dubplatestyle
Well-known member
Tortoise! Why are they so hated? Is it just residual backlash from their critical apex circa late 98/early 99? Is it because they haven't released anything good since then? (<i>Standards</i> left no impression on me the few times I heard it, and I never bothered with the most recent one, even though a few people have suggested I do so.) Is it because they were "a bad idea"? I hear this a lot...that they represented something of the nadir of 90s pick'n'mix culture, that they had no aesthetic spine, that they killed post-rock as an idea and a reality, that they killed a bunch of other good bands (Stereolab, The Sea & Cake), that they were just lite jazz dressed up with mod 90s frills, that they stripped rock of everything that made it interesting (verse-chorus-verse, obvious hooks, the big beat).
Well, as for the first, surely that's Beck? Or the whole Grand Royal thing? Despite the lull and switchback nature of their genre hopping, Tortoise had a pretty definable sound, whether it was the marimba/vibraphone, the heavy-lidded bass (where most of the melodies came from), or the drumming, which was always consistently excellent. I'm not so sure post-rock was ever a good idea as everyone made it out to be. With a few exceptions (Disco Inferno, Bark Psychosis), almost none of the bands were doing anything with <i>songs</i> or <i>riffs</i> (i.e. the rock part) and it very quickly dissolved post-Tortoise into the sorta nebulous "electronica" interzone where yr Morr/Carpark/Lali Puna/To Rococo Rots reside now. Which is what Tortoise always was - ambient music. Albiet a highly melodic, rhythmically nuanced ambient played by real live humans.
(I can't really argue that they killed Stereolab or the Sea & Cake, but surely that was a case of those artists taking on too much of the sound of their producers/members other bands when their real strengths lay elsewhere? Don't blame Tortoise for other peoples lack of self-confidence!)
I will always have time for Tortoise, whether it's hip or not. They were one of the best bands of the 90s for me. I'm still not much convinced by "Djed" (a little too showoffy cutesy-poo) but all three of their studio albums have much to recommend them and the Japanese-only remixes disc is out of this world. I'd probably rank T.N.T. the best, which is of course where people began deserting ship en masse, but it's a perfectly elegant album and good for late night listening or (bathos ahoy) chilling out in a "back to mine" sort of way.
What say you, Dissensus?
Well, as for the first, surely that's Beck? Or the whole Grand Royal thing? Despite the lull and switchback nature of their genre hopping, Tortoise had a pretty definable sound, whether it was the marimba/vibraphone, the heavy-lidded bass (where most of the melodies came from), or the drumming, which was always consistently excellent. I'm not so sure post-rock was ever a good idea as everyone made it out to be. With a few exceptions (Disco Inferno, Bark Psychosis), almost none of the bands were doing anything with <i>songs</i> or <i>riffs</i> (i.e. the rock part) and it very quickly dissolved post-Tortoise into the sorta nebulous "electronica" interzone where yr Morr/Carpark/Lali Puna/To Rococo Rots reside now. Which is what Tortoise always was - ambient music. Albiet a highly melodic, rhythmically nuanced ambient played by real live humans.
(I can't really argue that they killed Stereolab or the Sea & Cake, but surely that was a case of those artists taking on too much of the sound of their producers/members other bands when their real strengths lay elsewhere? Don't blame Tortoise for other peoples lack of self-confidence!)
I will always have time for Tortoise, whether it's hip or not. They were one of the best bands of the 90s for me. I'm still not much convinced by "Djed" (a little too showoffy cutesy-poo) but all three of their studio albums have much to recommend them and the Japanese-only remixes disc is out of this world. I'd probably rank T.N.T. the best, which is of course where people began deserting ship en masse, but it's a perfectly elegant album and good for late night listening or (bathos ahoy) chilling out in a "back to mine" sort of way.
What say you, Dissensus?