― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― tylero (tylero), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Saturday, 2 April 2005 01:16 (nineteen years ago) link
― rockaction (rockaction), Saturday, 2 April 2005 01:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― electricderby, Sunday, 3 April 2005 19:14 (nineteen years ago) link
http://www.cleftandcloven.com/tortoise.mp3
― Jordan (Jordan), Sunday, 3 April 2005 22:42 (nineteen years ago) link
RS, my good friend.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 4 April 2005 02:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― Hurting (Hurting), Monday, 4 April 2005 03:04 (nineteen years ago) link
OTM
― Baaderonixxxorzh (Fabfunk), Monday, 4 April 2005 08:21 (nineteen years ago) link
― Baaderonixxxorzh (Fabfunk), Monday, 4 April 2005 08:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 4 April 2005 08:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― Baaderonixxxorzh (Fabfunk), Monday, 4 April 2005 08:36 (nineteen years ago) link
― NickB (NickB), Monday, 4 April 2005 08:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― Hurting (Hurting), Monday, 4 April 2005 11:32 (nineteen years ago) link
Thanks, Hurting! Ha, I don't think I could bring myself do that, but McEntire did just mix a record that the guitarist is on (Cougar), so there's some connection.
― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 4 April 2005 13:00 (nineteen years ago) link
I thought "Standards" had a few really good tracks and some that were kind of meh. I still haven't picked up the last one and missed Tortoise on tour for the first time in a long time.
I was listening to Isis' "Oceanic" while driving at night this past Saturday and I couldn't help but notice how one selection reminded me a bit of Tortoise.
― Earl Nash (earlnash), Monday, 4 April 2005 13:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― Baaderonixxxorzh (Fabfunk), Monday, 4 April 2005 13:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― Earl Nash (earlnash), Monday, 4 April 2005 16:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― msp (mspa), Monday, 4 April 2005 16:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― a banana (alanbanana), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:02 (nineteen years ago) link
― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Monday, 4 April 2005 23:25 (nineteen years ago) link
oh my god it took me way too long to figure out this album is amazing
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 7 February 2019 05:19 (five years ago) link
oh yeah, killer album. I only own this and Standards but I pull this one out way more often
― bhad bundy (Simon H.), Thursday, 7 February 2019 05:23 (five years ago) link
you ought to check out millions now living
― the late great, Thursday, 7 February 2019 05:30 (five years ago) link
this is a beautiful album and there are also autechre and derrick carter remixes
― the late great, Thursday, 7 February 2019 05:31 (five years ago) link
i bought a copy of millions now living when i was 14, i think trying to understand that record before i had any real context for it was... p influential on the kinds of music i was drawn to for years
my faves were always millions and standards, for some reason i found tnt too sleepy? but that’s why it’s so good
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 7 February 2019 05:39 (five years ago) link
I've def heard Millions before, just never been lucky enough to find a thrift-store copy (which is the source of 99% of my CDs)
― bhad bundy (Simon H.), Thursday, 7 February 2019 05:46 (five years ago) link
Millions and TNT both stone cold classics but nigh on incomparable imo. The latter is so warm and, indeed, sleepy and dreamlike. Millions more of a 'statement' record, albeit a truly remarkable one. It's funny how for quite an abstract track the the title song is etched into my memory, every twist and turn.
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 7 February 2019 09:28 (five years ago) link
Also, I'm not a real vinyl stan but the lp version of TNT just fucking grooves like the cd doesn't?
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 7 February 2019 09:29 (five years ago) link
Never managed to really get into Millions (too cold) and never cared much for Standards (too atonal), but TNT is probably amongst the ten most beautiful albums I know. Sometimes I'll pull it out to hear a specific riff or segue, just to end up listening to the whole damn thing.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 7 February 2019 10:37 (five years ago) link
This is still the one for me, it still has a lot of magic. And I always forget about some of the more heavily electronic sections near the end.
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 7 February 2019 15:42 (five years ago) link
I think the self-titled is the cold one - cold to the bone (and it has Bundy Brown: truly, we are not worthy). Millions is more expansive and open. TNT even more so.
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Thursday, 7 February 2019 16:16 (five years ago) link
There was an ILM contingent that used to talk a lot of shit about Tortoise iirc, but I think we all tend to abandon certain musical prejudices as we age (unless we are just stuck-in-the-mud assholes). I love this album.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 7 February 2019 17:01 (five years ago) link
FWIW TNT was actually the one that was the way in for me -- when I first heard the s/t I thought the people repping it to me had lost their minds.
i like the s/t ok but it's mostly interesting bc of where they went afterward
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 7 February 2019 17:12 (five years ago) link
The best way to hear the first 2 releases (Tortoise + Rhythms, Resolution & Clusters) is this nifty JP special edition that's like a seamless mix of the source material and some remixes and ephemera. Kinda renders the previous two moot:
https://www.discogs.com/Tortoise-A-Digest-Compendium-Of-The-Tortoises-World/master/3946
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, 7 February 2019 21:02 (five years ago) link
Relistening to TNT now, it's funny how people are Jeff Parker this/that, but Pajo is all over this, I guess people forgot he was still in the band at this point.
"The Suspension Bridge At Iguazu Falls" has a major section that is a pretty blatant rip-off of "The Theme From Endless Summer" from The Sandals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzh4i0u5Gto
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, 7 February 2019 21:41 (five years ago) link
Oh shit I was just at Iguazu Falls, I really missed an opportunity
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 7 February 2019 21:59 (five years ago) link
I always found it slightly amusic/annoying that they "rip off" Steve Reich but basically just do repetitive marimba shit that sounds vaguely steve reichy without any of the interesting phase-shifting aspect that makes Steve Reich's music what it is. I forgive them for it though.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 7 February 2019 23:28 (five years ago) link
Lol, which reminds me of the time I saw them close the Bang on a Can festival and just look pathetically sloppy following the musicians that played the rest of it. Again, forgiven though, still love the boys.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 7 February 2019 23:29 (five years ago) link
iirc Pajo left the group partway through recording this - so some of it is him and some of it is Parker, right?
It's funny to think that one of their best albums is also their "transitional" album. i.e., they very much settled into a sound once Parker joined the group and their lineup finally solidified. You can hear inklings of their past and their future in this record, but it's also arguably better than everything that came after.
Could be a fun thread - "superior 'transitional' albums". (Though I can't think of any other examples.)
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Thursday, 7 February 2019 23:37 (five years ago) link
I am overall a bigger fan of Parker Tortoise than Pajo Tortoise, even though I love Pajo. They sound a little too clean in the Pajo era at times, and Parker's off-kilter melodies spice things up a bit.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 7 February 2019 23:40 (five years ago) link
I'm a fan of every era, to be clear. Though as much as I like Parker's playing I do feel like the group in general has settled into something over the last 2-3 albums. I wish they'd shake it up a little more.
I saw them play years back and everything was very good and very nice and then they closed with Djed and you could just feel the ambition of that track. They've never really felt *ambitious* in a long time.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Thursday, 7 February 2019 23:46 (five years ago) link
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Thursday, February 7, 2019 4:37 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
love this idea. i'm sure i love a few that qualify
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 7 February 2019 23:54 (five years ago) link
I sometimes feel like music sort of "caught up" with them, and then they didn't really have a way to push things further.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 7 February 2019 23:55 (five years ago) link
I remember reading that TNT was their first album with Pro Tools, but in a small rehearsal space with minimal gear, so they had to laboriously record it one instrument at a time. Not a scenario they would want to repeat I'm sure, but it really worked.
― change display name (Jordan), Friday, 8 February 2019 00:28 (five years ago) link
ts: "la jetee" vs. "jetty"
― The Elvis of Nationalism and Amoral Patriotism (rushomancy), Friday, 8 February 2019 00:32 (five years ago) link
wrong album but i'm listening to millions now living rn and "glass museum" whips a ton of ass, i nearly forgot
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Friday, 8 February 2019 00:40 (five years ago) link
take it to the millions now living thread bub
― j., Friday, 8 February 2019 01:26 (five years ago) link
I like me some TNT, but I'll go with "La Jetee" every time fwiw--that first Isotope record is so much fun.
― Rad Macca (Craig D.), Friday, 8 February 2019 02:54 (five years ago) link
i listened to the first savath and savalas album today for the first time. parts of it really reminded me of TNT.
― mizzell, Tuesday, 19 March 2019 03:09 (five years ago) link
Loving this pfork set, it warms my heart to see all those old dudes playing this music
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 19 March 2019 17:20 (five years ago) link
me too!!that was one of the things i enjoyed about seeing the video :)
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, 19 March 2019 17:22 (five years ago) link
i find myself very distracted by mcentire’s chest tattoos.
― mizzell, Tuesday, 19 March 2019 17:36 (five years ago) link
lol @ playing their own vinyl for 'Almost Always is Nearly Enough', I wondered how they were going to do that (was hoping for sample pad jams).
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 19 March 2019 18:12 (five years ago) link
that pfork set is goddamn astonishing
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 21 March 2019 00:07 (five years ago) link
I bought this on CD for 4 bucks the other day cuz of this thread *thumbs up* a few friends of mine in HS owned it and played it a lot. The mournful melodica track towards the beginning always made me feel cold and lonely but I'm digging it more now.
― brimstead, Thursday, 21 March 2019 01:39 (five years ago) link
The Reichian stuff too.. that annoyed me back then for some reason but I'm liking it now
that pfork set is goddamn astonishing― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Wednesday, March 20, 2019 5:07 PM (four hours ago)
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Wednesday, March 20, 2019 5:07 PM (four hours ago)
...except for McCombs on "The Suspension Bridge at Iguazu Falls"... oof. Brutal. Went into a deep flubberage mode and never really got out of it.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, 21 March 2019 04:21 (five years ago) link
Just found that Savath and Salas album for £4 on eBay. Good love the internet; god love Chicagoan post-rock.
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Friday, 29 March 2019 19:17 (five years ago) link
Who is the sixth player in that pitchfork set (not counting horns and strings)? One youtube commenter said it's Bundy K Brown.
― 16 Historic English ILXors You Must Explore Soon (WmC), Friday, 29 March 2019 19:37 (five years ago) link
James Elkington, he was in Brokeback & 11th Dream Day.
https://www.discogs.com/artist/458195-James-Elkington?filter_anv=0&subtype=Instruments-Performance&type=Credits
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 29 March 2019 19:47 (five years ago) link
The guy on bass here:
https://i.imgur.com/I3XqiE5.jpg
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 29 March 2019 19:49 (five years ago) link
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, March 20, 2019 9:21 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i didn't really notice
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Friday, 29 March 2019 19:49 (five years ago) link
xp - thanks!
― 16 Historic English ILXors You Must Explore Soon (WmC), Friday, 29 March 2019 19:57 (five years ago) link
36:28 is when it starts (about 3 seconds of flubs... he immediately loses all looseness and starts playing stiffer)then the arpeggiations at 37:35 are flubbedwhen he comes back in at 38:07 he starts a series of flubs which sets off a total technical breakdown through the following 30 seconds (!), and while he's struggling to recover, thankfully the end of the song comes before soon.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 29 March 2019 19:57 (five years ago) link
i spotted doug mccombs at a voivod/yob show on wed nightthat guy can't hide anywhere also ilx tortoiseheads should know that he is also in a new trio called Black Duck with two other chicago people you should check out (MacKay/McCombs/Rumback)
Black Duck is an enigmatic & electric new outfit out of Chicago that features Douglas McCombs and Bill MacKay on guitars, and Charles Rumback on drums. The trio’s propulsive psych-inflected grooves and ethereal improvisations have found enthusiastic favor with fans of varied temperaments and motivations.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, 29 March 2019 20:31 (five years ago) link
man, I've seen Doug McCombs at Whole Foods
― jaymc, Friday, 29 March 2019 20:44 (five years ago) link
I interviewed Doug McCombs back in the day - in a pub on the Grays Inn Road, one of only three interviews I ever did in a shit career move that never quite happened. He was easy company. We spent most of the time talking about ATP wankers and Arnold Odermatt.
That is my Doug McCombs story.
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Friday, 29 March 2019 22:19 (five years ago) link
Got sent a link for this by a friend and during track one felt compelled to email them and say I was only watching more if he could assure me that McEntire survived until the end.
― djh, Wednesday, 3 April 2019 20:51 (five years ago) link
lol
― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 3 April 2019 20:55 (five years ago) link
"Suspension Bridge ..." is mesmerizing (to watch as well as listen to).
― djh, Wednesday, 3 April 2019 21:37 (five years ago) link
― djh, Wednesday, April 3, 2019 3:51 PM (fifty-three minutes ago)
hahaha, he's relaxed like Perry Como in that set compared to the times I've seen them live. Had his stare set to Maim, etc.
― ILX Loophole Converts Your IRA/401(k) to Physical Gold (WmC), Wednesday, 3 April 2019 21:48 (five years ago) link
I visited that bridge this year, true story
(although I think it's been replaced since TNT came out)
― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 3 April 2019 21:48 (five years ago) link