Tortoise - Beacons of Ancestorship (June 23, 2009)

Beacons of Ancestorship:

01 High Class Slim Came Floatin' In
02 Prepare Your Coffin
03 Northern Something
04 Gigantes
05 Penumbra
06 Yinxianghechengqi
07 The Fall of Seven Diamonds Plus One
08 Minors
09 Monument Six One Thousand
10 de Chelly
11 Charteroak Foundation

http://pitchfork.com/news/34908-tortoise-announce-new-album-details/

I didn't like the previous one much, btw, but they've had five years

I quite liked the last one actually (after hating Standards) but I'm not sure I need any more Tortoise in my life.

really good track names

looking forward to this

really good track names

maybe we should make an IMM tortoise album?

I'm looking forward to shouting out "Yinxianghechengqi" at shows. I guess it would be kind of funny to shout out "In Sarah, Mencken, Christ, and Beethoven There Were Women and Men," too.

At a show around '95 or so, some guy in the audience kept yelling "PLAY ALL NIGHT!!!," and after the fifth of sixth time, John Herndon intro'd a song by saying flatly, "This one is called 'All Night.'"

fifth OR sixth

(that long word is a Chinese synth clone, apparently)

(hmm. scroll up half a page there)

Based on my limited knowledge of Chinese, that word is pronounced "yin-shee-ahng-huh-chung-chee" (the "huh" isn't quite right, it's more like "her" without the "r").

maybe we should make an IMM tortoise album?

Tortoise is probably the band I feel like I could most effectively imitate.

At the Junior Boys show last week, a guy in front of me overheard me tell my friend Leah that there was a new Tortoise album coming out. He turned around and said, "It's not that good." I asked him if it had leaked already. He said, "No, I work for Thrill Jockey." ;_;

Ha! Busted. Reminds me a little of when I saw some show and there was a dude telling his friend about the new Pixies track, "Bam Thwok."

Dude #1: Is it any good?
Dude #2: No. I mean, I haven't heard it, but I heard it wasn't good.

xp wow what a dick.

Well, I think this dude did in fact hear the Tortoise album, since it was probably played around the office.

just because he works at TJ doesn't mean he's right!

"Well, I think this dude did in fact hear the Tortoise album, since it was probably played around the office."

That's fine, but to casually announce prior to its release that it sucks to two fans? That just seems lame to me.

Esp. since they're largely the butter on TJ's bread.

yeah, no kidding -- you don't have to like everything a label you work for puts out, but it seems dumb to broadcast it.

Oh I agree w/that, I was responding to Josh.

word.

btw i finally heard that bonnie prince billy/tortoise album, some really nice stuff on there.

I heard it sucks.

Interesting, Josh in Chicago

I would like to hear more stuff similar to their self-titled album
but most of their stuff is acquired listening i think.

x-post Obv. I was making a joke. Or maybe not so obviously.

i've also heard it's not that good ... on this thread.

I'm pretty far away from listening to Tortoise right now. I'm sure I'll circle back around to them eventually, but at present they just seem boring as fuck (and I really like Tortoise, theoretically).

New song:
http://pitchfork.com/news/35239-tortoise-premiere-new-song-prepare-your-coffin-announce-tour/

i like it, i think the loud drums & synths bode well. also it would make good music for a mega man stage.

yeah this sounds pretty cool...more prog vibe

i may have to give it a listen just for dropping a line from my favorite ZZ Top song.

i like it, i think the loud drums & synths bode well. also it would make good music for a mega man stage.

OTM!!!!

Another new song:
http://stereogum.com/archives/mp3/new-tortoise-high-class-slim-came-floatin-in-stere_067551.html

man this shit sounds pretty dope

Yesssssss

:D

way to put all those analog synths at soma to work

I like "Prepare Your Coffin" okay, but "High Class Slim" has extra that-shit-is-dope.

lets try to be realistic here:
1998 - tnt - great
2001 - standatrs - mediocre and standard
2004 - it's all around you - mediocre
2009 - (11 years afer tnt) - whats the chance for another great record?

According to guys who work for Thrill Jockey very slim, but I'll keep an open mind thanks!

thank god this is actually basass after that last album

i think they've been listening to battles (and i mean that in a GOOD way)

i got this in the mail today and i think i might actually listen to it. now that i am 40, i think i am ready for post-rock. (in other words, half-dead.)

um, i am still gonna listen to the new hatebreed covers album first though...

2004 - it's all around you - mediocre

^^"mediocre" is pretty a pretty kind take on that album IMO

but Standards is still great.

first listen and this sounds pretty good. love those dry, heavy synths up front in the mix.

the synths remind me of the soundtrack to The Warriors

I'm listening to It's All Around You right now, and it's sounding pretty awesome. Standards is my fave, fwiw.

i like IAAY

a friend of mine is friends w/doug and saw him recently...apparently doug said that recording "the brave and the bold" with bonnie prince billy was sort of responsible for a chang in direction or approach for them.

listening again, these tracks have a similar vibe to some of those songs, particularly the "born to run" cover

OK, this is awesome (and I've only listened to Prepare Your Coffin so far.

Tortoise is a band where I wouldn't rate the albums as much as individual songs. TNT definitely has some low moments as do all their albums. Also I'm all aboard It's All Around You train. I even have a small poster of that album cover (because it rocks). It's All Around You is arguably the most cohesive Tortoise album. The other albums are pretty much a random mix - but yeah, I guess each album has its own individual feel. In any case the diversity of each album from one another should be plenty enough reason to give Beacons a chance.

And did anyone hear A Lazarus Taxon? That album is absolutely necessary and ranks way up high on the Tortoise catalog. They put some of the best unreleased tracks (or rare bonus tracks) on that album - along with a bunch of Tortoise EPs I hadn't the pleasure of hearing beforehand.

I never really gave The Brave and the Bold much of a chance but I liked the Elton John cover.

I have the sudden urge to listen to 'Spiderwebbed' from their self-titled album, the album that I wish Tortoise would imitate more than any other album of theirs, even though s/t is not their best album by any means.

spiderwebbed is awesome. these two new tracks sound cool, i haven't been following tortoise for a long time, but all their records seem worthwhile.

very true. standards and IAAY came out during the tortoise/post-rock backlash so many people just like to talk shit about those records. the band is pretty untouchable in my opinion.

i don't like to talk shit about tortoise i swear! i just don't like that album!

actually i'm pretty sure you do, matt

i swear on the honor of bundy k brown!

I never got into IAAY at all but I know a few folks who kept with it and hold it up as being pretty good now. I just thought it was too close to the tone of Standards in a way that the previous albums hadn't been.

"And did anyone hear A Lazarus Taxon? That album is absolutely necessary and ranks way up high on the Tortoise catalog. They put some of the best unreleased tracks (or rare bonus tracks) on that album - along with a bunch of Tortoise EPs I hadn't the pleasure of hearing beforehand."

There's nothing new on it though? It basically proves the point that they used to be better, doesn't it?

Btw I have heard it and it's great (and cheap, like 3 CDs and a DVD for $20?)

My favorite is "Gamera"/"Cliff Dweller Society" which was originally released as an EP. It's amazing. It's on the 3 CD comp, which is reason enough to buy it. But I don't understand why the cuts were split between two of the discs, since they are meant to be of one piece, connected by fade out and fade in.

A friend of mine described "Prepare your own coffin" as similar to the Neil Schon/Jan Hammer fusion jams from the early '80's. Make of that what you will.

i didn't care for the other song half as much as "Prepare your own coffin". Basically the keyboard synth at the end is extremely repetitive... not that this is always a bad thing since the music is mutating -but I don't really picture tortoise "jamming" like that. I dunno what I'm trying to say.

Tortoise should cover some Steve Reich tunes. Those guys were bad ass on dueling zylophones when I saw them in 96 or so.

"prepare your own coffin" sounds more "jammy" to me than "the other one"

the end of High Class Slim is just boring to me - it's more for tranced out stoners

"stoners need postrock too"

if you are stoned you will like just about any trance or jamming

> if you are stoned you will like just about any trance or jamming

Lies, and bordering on hate speech.

lol

i saw tortoise way stoned in 1998 and i was convinced they were playing nothing but Stevie Wonder songs.

haha!

for reals, though, do they have a song that sounds kinda like "Superstition"? FOR REALS.

leaked

You guys are just plain wrong on this one, listening to It's All Around You and it kicks as much ass as I recall.

It's All Around You floats my boat.

yeah it's the one i listen to most. whoever said upthread that it's albumy or whatever is otm

who said standards was mediocre???

Zeno did! Let's beat him up!

Apart from Monica, standards really isn't that great.

i don't know what the haters are expecting from tortoise albums. they all sound like tortoise to me. mcentire and herndon could fart rhythms into a microphone and it would sound awesome.

I like this slim track -- weird mixing but that's their schtick I guess.

Middle part is very Dirty Harry-era Lalo Schiffrin

It reminded me of early Trans-Am, but then they did get a lot of their ideas from the 70s...

mcentire and herndon could fart rhythms into a microphone and it would sound awesome.

You'll know there's an ILM reader in the crowd at the Tortoise show when you hear "Play the fart song!"

the entire "bumps" album was fart based source material

Wow, this album is awesome. Big departure, sonically.

leaky leaky

Those going to see Tortoise at Pitchfork Fest can vote for the setlist. Add "Gamera" and "Cliff Dweller Society," you won't be disappointed! http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB228WHGCCNNG

interesting... I voted for what you said and added Spiderwebbed, On The Chin, Seneca, Monica, and Sexual For Elizabeth

what a crap album title...hurts to say aloud, just like the Junior Boys' latest...

and Grizzly Bear's latest is called Veckamitest?!...what the hell is that, the vitamin peddled by Lucy Ricardo?

I like the explicit Norman McLaren props in the JB one tho

Man, the second track on this sounds like "Los Endos" by Genesis. And thats not a bad thing. I liked it! The album itself is quite all over the place but nothing seemed crap on one listen. I liked it.

"high class slim came floatin' in" is a major jam

06 Yinxianghechengqi is the best jam on the album

"Gigantes" is my favorite after a couple listens. also "The fall of seven diamonds plus one" for the obligatory Morriconeisms, pretty good album, though not overwelmingly so, have the feeling it will continue to grow on me.

never mind, its pretty awesome really, just less catchy tunes/weirder/noisier than previous efforts.

"gigantes" reminds me of the new field album, in a really good way

No hits again then, oh well. (xpost)

I think it's hard for instrumental music to have hits in general.

I was just kidding Re: Tortoise having hits (the horror) , but it's been done, see the chicken dance/birdie song, Telstar, Apache, etc.

johnny herndon and jeff parker played tonight w/ tommy guerrero. i was supposed to go but didn't.

Midway through my first listen to this. It isn't what I was expecting. More cool jammy fun, less turtle-necked po-faced jazz-rock than I've built them up to be in my head. I like it so far.

I don't think I realized the extent of the influence of Tortoise on Ratatat (a band I haven't listened to in a few years, although now I kind of want to) until I listened to this.

"Gigantes" is the one that sticks out as the monster jam.

i've taken a bit of a break from this, will have to revisit to see if i'm still crazy about it.

Need to check this out. So a bit of a departure then?
Judging from this thread; it seems like you can't like both Standards and IAAY (hate the former, quite like the latter even though it's no TNT)

http://www.xlr8r.com/news/2009/08/new-tortoise-remixes-drop-mid-au

Eye and Mark Ernestus remixes...both excellent, Eye freaks the fuck out (per usual) and Ernestus turns Gigantes into a near-dubstep jam...

where can I hear Ernestus rmx now?

I was going to say "I know, right?" but then thought that would be confusing.

Anyway, just came across this neat little piece where the band talks about the album track-by-track:
http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/music/75595/tortoise-talks-beacons-track-by-track

TORTOISE: Beacons Of Ancestorship Remixes 12" (THR 012.34EP) 12.00

Finally out! Very exciting.

And streaming on the Thrill Jockey site.

i am feeling the EYe remix

this album was surprisingly listenable. they came into my mom's radio station and i got a signed copy. one of them wrote "beer is nice" :D

Finally got this and it is very good!

Also, a strikingly different version of Gigantes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qDCWyjyrgE

Ernestus remix is just meh, but EYE remix is amazing.

alex, where have you heard these? and where can i hear them?

http://www.thrilljockey.com/catalog/index.html?id=104245

God the EYE remix of High Class Slim is like WTF good. I went on a Boredoms downloading spree after I heard it but I haven't found anything this good. Something about motorik+noise just kills me.

I haven't heard any of the remixes for this album.. is it just the High Class Slim Eyeremix and Gigants Marke Ernestus remix?

charteroak foundation soooooooooooooooo good

c/d songs with guitar lines "over" the rest of the song

These guys were fantastic live last month. V tight.

Agreed, I just saw them last Friday and they're still great live. Relistened to Beacons over the weekend and I like it even better now having seen some of the songs performed. It feels like a much stronger record than It's All Around You.

Why did it take me so fucking long to really give this a proper listen?? This album makes me
a) remember why I fell in love with this band in the first place
b) resent my mom even more for losing my lovely Tortoise shirt in laundry hell
c) realize "Standards" is only my favorite album because it's the first one I really got to know.

hooray!

Does "Northern Something" remind anyone else of a heavy old-school 808 State jam?

Really like this one. Especially Slim.

iirc my jam was "Gigantes"

just reread some of this thread and how did i not understand just how much of a dick the thrill jockey guy was being when he told me, pre-release, that this album wasn't that good. i totally took it at face value, like, well, i guess he's in the know!

i've never lived as close to soma studio as i do know. i'm like a little under a mile away.

(know=now)

Can you hear them tune their xylophones in the middle of the night?

didn't Soma close?