-two combo of “Dear Grandma and Grandpa” into “Along The Banks Of Rivers” - in all of its spaghetti-western guitar wonder - which easily stands to me as the best track from Tortoise thus far. The return of the vibraphones were welcomed and, in general, the album’s tracks felt much more lived-in than anything on the first album.
That isn’t to say that the band completely skipped all of the same missteps that marred album one. With a full six minutes left, “Djed” is completely sabotaged with the false tape-skip-out. Talk about ruining a good thing. I don’t know why that particular choice bugged me so much, but I’d almost give the whole album a Thumbs Down for that one decision.
Likewise, though there were aspects that appealed to me, the aggressively pervasive bass on “The Taut And Tame” just sunk that track for me - robbing it of what might have been a much more balanced and enjoyable trippy ride. And the two bass wonk-fest, “A Survey” was clearly a leftover doodle from the approaches found on the first album. That is, three minutes of my life I’ll never get back.
I will also mention something I noticed on the first album but let pass. These guys - as competent of a working unit as they might sometimes seem - are not impressive soloists. There aren’t many guitar or keys solos to be found, but when employed, they always stuck out to me as amateurish and totally lacking confidence - and never once, even from an atmospheric place, bettering the track.
CONCLUSION: Allowing myself to more fully understand the actual timeline of Tortoise and Stereolab and the seemingly collaborative spirit with which they jointly fleshed-out their sounds (especially in overlapping ways), I will walk away from listening to this particular album feeling like I can claim a little victory. However, it is still impossible for me to take-in anything decent on these first two Tortoise albums and not just wish I was listening to Stereolab in the first place. I’m giving this album a slight Thumbs Up and a Grade of a very even C primarily based on the strength of those last two tracks and a general overall improvement of approach, but I’m still not fully convinced.
If this album, as Apple says it is, remains Tortoise’s Everest, then the rest of the discography could prove to be a bit painful. We shall see.
TNT
Produced by: John McEntire
Released: March 1998
I’ll mention it because it doesn’t often happen - this album leaves me a bit uncertain how to feel about it. Though I don’t mind being patient with a more challenging release - that really isn’t the case here. I understand what I’m hearing, and feel I can appreciate what the band is after, but whereas I’m usually pretty quick with music to form a connection or dismiss as not my cup of tea - this album leaves me a bit on the fence. I truly find it hard to fully judge. After the slight step forward that was Millions Now Living Will Never Die, I still am not sure if I’d qualify this album - which is clearly an intended new approach for the ensemble - as a side-step or a sort of staggered misstep.
That is - Do I kind of dig this or do I feel it ends up mostly sounding like modern jazz/lounge music that should be playing in the background of a hipster bar where artisan, hand-crafted cocktails are served by stylishly-mustached bartenders in probation-era garb? I certainly don’t hate it, but - beyond these focused listens - can I see myself ever returning?
In breaking this collection down, I would admit that the group seems to be on their strongest footing as far as creating ‘whole’ numbers. I did also appreciate the additional instrumentation. Not only did this bring some welcome extra texture into the mix, it also manages to create a more atmospheric and cinematographic scope - which, to me, is a big plus with this sort of all-instrumental approach.
The group is definitely leaning-in to a more committed tangle with the jazz aspects of their sound that they only previously tussled with. Post-rock indeed - I find hardly any ‘rock’ at all, and felt that if genre identifiers had to be placed - this collection would be pretty comfortable within an avant-garde jazz space.
With the exceptions of (in their own off-the-mark ways) “Four-Day Interval” (just an oddball, slowed down reworking of “Ten-Day Interval”) and “Almost Always Is Nearly Enough” (which felt like wasted musical space), they also avoided the unfinished noodling phase that marred their first two albums.
There are some musical moments (a continuation of a Tortoise pattern) that direct my ear to think about extremely similar musical ideas that I feel were much better handled by other artists. The hypnotic marimba repetition used in “Ten-Day Interval” is almost exactly employed by Peter Gabriel on his brilliant ‘82 track “San Jacinto”. “I Set My Face To The Hillside” is the sort of montage-sequence accompaniment that would have been placed more exquisitely by Ennio Morricone for any one of the hundreds of westerns he scored.
In the end, when this sort of instrumental jazz/rock/new lounge hybrid wasn’t specifically making me think of other artists I’d rather be listening to, I guess the ultimate problem is that it just never generated any true attention from me. It exists, non-offensively, in a sort of shadowed limbo state.
Oh, and the album cover sucks.
CONCLUSION: I don’t have enough to point at as not working to offer anything less than what I gave the last album - and so this one also earns a slight Thumbs Up and a Grade of a very even C. The band doesn’t suck and I’m sure I could do much worse for this sort of sound, but I’m not enthralled. Put it this way, beyond learning of the Stereolab connection, I don’t feel like I’ve really missed out on Tortoise not having been in my life all these years.
Standards
Produced by: John McEntire
Released: February 2001
Following two OK-ish albums (on top of my Stereolab connection revelation) I entered this album with more hopeful expectations. These were further bolstered as I did some additional research and learned that between TNT and the recording of this album, the band served as the backing band for a tour by Brazilian singer/songwriter Tom Zé.
***If you’re not familiar with Zé, I highly recommend finding some time to acquaint yourself. Hard to succinctly sum up his sound, but I don’t think I’d be terribly far off to say he is sort of a South American version of Tom Waits - that is, born out of a particular ‘60s tropicalia tradition in his home country, but destined to forge a unique path. For instance, the dude builds his own musical instruments out of vacuum cleaners & typewriters. I discovered him in the ‘90s when David Byrne discovered him and re-released several of his albums (previously unavailable in the States) on his Luka Bop world-music label.
For one fleeting second during the opening track of this album, it felt like Tortoise had decided on a more defined beachfront to storm. There was a real notion that they were setting up to claim some of the ‘rock’ of their dubiously earned ‘post-rock’ title. And then, much like my general attention span when listening to their music, it evaporated into an ether of same old-same old.
If murky, wandering (& seemingly pointless) noodling is Tortoise’s ‘standard’ stock & trade, boy are they doing fine business.
Whereas I gave slight props to TNT for what I felt to be a more cohesive gathering of tracks, it seems as if the band has very intentionally aimed at being as widespread and varied as they can with no real sights on how it works together. Spoiler alert: Most of the time it doesn’t.
Plenty of mathematical moments are thrown into the mix and it is these that offset the worthwhile. Just because you have a few muscles doesn’t mean you are obliged to flex.
Not everything on this album is a miss - and there are moments throughout that manage to grab my attention in a positive way. The vibraphone continues to work its magic, there are some standout grooves revealed here & there, and there are slight flashes of atmospheric creation. But in the same breath, it feels like all this ensemble is made-up of are those little moments. They just don’t feel capable of molding their ideas (even their best ones) in a way that really means anything. Abstract is fine - I don’t need to KNOW I’m looking at a country scene or a girl with a guitar. I’m also a huge fan of instrumental music (whether full-on ambient or more lushly symphonic) - but I still want to be guided to some sort of engagement. I don’t need a storyline, but I do need to feel moved in some way. It’s just not happening with these guys.
CONCLUSION: I’m back to my ‘Emperor wearing no clothes’ theory. These guys can play and they are not completely devoid of interesting ideas, but they just can’t seem to help themselves in failing to make any of those momentary peaks stick the landing. Math-rock of the most concrete order. Despite opportunities to keep up their ‘passable’ status in my mind, Standards comes off as pretentious and too widespread/unorganized to define any sort of claim to a dedicated sound - no matter what sub-genre title one bestows. This one gets a Thumbs Down and a Grade of an unconvinced C-.
It’s All Around You
Released: April 2004
I know this is always a potential combatant when we take on a series of albums within the close proximity that our listening requires, but boy are there moments in this collection when things begin to seriously blur. A unified sound front is one thing, but it really isn’t working in Tortoise’s favor in this case. Clearly, the group isn’t so deep in a rut that some subtle differences from album to album can’t be distinguished, but the truth is, there just wasn’t enough working in the band’s favor to fully draw me in.
I’d classify this collection as the group’s fullest foray into modern lounge - and if this was the background music for a dimly lit, well-appointed bar and I was enjoying a well-made old fashioned, then I don’t think I’d have a single complaint. As a full album to listen to and attempt to absorb, it faded in and out on me.
What I can concede to is that this collection probably worked the best with repeated listens. Hoping that multiple listens of the previous albums would improve the experience with the extra work put in just didn’t align with my ears. I simply could only take so much. But this album revealed a secondary level that settled in my mind much more positively.
My favorite tracks, by far, are “The Lithium Stiffs” and the segue into “Crest”. The elements used seemed to help them stand-out enough to be memorable. It is a really strong combo - though not indicative of the band’s sound. They brought to mind some great unheard synth soundtrack stuff from the late 70s. With those tracks being the band’s furthest stray yet from their expected ‘sound’, the flipside - though different for the band - is that it fails to really fit seamlessly within the collection. Don’t get me wrong, had they given me a full album of that particular sound, I might have leaned in much more, but on its own, it feels like a stray one-trick-pony. The band chooses to credit their songwriting to the full group. This is a fine nod to a collaborative spirit, but I’d be willing to bet my left-hand pinkie that those tracks were the brainchild of McEntire.
Different, but also strong was the Afrobeat clockwork of “Five Too Many” - that one standing as a rare example where the full arrangement worked to carve a more defined and fully fleshed-out musical idea/statement. The noticeable addition of more pronounced synth work throughout also works as a plus. And I definitely dug the moments where they let a hazier, spaced-out vibe take the reigns as well as their continued worshiping at the altar of Morricone in spots.
To be honest, even when I was listening critically, there wasn’t a ton that hit me the wrong way (besides the point around the 3-minute mark when “Salt The Skies” went off the tracks), but the scattered sounds and musical recipes fail to summon feelings of eclectic collaboration or exploration and, instead, come off as scattered and undisciplined.
Here is what I think I’ve decided about Tortoise. I don’t want to listen to them nearly as much as I want to be a member. Strike that - their leader. I have always dug the idea of being in an all-instrumental band and with the clear advantage of being a Monday-morning quarterback/backseat driver, I’d love to take every one of their tracks and manipulate (whether drastically or subtlety) to ‘fix’ what I see as their mistakes in both arrangements, instrumentation & editing. It’s good to be King!
CONCLUSION: Though not in dramatic ways, this collection creeps Tortoise slightly back into my favor. I found the majority of the collection to work as well as anything they have yet released - earning it a mild Thumbs Up and another passable Grade of C.
Beacons of Ancestorship
Released: June 2009
Someone got some new keyboards for Christmas!
It has been five years between the last album and this one. I, on the other hand, who had never listened to either collection, literally started on this one the same day I made a conscious decision to give It’s All Around You one final spin. This can obviously contribute to some music claustrophobia, but I made (as I know you both also tried to do) a concerted effort to keep this from hindering my experience and opinion of the music found within. The good news is that the band made the shift from the sound of IAAY to BoA their most dramatic yet - helping to avoid the same-ol’-thing blur that can so often happen given our tight-timeline concentrated listening.
Focusing on the positives, I greatly appreciated the experimentation the band explored through this collection. When employed, the driven keyboard sound was quite to my liking. Hell, they practically cram it down your throat with the eight minute opener of “High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In” - a mini-late 70’s/early 80s synth soundtrack on its own. This track is really something to witness and easily lands the band nods as one of their finest and most original tracks thus far.
The prog-ish moments of some of the stronger tracks (prominently featured through “Prepare Your Coffin” & “Minors”) definitely add a more-defined layer of exploration than the band has previously flirted with. Additionally, the late 70s-vibe filter applied works well in offering some much-needed texture.
Other winning tracks (“The Fall…” & “De Chelly”) take familiar Tortoise elements dressed up in some new threads - Morricone nods feel more fully realized and ambient touch-points (though brief) provide nice nuances.
The trouble started when I stacked up the tracks in plus and minus columns. To my ears, though the best material really did appeal to me, the rest of the remaining tracks feel like (even with new sounds explored) redundant noodling - the apparent Tortoise trademark. This is clearly their approach and what they are intent on displaying - no teaching this old dog (six albums in) new tricks.
At the risk of repeating myself, I’m completely OK with the idea of abstract soundscapes, but I’m just not finding any way to fully engage in what these guys are laying down. Their cause is further damaged by stacking so many un-interesting numbers in succession.
CONCLUSION: The good parts found in this collection are some of the most interesting the band has yet delivered. Unfortunately, the entire ‘middle’ of the album hits a very dull place to my ears. I truthfully could go either way with the call on this collection, but I’ll try to stay positive and offer another barely-passable Thumbs Up with a Grade of a low C.
The Catastrophist
Released: January 2016
Here we are - at the end? I’ll remind you that this album was in my library (probably from a NPR recommendation, etc), but I had no memory of it - if I had even listened to it at all. I resisted revisiting until this point in our discography discovery.
I guess the biggest elephant in the room is the decision to feature two vocal tracks. For a ‘post-rock’ band, I am hoping the inclusion of David Essex’s anthem “Rock On” was done so with tongue firmly in cheek. I’d have to deduct major points otherwise. As a placement on the album, I found it pretty lackluster version - if humor was intended. Later on, the other vocal track, “Yonder Blues”, featured the vocal work of Yo La Tango’s Georgia Hubley and worked significantly better in its hazed-out downtempo stroll. So, let's call it 60-40 for the vocal tracks, but it did make me feel like including a few more of those over the previous albums would have only been a positive. I dig the concept of an all-instrumental band, but enjoying those two tracks more than most of the rest of this particular album only left me feeling as if the band had made a bad call on this one.
Reminder - there was a seven-year gap between this and the last album. Though you wouldn’t necessarily know it based on the first two opening tracks. Both “The Catastrophist” & “Ox Duke” do a fine job continuing the synth approaches that worked so well on BoA. In fact, they each feature a new layer of airiness that elevates their overall sound. Unfortunately, the only other ‘synth’ track, the brief “Gopher Island”, comes across as a rejected soundtrack for an early video game.
The best thing I can say about the rest of the album is that it managed, pretty much every listen, to pass by rather quickly. The tracks never won me over, but they also didn’t utterly offend. With the one exception being “Gesceap” - which, in all of its Phillip Glass worship & seven-plus minutes, ended up just wearing me out. Seriously so.
The rest of the tracks hit a fairly average ‘Tortoise’ place - which, as my previous reviews attest, returns a barely notable place.
And another album cover comment - who’s paying my therapy bill for having to look at that monstrosity??
CONCLUSION: The biggest problem with this album is that it just doesn’t feel connected. Despite the strong start and the flirt with using vocals, I was never completely engaged. Sure, this might be as much the fault of seven Tortoise albums in close quarters, but considering the fact that the band kind of hit me the same way out of the gate, I’m going to lay the blame on this particular band being - while not a complete train wreck - just not enough my cup-of-tea to be a band I can see ever returning to other than a lone track here and there. I’m giving this last one a Thumbs Down and Grade of a low C-.
