Customer Reviews

Standards

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Yo, a couple of people obviously don't really have a problem so much with this record itself, but the "demographic" who listen to it. Well, my friends, the question is not about who listens to this, but about what kind of music the musicians themselves are making.

Actually, I was very disappointed with this album when it first came out. Being an enthusiastic fan of "Millions Now Living..." and "TNT", I believed that Tortoise had lost their epic and experimental flair. Well, give it a little while to find its way into your happy place - I'm a believer now. The virtue of Tortoise's past records was all of the divergent paths that the band tried on for size. Whether it was the pastoral sonic poetry of "I Set My Face to the Hillside" or the floating "Glass Museum", Tortoise seemed to have a real flair for a sort of meditative instrumental rock.

Well, "Standards" is a vastly different affair. On the whole, the sound is extremely focused, as close to a truly conventional album as Tortoise has ever come. Also, I'd say there's a bit more emphasis on American music styles, a la free-form Jazz, Funk, R&B, etc. However, the songs also tell a clearer story this time around. I know that sounds pretentious, but it wasn't until I realized that that I was able to relish this album.

On the whole, it's hilarious that some people hate this music (the people who listen to this music) so much that they have to completely trash it because of the people who listen to it. I personally bought this because of my love for Tortoise's back catalogue. I suspect Tortoise is just a group of guys who enjoy making music, just like any other hard-working band. So judge them based on their records...that being said, given time, this stands strong with the rest of their work.

Now I get to trot out my indie rock snob identity card and say that I have enjoyed Tortoise since they first appeared in record stores with their Gamera EP, and their self-titled first lp and a masterpiece by any realm of the imagination.

Their first album, maybe out of some kind of nostalgia of mine, is still my favourite record. It's so pure and simple and unadorned. It's like Kind of Blue for me--I can listen to it over and over and I'm always impressed.

That said, this is my 2nd favourite of their records. Something about it is just fantastic, just really fantastic. The rockin' beginning is so great. It's a great album. It's really super great. I loved it a lot. They have deftly avoided becoming a Neu! tribute band. (Here's where I have to hand in my snob badge: I hadn't even heard of Neu! until Astralwerks rereleased their albums--and I'm a Kraftwerk fan from way back in the day! so bully for me.)

I think it's cool that Tortoise are on Warp in the UK. I like Warp music a lot.

A really great thing to look for if you've been enjoying Tortoise but don't just want to fall into the old trip of just buying their many side projects (Pullman, Sea & Cake, etc.) would be to check out FREEFORM's new album Audiotourist, which is just amazing, mixing classical Chinese and Vietnamese instruments and field recordings with a Tortoise-stye syncopation and sort of gentle, Mouse on Mars style electronics. Really good, and a bit less well-known. (I'm thinking why just go on and plug Stereolab and whoever else, when it's pretty obvious you've heard of them if you're looking at reviews of Tortoise albums...)

The strange democratic thing that makes these reviews kind of fun is that it's a good place to connect sounds, like amateur musicology. That's my take at least.

O.K., I know it is not going to happen anytime soon, but labeling a band like Tortoise is just never going to give them justice. Like another band Porcupine Tree, who are continually labeled as a monster they are not, Tortoises' influences, like that of Porcupine Tree come from all forms of popular and "about as left of center as you can get in music" from the last 40 years. Tortoise envelopes these sounds into something that IS original. They are not blatently ripping off a riff from anyone. I think people would wish there was some form of mimicking from "jazz rock", "prog rock", "alt rock", and dare I say "post rock". And then they would proceed to bash the originality of Tortoise. And yet, they are still bashing Tortoise for sounding like something they are obviously NOT. This is original. You cannot say one COMPLETE track, or one COMPLETE album sounds like somebody else.

Standards has all of Tortoises' quickiness and dilusion of past albums, with some organic textures almost making this sound more like a non-electric sounding band yet incorporating electronic sounds. You dig. If you listen closely, there are beautiful melodies here, interspersed with a rhythm section that just keeps getting better.

If this was 1976, this would've been praised as a "masterpiece". Now it is 2002 and it should be regarded as one. It is ashame that punk rock with all of its honesty and heart took the rock field 25 years before a band like Tortoise realized that there is heart and honesty in any rock music you do, and have it carry over in what should've been another great scene in the mid 1970's. Instead what you had was electronica doing its own thing, rock music doing its own thing. Why? Because experimentation in rock music was not fashionable back then thanks to punk rock, and I am glad that a few musicians out there are lighting the flame again. Members of Tortoise are embarking on something they always dreamed about doing because they dug it. And quite frankly, I am digging more and more every new Tortoise album that comes out in their discography. Like what another reviewer said. Expect the unexpected. But I cannot wait to hear what Tortoise have in store for their next studio creation.

No it is not Miles, Henry Cow, Can, Zappa. It is Tortoise.

Postmodernism in art is a tricky thing to deal with. Is Tortoise considered post-modern? How do we know if something should be praised as a post-modern masterpiece and something not? Why label an absolute on something that is not so absolute? But, like I said, it is a masterpiece. What else can compare to Standards? Hmm...

This is Tortoise music, either you get it, or you don't. I know some beg to differ but as far as the musical evolution of the band, they are expanding their horizons, and their is more emotion within all of their layers. You just have to find it.

Tortoise are the bold insurgents of post-rock revolution, eschewing all conventions for a complex, multi-layered soundscape. Standards bristles with intelligence and audacity. The brilliant opening track, "Seneca," starts with frenetic drum fills and a sparse guitar warble, then erupts in deconstructed breakbeats, warm electronics and hand-claps. "Blackjack" sounds like the warped interpretation of a Final Fantasy airship theme, with colorful vibraphones and a brisk bassline, while the introspective "Firefly" is all hushed guitar ambience. The performances here are of the highest musical caliber, and the compositions are exploratory yet tight, dense yet minimalistic. This album is not for everyone, but if you want to hear music that will elevate your standards, Tortoise is your band.

Sorry, but I'd like to point a couple things out.

1) Tortoise was never a "jazz-rock band" as one reviewer claimed.

2) Tortoise has been using electronic "enhancement" since the beginning, even before their first album (I reccomend checking out some of the early material on Digest Compendium of the Tortoise's World)

This was the first Tortoise album I was introduced to. Right away, it was catchy and different. It took about 3 full listens, but the album truly grows on you and I highly recommend. Some parts may appear slow, but once you familiarize yourself with it, it becomes much more listenable.

I actually worked my way backwards in discography to TNT - one of their earlier albums - and while different (less electronica), an excellent album. I enjoy TNT just as much as Standards, despite the differences.

Even though some reviewers will share they are not as pleased with the new sound, you gotta respect Tortoise's efforts to push the envelope on new sounds. Fantastic CD. Recommend you give it a chance - will be a keeper in your CD collection.

Although I've only listened to it just once, I would like to share with you my first impression of the new record by Tortoise, titled "Standards". First of all, if you are familiar with their earlier albums, "Standards" will not disappoint you. This doesn't mean that this is a boring repetition of old ideas and that we have heard this all before. What makes Tortoise so recognizable is not only the organic, natural structure of their "songs", but also the way they are able to find new musical elements and incorporate them in their style in a natural way. Standards also sounds like the next step in Tortoise's musical evolution, since every Tortoise albums is more melodious and jazzy then the one before, although the band never stops experimenting with electronic sounds and unexpected turns in their "songs". The music sounds pleasant, even when you hear it for the first time, but it is full of surprises. Tortoise's main achievement is that they manage to let it all sound very unpretentious, although it is in fact very pretensions in it's experimental character. When people compare them to seventies prog-rock-groups they are not "wrong", but it's this semi-unpretentiousness which makes the music much more friendly and down-to-earth than that of their seventies colleagues. Like I said Standards sounds like a natural step in Tortoise's evolution and so, from all Tortoise's earlier albums it resembles TNT (1997) most. Also, I have heard on a few spots the deconstructed beats you may know from Jetty '99, their contribution to the double-album Chicago 2018: It's gonna change, which gives an overview of the experimental music from Chicago. As far as I know this was the last sign of life from Tortoise as a group before this album. All in all I can recommend this album to everyone who likes Tortoise's previous albums, and to all those who are interested in adventurous and innovative music. I think they have made their most accessible album to date without selling out or becoming boring. "Standards" is a perfect starting point for exploring their earlier albums, preferably in chronological order backwards.

After buying this album and then reading some of the reviews, I felt compelled to write something.

Some people are so over-analytical and so worried/obsessed with categorizing things that they end up completely missing the true essence of what it is they're disecting. Can't you just listen to music and enjoy it without having to say, oh they're trying to do this and that and this and it doesn't work becuase blah blah blah and it's not like what they did on their last album.

Tortoise has always been a band that experiments with different genres and makes really good, interesting music. I find it amusing that some "fans" of Tortoise would freak out if an album sounds different than the last. That should be expected and desired from a band who has established itelf as a band that combines all sorts of musical styles and comes up with innovative and unique compositions. If you don't like this idea, then why would you listen to Tortoise?

I find this album title to be ironic in that sense. Everyone wants to hold things to standards. I find it interesting, some of the ways in which people criticize music. To me, music is something that should be created freely without STANDARDS.

I, myself, expect each Tortoise album to grow and sound different and incorporate new elements. I would also expect the same from anyone who liked their ST, Millions Now Living, and especially TNT. If you like those albums, Standards is the next step, so keep walking.

I don't really write a lot of reviews on here. I just don't feel the need to give people my takes on what makes something good and what doesn't. But this is a band that I am made to review just because it's that good!

I have listened to "Standards" only twice straight through now and I must admit I am addicted already. It sounds like the band members gave free access to some local school kids and let them mess around with the studio equipment, recorded it, and laid groove on top of all the mess. But somehow, it works so perfectly and with such a great vibe.
Some of it sounds like walking down a busy city street. Other times it's like being holed up in a space ship or observing a rave under the influence of...whatever. However you may see it, it is more than just a noodling of sounds with no direction. There is a heart to this techno/funk/jazz/rock album but it beats cold and loud.
This band strikes the same fire in me that Pink Floyd did when I discovered them years ago. Tortoise fans will eat this up, they've come this far haven't they? Newcomers beware. This is not going to sound like anything you've ever heard. None of these reviews will help you to understand it either. Find out for yourself, it is a ride worth taking.
The only reason this is 4 stars is that it's a little too short. Maybe because I was spoiled with TNT first.

P.S I'm a very dedicated metalhead, it's really all I listen to. But these guys are an exception and believe me they are far from my norm and I find them as one of my favorites.

Tortoise's music has a very surreal quality for me. Just as dreams reconstitute my waking experience in a non-linear and often frightening manner, Tortoise mangles my expectations of the listening experience by blurring the lines between the audio of found sounds that comprise our external aural environment and the expectations for traditional "music" that reside in our mind. On any given Tortoise album, electronic snippets of dissonance emerge from the ashes of traditional song structures to create pulsating fragments that drive towards a cacophonous crescendo before wielding a tentative bond that manifests itself as a stuttered hip hop beat negotiating with a wall of xylophones, keyboards, and guitars. If it sounds abstract and subjective, then it's because it's intended to be. Tortoise provides the soundtrack for a world where meaning is elusive and temporal... where truth is in the eye of the beholder.