I have wanted to write about Tortoise for a long time. The release of their new 3 CD + 1 DVD boxed set (priced affordably at 19 dollars and entitled A Lazarus Taxon) seemed like a good occasion to talk about them.
I just purchased A Lazarus Taxon (a title which I interpret as having to do with a restoration of order or a reorganization) and have yet to listen to more than two tracks on the first CD. Already I love it. One of the reasons I have put off blogging about one of my favorite bands, is simply because I don’t know where to begin. I don’t how to describe Tortoise to a person who’s never heard them. Most of the time when I play one of their CDs to a friend they either don’t get it or don’t like it. Very few people love them right off the bat. My first experience with Tortoise was in college during my first semester and some hippie kid played the first Tortoise release for me. I didn’t know what the hell was going on, it was this droning textural mess, it made me feel uncomfortable at times but I sat there and listened to the whole fucking album. I was so confused by what I was listening to that I sat there and hoped I would figure it out.
Confused? Yeah, I was confused. At the time, was used to instrumental music being break-neck speed funk/fusion/progressive/latin/bebop death metal. The idea that a group of guys would get together in a garage, unbridled by the constraints of a singer, use some weirdo instrumentation and play this really creative, ambient, mellow… noise was beyond me. It was beyond me so much that even though I own every CD they’ve released, I didn’t really come to the realization that I rank this band among my favorites until last year. Weird huh?
Even weirder is how a lot of the other “post-rock” groups that most Tortoise fans are into don’t really do it for me. Mogwai.. eh. Godspeed You, Black Emporer!… eh. Sea & Cake… well, I actually really like Sea & Cake, but really I’m not nearly as enthralled them like I am Tortoise. Go figure. So much for indie rock genre-ization. I guess it’s also ok that some people like the Stones and not the Beatles. But they are wrong.
How’s that for a review? Totally uninformative.
I assume you know that the drummer for The Sea & Cake is also the drummer for Tortoise? I’m still attempting to get into Tortoise, I don’t hate them, but I don’t know enough to love them either.
Yeah I knew that. I really like Sam Prekop’s solo stuff, too.