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Tortoise
On Tour
4,795,040 plays (245,545 listeners)
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.
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.
Top Albums
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TNT
Tortoise
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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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Shoutbox
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JayniJade22 wrote:
Tortoise is my favorite.
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Miblo wrote:
Their awesome session for KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic can be watched and listened to here (http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb/mb090708tortoise), for any interested parties.
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Vofsking12 wrote:
I'm telling you guys, if you came and played the Aggie Theater in Fort Collins, Colorado, I could fill the place with people I know!
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VeronicaPuga wrote:
northern something <3
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Cacophonaut wrote:
Drewmanschu - I started with their s/t, then TNT and Millions Now Living Will Never Die.
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methylphenidat wrote:
saw them last month (Nov.2009)in the e-werk (Erlangen, Germany), the're also live unique. I like all their albums exept "It's All Around You". The new album "Beacons .." is not as groundbreaking as their fist albums, but it's anyway a nice record.
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MattKlomp1 wrote:
Miss seeing these guys - such an incredible live band. Also a big fan of Pelican. Anyone heard their new record? http://www.last.fm/music/Pelican
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hullerombuller wrote:
"Beacons of Ancestorship" by Tortoise made it to number 2 on my top 60 of albums released in 2009.
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Anira_Sugar wrote:
Nice!
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Drewmanschu wrote:
If i were to start with a tortoise album, which one would I start with?
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majerol80 wrote:
great show in poznan! a rough sound so a rough play! good luck with the rest of the tour, hopefully in better sound conditions!!
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drthatguy wrote:
lol standards is by far their least jazziest (though I am yet to check out the new one). Go with TNT. everyone should own that one, just don't expect any vocals.
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hornygirl3 wrote:
djeeeeeeeeed
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messo wrote:
Saw them last night. What a sight! Multiple moments of delight :)
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foolonahill235 wrote:
TNT is definitely the jazziest, not to mention the best
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Piepi wrote:
http://www.nn-online.de/artikel.asp?art=1132734&kat=48
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SOLOMUSIKA wrote:
...*♫♪ ♫♪ ♥♥♥
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metalickl wrote:
one of the most inventive, influential groups.
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Erica_vvc wrote:
Tortoise Live Concert in Firenze 26/11/2009 http://bit.ly/4wQGJS follow me on twitter @tuscanytunes!
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matelli wrote:
mmmmm... Gigantes x
Videos
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Events
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Feb
11
Tortoise
Headliners, Louisville KY, United States
Add shout
| 8 attendees
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Feb
12
Tortoise
Exit/In, Nashville TN, United States
1 shout
| 11 attendees
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Feb
13
Tortoise
Bottletree, Birmingham AL, United States
1 shout
| 11 attendees
Listeners
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disneygirl
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gar_bailey
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kojitakii
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Recent Activity
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phil7970 added Tortoise to phil7970’s library. 59 minutes ago
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nervousxlight tagged Tortoise with indie, electronic, experimental and one other tag. 6 hours ago
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shawnoconnor added Tortoise to shawnoconnor’s library. 7 hours ago
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TorchingKorovev tagged Tortoise with electronic, dub, krautrock and 2 other tags. yesterday evening
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FunkmastaJambro wrote about Tortoise in Beginning of 2010.. yesterday evening
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aralucia added Tortoise to aralucia’s library. yesterday evening
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vlieg added Tortoise to the lineup of Tortoise at Ancienne Belgique. yesterday evening
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TheresaBanks tagged Tortoise with seen live, american and post-rock. yesterday afternoon
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Arolowana, jvalette, zooeyes and 5 other people added Tortoise to their libraries. yesterday afternoon
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MaPey wrote about Tortoise in 2009: a retrospective. Thursday afternoon
Related Journals
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Beginning of 2010.
by FunkmastaJambro |
1 Jan 2010 | Add comment
-
2009
by flowbackwards |
31 Dec 2009 | Add comment
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My Year In Music - 2009
by Quicksand227 |
31 Dec 2009 | 1 comment
Groups (210)
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República Experimental de Chile
44 members
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Tortoise
185 members
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School of Rock Italia
33 members
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The Sea and Cake
103 members
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post rock thailand
58 members
