I own two albums by Chicago band Tortoise, their second album Millions Now Living Will Never Die, released in 1996 and containing the still astonishing twenty minute opening track Djed. Millions Now Living... made Tortoise the standard bearers for post- rock, a name/ genre they denied (and having recently got back together still deny- personally I quite liked the idea that as Britpop spluttered out into Richard Ashcroft solo albums and grunge was definitely over and done, that we were in some way post- rock but I can see why bands reject simple pigeonholing labels too and as a label post- rock was off putting, academic and a tad joyless).
The other Tortoise album I own is a three CD/ 1 DVD box set from 2006 called A Lazarus Taxon, a compilation that rounded up singles, non- album tracks and remixes. There's a lot of music on A Lazarus Taxon and a lot of ground is covered. Tortoise were always as much about groove and texture as songs, and the triple crown of dub, krautrock/ cosmische and experimental electronic music inspired them as much as any guitar bands did- or that's how it seemed. Between them the group were big fans of minimalism, punk, hardcore and jazz as well.
A Lazarus Taxon's first disc kicks off with Gamera, an eleven minute single from 1995 for the Duophonic label. It begins with an acoustic guitar playing a folky finger picking part, the squeaks of the fingers on the strings clearly audible. There is a hum growing in the background that gradually works its way forward and then at two and a half minutes drums, Can or Neu! like rhythms, the louder buzz of amps being overloaded and a guitar line, and then more sounds, organ maybe, keys/ synths, another guitar. Tortoise sometimes came across in print as a bit too cerebral, an exercise in musical experimentation. There's none of that in the actual music- Gamera is thrilling and alive, an eleven minute journey that never lets up.
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