Tortoise: Standards

Hey, you don't know much about contmeporary
music at all if this is how you appraise the
tortoise 'standards' album. Just thought
you should know, given tortoise holds a
prominent position as one of the most significant
contributers in current music circles.
Get a brain.

Excuse me, but the very reason I got the album was to know more about contemporary music. I had read an interesting article about post rock from a Finnish magazine and being a fan of some of the bands mentioned in the article, I was interested to hear more. So, ignorance is hardly a reason for my less-than-glowing review. Tortoise's "status" is the main reason I still have the album.

So, I'm sorry - Standards just sounds a bit boring when compared to for example Can, Neu and Faust, all of which I was listening to a lot at that time. It's a perhaps a bit too ambient and not groovy enough. I don't care much about the general opinion - I have no problems listening to popular music, but I'm not going to like something just because someone else does so.

I haven't completely given up with Tortoise yet - I'm still very interested to hear Millions Now Living Will Never Die when I can get my hands on it.

My advice to everyone, no matter what they think about any Tortoise is to just KEEP listening... because the more you know it... the better it gets... this album in particular gets better, and better, and better every time

If you really want to appreciate Tortoise, see them live. When I first heard standards, I was sort of impressed, but seeing theses people on stage nearly flawlessly reproducing all of these sounds and melodies on that album was positively mindblowing. When you realize that each and every bit of every song is a fully formed idea and not just some noodling around, that next-to-nothing is sequenced (two guys sweating over vibraphones or marimbas or whatever those things are) and bear witness to the outpouring of soul and emotion that makes up these songs then you really experience Tortoise's music. The fact that they are "indie" or "post rock" or whatever label anyone wants to throw at them is bullshit. They make music. The fewer preconceptions you have the more you can simply enjoy the music. Don't look for something that sounds like Can or Faust. Personally, Standards most reminds me of Fred Frith and Henry Cow, but absolutely no one could hear their albums and think it was Tortoise. Why is it that no one ever compares jazz musicians? People seem to view it as, they're both making music, and just like they each have a unique personality, they each have a unique way of playing. The inspiration for music doesn't necessarily mean the duplication of it.