Tortoise fans of the world! Explain yourselves!

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Anyone?

― Yoshinorimike (Yoshinorimike), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 16:32 (nineteen years ago)

THOSE TWO DRUMMERS TOTALLY FACE EACH OTHER WHEN THEY PLAY!!!

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 16:36 (nineteen years ago)

oh fuck off.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 16:36 (nineteen years ago)

Tortoise: Classic or Dud
does anybody else LOVE all of tortoise's AMG influences, but hate tortoise?
Should I be listening to Tortoise as well?
does anybody else LOVE all of tortoise's AMG influences, but hate tortoise?
Tortoise - It's all around you
C/D ::: Tortoise's TNT
Are post-rock bands [just] jam-bands?
Class, etc. pt. 4 - Did post-rock "kill" indie? (Also, did it realign the "rhythmic impulse" towards an alternative to funk-based rhythms?)

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 16:37 (nineteen years ago)

I can't explain it to you because you have tin ears.

― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 16:38 (nineteen years ago)

Ouch, ouch, and double ouch, but no explanations.

I'm just curious as to what about Tortoise moves its fans to declare themselves as such, in other words this question is a matter of personal expression, which I suppose includes hstencil's response, so thank you!

― Yoshinorimike (Yoshinorimike), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 16:49 (nineteen years ago)

Um . . . . They have written good songs which they have played well and which are well recorded. Shifting lineups have given different eras of the band distinct variations on a pleasing sound. Great drumming, catchy riffs, open space. It's not mysterious.

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 16:57 (nineteen years ago)

I love "Djed". It's taken me a long time to love it. It is very Krautrock-like. This is why I enjoy it. Also because it is long.

― mcd (mcd), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:00 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, Drew OTM. Great drumming, great guitar melodies, subtle sense of humor, original sound, well-recorded, etc.

― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:02 (nineteen years ago)

Out of curiosity, what Tortoise have you heard? What do you not "get" about them? The most common charge seems to be that they're just "pleasant" but nothing more -- in that case you need to listen to Standards.

― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:03 (nineteen years ago)

Well, I guess it just doesn't seem to me like the music that would inspire zealous fan-ship (does it?). Really, it's an innocuous question, one that I was hoping a zealous fan would sincerely answer.

― Yoshinorimike (Yoshinorimike), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:08 (nineteen years ago)

Have you ever seen them live?

― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:09 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, they're pretty amazing to watch live, esp. when there's like three dudes playing the vibraphone at once!

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:13 (nineteen years ago)

Haha, I realize that sounds vaguely sarcastic, but I meant it in earnest!

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:13 (nineteen years ago)

Awwwwwwwwww, it was funnier when it was sarcastic!

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:14 (nineteen years ago)

John McEntire looks like one of those intense orchestra conductors on stage.

― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:21 (nineteen years ago)

Intense I will agree with, but orchestra conductor? More like a sweaty monkey.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:25 (nineteen years ago)

Well, I'm just thinking of one particular show I guess - he was making these crazy angry faces and it looked like he was cueing people (and also maybe giving them nasty looks for fucking up)

― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:27 (nineteen years ago)

When I was about....ooh...twelve, I bought a single by the Sensational Alex Harvey Band called Boston Tea Party. They were on Top of the Pops and I was alone amongst my peers in buying it. They were all buying Abba or Leo Sayer (not that's there's anything wrong with that...) or listening to their brothers Deep Purple albums (which is fine). But after about the tenth kid said to me, that Boston Tea record is rubbish and the SAHB are poofs I gave up trying to explain why I liked it. Then I bought a Damned single and a Ramone single and things really got ugly.

And so it is to-day. In the last week, despite now being 41 and really past trying to justify my preferences I've found myself defending The Life Aquatic, Bad Santa, New Order, the British political system, the Madonna single, atheism, Micheal Houllebaq and my decision to stay home and look after the kids....so there is no way I am going to try and justify my deep and abiding appreciation of Tortoise, up to and including the last album incidentally.

OK?

― Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:32 (nineteen years ago)

Sorry about that rant...having a bad day...just ignore me...I'll be in the bath if anyone needs me. With a large whiskey. Listening to Gastra del Sol.

― Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:34 (nineteen years ago)

... now Gastr del Sol, they are shite

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:36 (nineteen years ago)

WRONG!

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:37 (nineteen years ago)

I'm only kidding guys!

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:40 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe you're confusing Tortoise with another band. I don't think of crazed, overzelous fans when I think of Toroise. Most people I know who are into them seem quite sane and reasonable.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:54 (nineteen years ago)

Oh my god, look, it's TORTOISE!!! AHHHAHAAAAAA!!!! HEEEEEE!!!!!

― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:06 (nineteen years ago)

McEntire's stage-face is basically that of a man on the verge of a very intense orgasm. I told someone this before they played Intonation, and so we both spent part of the set watching with that in mind, and yes -- his eyes roll back, he starts twitching and ticcing, it's like he's almost there, almost there ... it just never actually comes.

Anyway, question-asker, your question has been answered at incredible length on all of the threads Jaymc links. My personal justifications of Tortoise are mostly on the last of them (the "class" one). I am/was a fan, and as of the late 90s in Chicago I found them actually exciting and interesting to follow.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:26 (nineteen years ago)

Mmm that is quite a meaty juicy thread nabisco, thanks much everyone~

― Yoshinorimike (Yoshinorimike), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 21:58 (nineteen years ago)

Mein Rezept? Dreimal Solar Musli und dann LANG ABSTREIFEN. . . .

― Grobschnitt, Wednesday, 7 December 2005 23:24 (nineteen years ago)

one of the most amazing live bands around. ask the hippies.

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 23:29 (nineteen years ago)

esp. when there's like three dudes playing the vibraphone at once!

wait, all playing THE SAME vibraphone??

― turboalbino (haitch), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 23:31 (nineteen years ago)

i thought "the vibraphone" was a band member named lucy?
m.

― msp (mspa), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 23:38 (nineteen years ago)

oh wait... that was tootus.
m.

― msp (mspa), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 23:42 (nineteen years ago)

post-rock pervs tortoise in vibraphone-mudshark sex shockah

― turboalbino (haitch), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 23:45 (nineteen years ago)

Nah, there's usually two vibraphones, facing each other, with two dudes on one and the other dude on the other.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 23:45 (nineteen years ago)

IIRC, it's usually Herndon on one and Parker and Bitney on the other.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 23:49 (nineteen years ago)

And this is mostly just for "Ten-Day Interval."

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 23:50 (nineteen years ago)

also classic for that 1995 feeling.

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 8 December 2005 00:02 (nineteen years ago)

i think i finally enjoyed djed for the first time this year

― dabnis coleman's ghost (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 December 2005 00:03 (nineteen years ago)

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