(Enjoy another excellent writeup from our new contributor Paige Maguire)
Since 1990, Chicago’s Tortoise has effortlessly defied easy categorization. Operating somewhere between Krautrock and prog, post-rock and jazz, the group and their longtime label (Thrill Jockey) have offered indie music much to be inspired by and indebted to.

It’s been five years since the band released a full-length with all new material, and we’re ready for it. Few do what these guys do well, making the remix, electronica, jazz and ambient noise play nicely with deep rhythm sections and patient atmospheres. It’s no easy task, but the veterans show they’ve still got chops.

Tortoise has always been somewhat genre negligent, but this record finds them articulating this flexibility with a stiff sort of force. At times, the songs float in a post-Virgin Suicides Air-powered dance club (“Minors”, “The Fall of Seven Diamonds Plus One”) reminiscent of the Tortoise we’ve grown accustomed to over the years. The real highlights on this album, however, happen in between those moments. “Gigantes” is a six and a half minute, busty jaunt through the band’s more upbeat tendencies, and “Monument Six One Thousand” pays homage to several modern day glitch and avant auteurs (Four Tet, Clark) with dancey blips. “De Chelly” goes post-modern, sounding like Wendy Carlos’ Beethoven performed in Eden. Closing track “Charteroak Foundation” meanders through elements focused on previously throughout the record, but at over five minutes begins to pull its partners down. I can’t help but wish that the album ended with “De Chelly” one minute longer, closed with a John McEntire drum solo heart attack.

Overall the album is meticulously arranged, perhaps too much so. Its brightest moments fuse Tortoise’s unmistakable sound with post-Tortoise inspirations, making it an unbelievably ambitious undertaking — like writing your own biography and finishing the last few chapters with comments on how much your children are like you. Always gorgeous and immensely listenable, Beacons is bound to appear on many end of the year lists.

Tortoise – Prepare Your Coffin
Tortoise – High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 1:34 pm and is filed under New Music, This Just In. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.