Disco de Tortoise: “Standards”

Now I get to trot out my indie rock snob identity card and say that I have enjoyed Tortoise since they first appeared in record stores with their Gamera EP, and their self-titled first lp and a masterpiece by any realm of the imagination.

Their first album, maybe out of some kind of nostalgia of mine, is still my favourite record. It's so pure and simple and unadorned. It's like Kind of Blue for me--I can listen to it over and over and I'm always impressed.

That said, this is my 2nd favourite of their records. Something about it is just fantastic, just really fantastic. The rockin' beginning is so great. It's a great album. It's really super great. I loved it a lot. They have deftly avoided becoming a Neu! tribute band. (Here's where I have to hand in my snob badge: I hadn't even heard of Neu! until Astralwerks rereleased their albums--and I'm a Kraftwerk fan from way back in the day! so bully for me.)

I think it's cool that Tortoise are on Warp in the UK. I like Warp music a lot.

A really great thing to look for if you've been enjoying Tortoise but don't just want to fall into the old trip of just buying their many side projects (Pullman, Sea & Cake, etc.) would be to check out FREEFORM's new album Audiotourist, which is just amazing, mixing classical Chinese and Vietnamese instruments and field recordings with a Tortoise-stye syncopation and sort of gentle, Mouse on Mars style electronics. Really good, and a bit less well-known. (I'm thinking why just go on and plug Stereolab and whoever else, when it's pretty obvious you've heard of them if you're looking at reviews of Tortoise albums...)

The strange democratic thing that makes these reviews kind of fun is that it's a good place to connect sounds, like amateur musicology. That's my take at least.

Tortoise are the bold insurgents of post-rock revolution, eschewing all conventions for a complex, multi-layered soundscape. Standards bristles with intelligence and audacity. The brilliant opening track, "Seneca," starts with frenetic drum fills and a sparse guitar warble, then erupts in deconstructed breakbeats, warm electronics and hand-claps. "Blackjack" sounds like the warped interpretation of a Final Fantasy airship theme, with colorful vibraphones and a brisk bassline, while the introspective "Firefly" is all hushed guitar ambience. The performances here are of the highest musical caliber, and the compositions are exploratory yet tight, dense yet minimalistic. This album is not for everyone, but if you want to hear music that will elevate your standards, Tortoise is your band.

This was the first Tortoise album I was introduced to. Right away, it was catchy and different. It took about 3 full listens, but the album truly grows on you and I highly recommend. Some parts may appear slow, but once you familiarize yourself with it, it becomes much more listenable.

I actually worked my way backwards in discography to TNT - one of their earlier albums - and while different (less electronica), an excellent album. I enjoy TNT just as much as Standards, despite the differences.

Even though some reviewers will share they are not as pleased with the new sound, you gotta respect Tortoise's efforts to push the envelope on new sounds. Fantastic CD. Recommend you give it a chance - will be a keeper in your CD collection.

After buying this album and then reading some of the reviews, I felt compelled to write something.

Some people are so over-analytical and so worried/obsessed with categorizing things that they end up completely missing the true essence of what it is they're disecting. Can't you just listen to music and enjoy it without having to say, oh they're trying to do this and that and this and it doesn't work becuase blah blah blah and it's not like what they did on their last album.

Tortoise has always been a band that experiments with different genres and makes really good, interesting music. I find it amusing that some "fans" of Tortoise would freak out if an album sounds different than the last. That should be expected and desired from a band who has established itelf as a band that combines all sorts of musical styles and comes up with innovative and unique compositions. If you don't like this idea, then why would you listen to Tortoise?

I find this album title to be ironic in that sense. Everyone wants to hold things to standards. I find it interesting, some of the ways in which people criticize music. To me, music is something that should be created freely without STANDARDS.

I, myself, expect each Tortoise album to grow and sound different and incorporate new elements. I would also expect the same from anyone who liked their ST, Millions Now Living, and especially TNT. If you like those albums, Standards is the next step, so keep walking.

Tortoise's music has a very surreal quality for me. Just as dreams reconstitute my waking experience in a non-linear and often frightening manner, Tortoise mangles my expectations of the listening experience by blurring the lines between the audio of found sounds that comprise our external aural environment and the expectations for traditional "music" that reside in our mind. On any given Tortoise album, electronic snippets of dissonance emerge from the ashes of traditional song structures to create pulsating fragments that drive towards a cacophonous crescendo before wielding a tentative bond that manifests itself as a stuttered hip hop beat negotiating with a wall of xylophones, keyboards, and guitars. If it sounds abstract and subjective, then it's because it's intended to be. Tortoise provides the soundtrack for a world where meaning is elusive and temporal... where truth is in the eye of the beholder.