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Tortoise

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Tortoise’s almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, and the group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago’s fertile music scene, playing in various indie rock and punk groups. Tortoise was among the first American indie rock bands to incorporate styles closer to krautrock, dub, minimalism, electronica and various jazz styles, rather than the standard rock and roll and punk that had dominated indie rock for years.

Some have cited Tortoise as being one of the prime forces behind the development and popularity of the so-called “post-rock” movement. Others, however, have criticized Tortoise’s music as being derivative of progressive rock and argue that Tortoise have been subject to much undeserved hype for such a relatively new ensemble.

Other groups related to Tortoise include The Sea and Cake, Brokeback, Shrimp Boat, Isotope 217 and the Chicago Underground Duo. Tortoise records on the Thrill Jockey label.

The group’s origins lie in the late 1980’s pairing of McCombs and Herndon, who imagined themselves as a freelance rhythm section (like reggae legends Sly And Robbie). That idea never saw fruition (but in the summer of 2007 they formed the group Bumps and released a record with the same name on indie hip-hop label Stones Throw records, their interest in grooving rhythms and recording studio trickery led to McEntire and Brown (both formerly of Bastro) joining, followed by Bitney.

Tagged as:

post-rock, instrumental, experimental, indie, post rock
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TNT
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Beacons Of Ancestorship
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Millions Now Living Will Never Die
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Standards
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Top Tracks

1	TNT	582
2	Swung From the Gutters	506
3	I Set My Face to the Hillside	478
4	High Class Slim Came Floatin' In	415
5	Northern Something	414
6	Prepare Your Coffin free download	412
7	Gigantes	403
8	Djed	401
9	Ten-Day Interval	397
10	Glass Museum	389
11	A Simple Way to Go Faster Than Light That Does Not Work	374
12	The Equator	362
13	Penumbra	360
14	Everglade	356
15	Four-Day Interval	315

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mezuss wrote:
yesterday evening

indeed :)

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Crustclock wrote:
Thursday afternoon

What an amazing band. My discovery of the year so far.

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chinneths wrote:
Sunday evening

good shite

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poeq wrote:
last week

agreed

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optimistic_tour wrote:
14 days ago

it's true, that Jaga Jazzist is great.

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brukarnamn wrote:
last month

some tortoise fans might enjoy the new jaga jazzist album (partly produced by john mcentire): http://www.last.fm/music/Jaga+Jazzist/One-Armed+Bandit. i admit that i am one of those fans.

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Selenaru_Negrea wrote:
last month

My copy of Millions Now Living has a really great bunch of bonus tracks out of which Restless Water, along with one of the last parts of Djed, remind me uncanningly of trip-hop...

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maxahasveros wrote:
last month

best recommendation from last fm

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wasocu wrote:
last month

Hello...I would like to invite you to listen to this http://www.last.fm/music/Wacky+Southern+Current

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danilofloydiano wrote:
last month

bom d+

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messo wrote:
last month

For those interested there's a full concert, videotaped by Rai.tv. of Tortoise playing in Italy available to stream here. Personally, I think it's some of the best video footage I've seen with these guys :)

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poeq wrote:
last month

<3 <3 <3

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romao_ wrote:
last month

tortoise is amazing!

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rockxcasbah wrote:
last month

My friend turned me on to Tortoise and now I can't get enough!

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thismirror wrote:
last month

<3

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Warmsounds wrote:
last month

getting to see them next saturday in chicago! super excited.

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behindtheaegis wrote:
last month

i missed these guys last time they were in town due to a dinner/date arrangement i made before my friend got tickets :( i will not miss the next show, though. i have only heard good things

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rofoides wrote:
January 2010

come play to greece

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andover wrote:
January 2010

And I've nearly done it! 2 tracks away. It has been a journey.

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andover wrote:
January 2010

A Lazarus Taxon is so epic. It's tough making it all the way through.

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See all 514 shouts

Videos

Events

May 7 Tortoise Forum Theatre, Melbourne, Australia
2 shouts | 10 attendees
May 10 TORTOISE JAPAN TOUR 2010 Shinsaibashi CLUB QUATTRO, 大阪, Osaka, Japan
Add shout | 4 attendees
May 11 TORTOISE JAPAN TOUR 2010 Tokyo LAFORET MUSEUM ROPPONGI, 東京, Japan
Add shout | 14 attendees