Tortoise Standards CD

The fourth full length from Tortoise, boldy announces their return following 1998's TNT. The leader's of innovation in a lot of ways, John McEntire and his clan continue with an excellent album. Standard jewelcase. 2001 release.

Tortoise: Douglas McCombs (guitar, lap steel guitar, bass); Dan Bitney (guitar, baritone saxophone, keyboards, vibraphone, marimba, bass, percussion); John McEntire (guitar, electric harpsichord, synthesizer, keyboards, drums); Jeff Parker (guitar, bass); John Herndon (keyboards, vibraphone, drums, programming).
Recorded at Soma Electronic Music Studios, Chicago, Illinois in 2000.
Revered for their ineffably clean, precise playing, Tortoise couldn't help but mess with the formula slightly on their fourth album, Standards. And from the beginning of the first track it sounds like a major overhaul, with heavily over-miced drums and distorted guitars framing a pummeling groove from bassist Doug McCombs. On the second track "Eros," the phlegmatic synthesizer lines and clipped drums are more reminiscent of experimental electronica outfit Mouse on Mars than any fellow post-rock luminaries. When the band finally hits its stride, though, midway through the third track, "Benway," it's with a quintessential Tortoise groove, driven by repetitive bass figures and a vibraphone melody (plus a hilarious nod to prog-rock at the end, with several seconds of stop-start playing). Standards does return the group to the green fields of their last record, but only occasionally; John McEntire and company appear too restless to consider making the same album twice. Ironically, despite the range of sounds, Tortoise is still doing what they've been doing for nearly a decade: playing some of the most empathic, group-minded rock of their era, then indulging in much recomposition courtesy of the mixing desk and various effects. "Monica" is one of the least Tortoise-sounding tracks the group has ever recorded; it sounds like an early-'80s pop/R&B track (complete with talkbox guitar) filtered through the lens of British IDM, but then mutates into an intriguing stereo-separation drum workout. Overall, Standards has a few detours for fans conscious of any band's "progression," but plenty of interesting songs and great musicianship for less vested listeners. Though it doesn't develop the evocative or impressionistic side of Tortoise (as heard on TNT), the band is certainly as inventive as ever. ~ John Bush
Chicago's post-rock godfathers Tortoise use STANDARDS as an opportunity to scale down from the computer-based constructions of their previous TNT. Instead of incorporating their former cut-and-paste method of composition on their fourth full-length album, the quintet return to playing and interacting with each other in a live setting, resulting in a much more organic feel.
The opener "The Benway" begins STANDARDS auspiciously, with rubato bursts of distorted guitar and free-floating drums, in an homage to jazz-rock guitarist Sonny Sharrock. From here on anything goes, as plaintive analog synth melodies vie with electronically processed percussion, Jeff Parker's trademark angular guitar riffs, and some of the trashiest-sounding drums this side of NUGGETS. As ever, Tortoise incorporates elements of electronic music, modern classical, experimental/avant garde, and hip-hop in a format that references the group's rock roots without ever bowing to rock convention.

Rolling Stone (3/1/01, pp.51-2) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...These instrumentals flirt with structure more intently than [they] have in the past....To be smart and original, playful and provocative - these are the standards...they achieve here as ingeniously as ever."
Spin (4/01, pp.154,156) - 7 out of 10 - "...Somewhere between the album we've been waiting for Eno to release since MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS and the album we wish Phish would stop releasing altogether....a cohesion of styles and impulses so tight we might call it originality..."
Entertainment Weekly (2/23/01, p.163) - "...A thing of strange beauty, with melodies and sensations slipping in and out of focus. It's mood music for post-post-moderns..." - Rating: B+
Q (4/01, p.113) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Somewhere between Zappa at his most playful and the smarter end of prog-rock with lots of post-rock oddness naturally, this is the Tortoise record you can recommend to your more staid friends without losing them."
Alternative Press (2/02, p.65) - Ranked #16 in AP's "25 Best Albums of 2001".
Alternative Press (3/01, p.94) - 4 out of 5 - "...Makes the most of [their] intellectual side...without ever losing sight of the music's ability to do more than engage the mind....The environment is controlled and precise, but the atmosphere is relaxed and alive."
Magnet (4-5/01, p.95) - "...Like Herbie Hancock wandering through the '80s, all lost at the jazz-fusion supermarket..."
The Wire (1/02, p.40) - Ranked #27 in Wire's "50 Records of the Year 2001".
Muzik (2/01, p.53) - 4 out of 5 - "...Technically precise it may be, but the emotional pay-off in tracks like 'Black Jack' and 'Eden 1' shatters those 'math-rock' preconceptions in precisely 2.76 seconds."
CMJ (2/12/01, p.4) - "...Sounding like an organic band again, molding jazz-rock grooves, abstract interplay and conceptualist post-isms into a sound so comfortably relaxed, recognizable and...fun, you'd never think anyone could accuse them of being overly intellectual..."
Down Beat (4/01, pp.62-3) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...Highly palatable anthems boasting syncopated rhythms, crunching fuzz-toned guitars and meaty analog electronics..."
Mojo (Publisher) (1/02, p.71) - Included in Mojo's "Best Underground Albums of 2001".
Mojo (Publisher) (3/01, p.91) - "...Finds the group playing with more intent and imagination - and sounding better - than ever before..."
NME (Magazine) (2/17/01, p.46) - 7 out of 10 - "...Like Stephen Hawking doing that physics experiment with springs and a clamp stand..."