Tortoise

New Releases: Yellowcard, P.O.D., Cat Power, Jenny Lewis, Velvet Underground

23 Jan 2006 08:11:00 EST

Also due Tuesday are albums by the Elected, Tortoise, UB40, the Advantage and Test Icicles.
By Kurt Orzeck, with additional reporting by Jem Aswad

Yellowcard's Lights and Sounds
Photo: Capitol

Lights, Camera, Action: Looking for even more Lights and Sounds? A special edition of Yellowcard's much-ballyhooed, harder-rockin' release is upped with an hour-long DVD featuring the requisite making-of material, commentary, photo gallery and video (for the title track). Don't miss the Judeo-Christian hoedown on "Roots in Stereo," featuring Matisyahu, or "Rough Landing, Holly," "Martin Sheen or JFK" and "Holly Wood Died."

C.O.D.: After priming fans with their second Warriors EP in November, Payable on Death are cashing in with Testify. Those who pre-ordered the disc on the band's Web site were gifted with a T-shirt; everyone else will have to settle for the frills-free package, which houses 13 songs. Among them are "Sounds Like War," "Mistakes & Glories" and "Mark My Words."

The Power That Be: Consummate trickster Chan Marshall (a.k.a. Cat Power) has dubbed her latest The Greatest, even though it's actually a batch of fresh recordings, not a recap. Marshall went back to Memphis, Tennessee, where she recorded 1996's What Would the Community Think, holing up in a Stax-affiliated studio with Al Green's guitarist to track tunes for Cat Power's first album in three years. Keep your eye out for "The Moon," "Willie" and "Islands."

DV(elvet)D: Digital video discs have been around for oh, a little while now, but believe it or not, experimental masters Velvet Underground haven't experimented yet with the format. Until this week, that is! For the Roman-numerically impaired, "Velvet Redux: Live MCMXCIII" is a snapshot of the band's 1993 reunion tour; these performances (by the original lineup, mind you) were filmed at the Paris Olympia on June 15-17. The disc runs 85 minutes and offers both the expected ("Heroin," "Femme Fatale," etc.) and the unexpected (a then-new track, "Coyote").

Purple Pandemonium: Back in 1974, when dinosaur-rock was the dominant species, Deep Purple were a tyrannosaurus rex, stalking the earth in billowing bell-bottoms, platform heels and their own jet. "Deep Purple Live in California 74" captures the band's co-headlining set at the California Jam festival, which drew 200,000 people and was broadcast on network TV. Amid ridiculously long solos — somehow, the band sprawled seven songs over nearly two hours — you see an extremely young and nervous future Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale and some of the greatest rock destruction ever captured on film. Annoyed by an intrusive cameraman, Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore goes completely ballistic, hurling two Marshall stacks into the crowd, setting off an alarmingly large explosion and smashing four guitars — one directly into the lens of the camera that irritated him. While we would never endorse such behavior, it does make for great TV.

Diva Envy: Indie-rock usually doesn't have much in common with the top 40 countdown, but this is no ordinary week. Jose Gonzalez covers Kylie Minogue's "Hand on Your Heart" on his Stay in the Shade EP, while Action Action recorded their new one, An Army of Shapes Between Wars, with Cyndi Lauper producer William Wittman. Not to be overlooked is the National Trust, who also go the bubblegum route by collaborating with producer Abel Garibaldi (Britney Spears, Ciara) for Kings & Queens.

Graphic Artists: What is this, Genitalia Celebration Week? We've got Test Icicles' For Screening Purposes Only and Buzzcocks' "Live at Shepherds Bush Empire 2003" DVD and, on a somewhat related note, soul singer Darondo — whose Let My People Go is reissued this week — used to be a pimp; Some Girls are busy with Heaven's Pregnant Teens; and Hayseed Dixie get a Hot Piece of Grass.

Song Title of the Week:

"Oh Sh--, My Phaser's Jammed" (The Beatings' Holding on to Hand Grenades)

Other Notables:

Jenny Lewis With the Watson Twins' Rabbit Fur Coat Vs. Elected's Sun, Sun, Sun: Rilo Kiley's leading representatives duke it out this week with opposing releases. Lewis finally takes a stab at the solo thing, although she finds good company with Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard, Maroon 5's James Valentine, M. Ward and Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst, whose boutique label Team Love is issuing the album. Her Kiley cohort Blake Sennett has a bit of a head start, having released the Elected's debut in 2004. The follow-up was recorded in analog, which, to studio-philes, is kind of a big deal. Sun, Sun, Sun hammers home the overarching theme with tracks like "Clouds Parting (8:14 a.m.)," "Beautiful Rainbow" and "Biggest Star."

The Advantage's Elf-Titled Vs. Town and Country's Up Above: What's more bizarre, a band devoting an entire album to eight-bit Nintendo songs and toying with convention by calling it Elf-Titled, or a band recording an album after being inspired by a lecture on hypnotherapy? If you're feeling extra adventurous, you might want to give the Advantage and Town and Country's respective releases a spin.

UB40's Who You Fighting For?, Various artists' Future Retro and Marty Casey & Lovehammers' Marty Casey & Lovehammers: UB40 have already fought their way into the U.K. top 40 with their new single "Reasons," but their LP's main attraction might be the bushel of songs they reinterpret: Lennon/McCartney's "I'll Be on My Way," the Jamaicans' lilting "The Things You Say You Love" and the Manhattans' "Kiss and Say Goodbye," which has also cracked the chart. Rhino has another covers-laden disc out this week: Future Retro, a disc that compiles the Crystal Method's version of New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle," Jaded Alliance's take on Erasure's "A Little Respect" and Static Revenger's rendition of INXS' "Need You Tonight." And speaking of INXS, Marty Casey, who made a name for himself on "Rock Star: INXS," sets forth his major-label debut, containing his heavily downloaded "Trees," "Rain on the Brain" and "Casualty" — a title that's very apropos, given his dismissal from the TV show.

New Releases:

10 Second Drop - 10 Second Drop (Rock Ridge Music)
Action Action - An Army Of Shapes Between Wars (Victory)
The Advantage - Elf-Titled (5 Rue Christine)
Akimbo - Forging Steel and Laying Stone (Alternative Tentacles)
Audio Bullys - Generation (Astralwerks)
Avalon - Stand (Sparrow)
The Beatings - Holding on to Hand Grenades (Midriff)
Karl Blau - Beneath Waves (K)
Calling All Monsters - The Traps That Work Best (Turn)
Marty Casey & Lovehammers - Marty Casey & Lovehammers (Epic)
Rosanne Cash - Black Cadillac (enhanced; Capitol)
Cat Power - The Greatest (Matador)
Buy Now: The Greatest (Matador)
Catfish Haven - Please Come Back (EP; Secretly Canadian)
Andre Ceccarelli and Bireli Lagrene - Avenue Des Diables Blues (Dreyfus)
The Class of 98 - Touch This and Die (The Militia Group)
Clearlake - Amber (Domino)
Tony Conrad - Fantastic Glissando (Table of Elements)
Demiricous - One (Hellbound) (Metal Blade)
Dozer - Through the Eyes of Heathens (Small Stone)
T. Duggins - Undone (Thick)
Liz Durrett - The Mezzanine (Warm)
East River Pipe - What Are You On? (Merge)
East West Blast Test - Popular Music for Unpopular People (Ipecac)
The Elected - Sun, Sun, Sun (Sub Pop)
Ester Drang - Rocinate (Jade Tree)
Excepter - Sunbomber (EP; Touch and Go)
Film School - Film School (Beggars Banquet)
Fivespeed - Morning Over Midnight (enhanced; Virgin)
The Gibson Brothers - Red Letter Day (Sugar Hill)
Golden Dogs - Everything in 3 Parts (Funzalo)
Jose Gonzalez - Stay in the Shade (EP; Hidden Agenda)
Good Clean Fun - Between Christian Rock and a Hard Place (Equal Vision)
The Gossip - Standing in the Way of Control (Kill Rock Stars)
The Gourds - Heavy Ornamentals (Eleven Thirty)
Green Carnation - The Acoustic Verses (The End)
Hayseed Dixie - Hot Piece of Grass (Cooking Vinyl)
The Hellacopters - Rock & Roll Is Dead (with bonus CD; Liquor and Poker)
His Name Is Alive - Detrola (Reincarnate Music)
Taylor Hollingsworth - Tragic City (Brash Music)
William Hooker and Lee Ranaldo - The Celestial Answer (Table of Elements)
Il Divo - Ancora (Columbia)
Incognito - Eleven (Narada)
Richard Julian - Slow New York (Manhattan)
Jennifer Knapp - Jennifer Knapp Live (Gotee)
Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Long Walk to Freedom (enhanced hybrid SACD; Heads Up)
Lareau - Changes (Rust)
Jenny Lewis With the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat (Team Love)
Read: "Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis Gets Her Wilburys On With Death Cab Frontman"
Miwon - Pale Glitter (City Centre Offices)
Paul Motian Band - Garden of Eden (ECM)
Natas - N of Tha World (Warlock)
The National Trust - Kings & Queens (Thrill Jockey)
Nocturnal Rites - Grand Illusion (Century Media)
Pearls & Brass - Indian Tower (Drag City)
Plastic Constellations - Crusades (French Kiss)
P.O.D. - Testify (Atlantic)
Buy Now: Testify (Atlantic)
Robert Pollard - From a Compound Eye (Merge)
Railroad Earth - Elko (two CDs; Sci Fidelity)
Scott Reeder - TunnelVision Brilliance (Liquor and Poker)
Steve Reynolds - Exile (Savoy Jazz)
Tony Rich - Pictures (I.M.)
Saint Etienne - Tales From Turnpike House (Savoy Jazz)
Scarlet - This Was Always Meant to Fall Apart (Ferret)
Seven Witches - Amped (Candlelight)
Duncan Sheik - White Limousine (Zöe/Rounder)
Patty Hurst Shifter Too Crowded on the Losing End (Evo/Fontana)
Slow Runner - No Disassemble (Red Ink)
Some Girls - Heaven's Pregnant Teens (enhanced; Epitaph)
Sound the Alarm - Sound the Alarm (EP; Rock Ridge Music)
Streetwize - Does Dre (Shanachie)
The Subdudes - Behind the Levee (Back Porch)
Sullivan - Hey, I'm a Ghost (enhanced; Tooth & Nail)
KT Sullivan & Mark Nadler - A Fine Romance: A Dorothy Fields Songbook (DRG)
Sworn Enemy - Beginning of the End (Abacus)
Tarkio - Omnibus (two CDs; Kill Rock Stars)
Livingston Taylor - There You Are Again (Chesky)
Test Icicles - For Screening Purposes Only (Domino)
Tortoise and Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Brave and the Bold (Overcoat)
Buy Now: The Brave and the Bold (Overcoat)
Town and Country - Up Above (Thrill Jockey)
Josh Turner - Your Man (MCA Nashville)
UB40 - Who You Fighting For? (Rhino)
Buy Now: Who You Fighting For? (Rhino)
Rocky Votolato - Makers (Barsuk)
Waterdown - All Riot (Victory)
Wintergreen - The Extended Play (EP; Mt. Fuji)
Jah Wobble - Mu (Sanctuary)
Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3 - ... Tick ... Tick ... Tick (Down There)
Yellowcard - Lights and Sounds (with DVD; Capitol)
Read: "Yellowcard Move To New York, Write LP About Hating Los Angeles"
Buy Now: Lights and Sounds (Capitol)
Various artists - The Best of Taste of Chaos (Warcon)
Various artists - Future Retro (Rhino)
Various artists - Grammy 2006 Nominees (BMG Strategic Marketing)
Various artists - Love Sucks (Rhino)
Various artists - No. 1 Smooth Jazz Hits! (Shanachie)
Various artists - Now That's What I Call Music! #1's (UTV)
Various artists - Otis' Opuses (Kill Rock Stars)
Various artists - UltraDance.07 (Ultra)
Various artists - "Breakfast on Pluto" soundtrack (Milan)
Various artists - "The Color Purple" original cast recording (Angel)
Various artists - "Fun With Dick & Jane" soundtrack (Varèse)
Various artists - "London" soundtrack (Reincarnate Music)
Various artists - "The World's Fastest Indian" soundtrack (Milan)

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:

Ariel Pink - House Arrest (Paw Tracks)
Louis Armstrong - The Definitive Collection (Hip-O/Chronicles)
Chet Baker - Everyday Is Valentine's Day (Blue Note)
Shirley Bassey - Live at Carnegie Hall (DRG)
Jim Croce - Have You Heard Jim Croce Live (Shout! Factory)
Bing Crosby - The Definitive Collection (Geffen/Chronicles)
Crosby, Stills & Nash - Crosby, Stills & Nash and Daylight Again (with bonus tracks; Rhino)
Darondo - Let My People Go (Luv 'N Haight)
Ray Davies - Let My People Go (Luv 'N Haight)
Delta 5 - Singles & Sessions 1979-81 (Kill Rock Stars)
DJ Quik - Trauma: Instrumentals (Mad Science)
Herb Ellis - Ellis in Wonderland (Verve)
Ace Frehley - Greatest Hits Live (Megaforce)
Kenny G - The Essential Kenny G (two CDs; Arista/Legacy)
Stan Getz - Music for Lovers (Blue Note)
Dexter Gordon - Music for Lovers (Blue Note)
Al Green - Full of Fire, Al Green Is Love, Have a Good Time, Livin' for You and Truth N' Time (The Right Stuff/EMI)
Elton John - Legendary Covers as Sung by Elton John (DBK Works)
Richard Julian - Slow New York (Manhattan)
Earl Klugh - Music for Lovers (Blue Note)
Lisa Loeb - The Very Best of Lisa Loeb (Geffen/Chronicles)
Buy Now: The Very Best of Lisa Loeb (Geffen/Chronicles)
MF Doom - Special Herbs Box Set: Vols 0-9 (Nature Sounds)
Lee Morgan - Music for Lovers (Blue Note)
Hank Mobley - Music for Lovers (Blue Note)
Nausea - Punk Terrorist Anthology 1 (Alternative Tentacles)
Pansy Division - The Essential Pansy Division (with DVD; Alternative Tentacles)
Elvis Presley - #1 Singles (20-CD box set; BMG Strategic Marketing)
Kenny Rogers - 21 Number Ones (Capitol)
Henry Rollins - Talk Is Cheap, Volume 2 (2.13.61)
Linda Ronstadt - The Best of Linda Ronstadt: The Capitol Years (two CDs; Capitol)
Savage Garden - Truly, Madly, Completely - The Best of Savage Garden (Columbia)
Horace Silver - Music for Lovers (Blue Note)
Jimmy Smith - Music for Lovers (Blue Note)
T. Rex - Bolan's Zip Gun, Futuristic Dragon, Tanx and Work in Progress (with bonus tracks; Rhino)
Thievery Corporation - Sounds From the Thievery Hi-Fi (Eighteenth Street)
Stanley Turrentine - Music for Lovers (Blue Note)
Bill Wyman - Stoned Alone: The Solo Anthology 1974-2001 (Sanctuary)
Various artists - Love Songs: Gold (Hip-O/Chronicles)
Various artists - Music for Lovers (Blue Note)

DVDs:

Roy Ayers - "In Concert: Ohne Filter" (Music Video Distributors)
Buzzcocks - "Live at Shepherds Bush Empire 2003" (Music Video Distributors)
Can - "Can Live" (two DVDs; Mute)
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - "Road to God Knows Where/ Live at the Paradiso" (Mute)
Deep Purple - "Live in California 74" (Eagle Vision)
Gordon Haskell - "The Road to Harry's Bar" (Music Video Distributors)
Ludacris - "Southern Smoke" (Music Video Distributors)
Pain - "Life Is Overrated" (Music Video Distributors)
Procol Harum - "Live at the Union Chapel" (two DVDs; Eagle Vision)
Sacriversum - "Saevitia Draconis: Live in Krakow 2005" (Music Video Distributors)
The Small Faces - "Under Review" (Music Video Distributors)
Starter Set - "Starter Set" (Kill Rock Stars)
Starz - "Back in Action: Live 2003" (Music Video Distributors)
Glenn Tilbrook - "One for the Road" (Image)
The Velvet Underground - "Velvet Redux: Live MCMXCIII" (Rhino)
Various artists - "The '60s Rock Experience Live" (Shout! Factory)
Various artists - "Culturama666, Vol. 2" (Music Video Distributors)
Various artists - "God Save the Queen: A Punk Rock Anthology" (Cleopatra/Music Video Distributors)
Various artists - "Love Songs, Volume 1" and "Volume 2" (Hip-O/Chronicles)
Various artists - "The Tomorrow Show With Tom Snyder: Punk & New Wave" (Shout! Factory)
Various artists - "Triple Crown Video, Vol. 1" (Triple Crown)

Coming Attractions:

January 31

Heather Headley - In My Mind (RCA)
She Wants Revenge - She Wants Revenge (Geffen)
Warren Zevon - Reconsider Me: The Love Songs (Artemis)

February 7:

Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit (Matador)
Beth Orton - Comfort of Strangers (Astralwerks)
Dem Franchize Boyz - On Top of Our Game (Virgin)

February 14:

Jaheim - Ghetto Classics (Warner Bros.)
Sergio Mendes - Timeless (Concord)
Read: "Will.I.Am Wants To Pull A Rick Rubin With Sergio Mendes, Macy Gray"
The Sword - Age of Winters (Kemado)

Related Artists

Standards Bearers Tortoise Mounting Club Tour

23 Mar 2001 05:57:00 EST

With abstract artist Nobukazu Takemura in tow, electronic-rock quintet will launch outing May 11 in Cleveland.
By Eric Demby

Tortoise's John McEntire, John Herndon and Jeff Parker
Photo: Thrill Jockey

Chicago electronic-rock fusion outfit Tortoise will mount a 30-city club tour in support of their latest album, Standards, on May 11 in Cleveland.

The quintet — Douglas McCombs, John Herndon, Dan Bitney, Jeff Parker and John McEntire — emerged in the mid-'90s, following their self-titled debut (1994) and its follow-up, Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996), as the most visible of a slew of bands merging the post-production studio techniques of electronic music with rock instrumentation and jazz-influenced compositions. During the same period, their live performances, which featured bandmembers rotating among various instruments onstage for alternately mesmerizing and rousing renditions of their songs, Tortoise garnered a zealous live following, playing to sold-out crowds across the United States. Having inched away from the more groove-heavy sound of their first two albums on Standards and 1998's TNT, the upcoming tour promises to reveal yet another phase in the innovative group's evolution.

Tortoise will be joined on all 34 of the tour's dates by abstract-electronic music artist Nobukazu Takemura, of Kyoto, Japan, whose digital sound constructions possess the ability to both beguile and disorient. His 1999 album, Scope, featured extended majestic, somersaulting pieces, including the 22-minute opening journey "On a Balloon." He released its more subdued but equally gorgeous follow-up, Hoshi No Koe, on Tuesday, and has another album, Sign, due May 29. Select shows on the tour will also feature Atlanta producer Scott Herren's Prefuse 73 electronic hip-hop project as an opening act. His debut LP as Prefuse 73, Vocal Studies and Uprock Narratives, is due May 15 on Warp Records. English techno masters Autechre will perform at two shows on the jaunt, and will join Tortoise at the second Detroit Electronic Music Festival, which is scheduled for Memorial Day weekend (May 26-28). The German duo Mouse on Mars will play at four shows in the tour's second month, while Jet Black Crayon, which includes former skateboard star and guitarist/singer Tommy Guerrero and hip-hop producer Gadget, are set to open on six dates. Tortoise and Nobukazu Takemura tour dates, according to their publicist:

5/11 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
5/13 - Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Theatre
5/14 - Montreal, QB @ Club Soda
5/15 - Boston, MA @ Somerville Theatre (with Prefuse 73)
5/16 - New York, NY @ Irving Plaza (with Prefuse 73)
5/17 - New York, NY @ Irving Plaza (with Prefuse 73)
5/18 - Philadelphia, PA @ TBA (with Prefuse 73)
5/19 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club (with Prefuse 73)
5/20 - Chapel Hill, NC @ Cat's Cradle
5/21 - Atlanta, GA @ Roxy Theatre (with Autechre, Prefuse 73)
5/22 - Orlando, FL @ Club Firestone (with Autechre, Prefuse 73)
5/23 - Tallahassee, FL @ Cow Haus (with Prefuse 73)
5/24 - Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club
5/25 - Nashville, TN @ TBA
5/26 - Detroit, MI @ Detroit Electronic Music Festival (with Autechre, Prefuse 73)
5/29 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
6/1 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox Showroom (with Jet Black Crayon)
6/2 - Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theater
6/3 - Portland, OR @ Pine Street Theatre
6/5 - San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore (with Jet Black Crayon)
6/6 - San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore (with Jet Black Crayon)
6/7 - Los Angeles, CA @ UCLA (with Jet Black Crayon)
6/8 - Los Angeles, CA @ UCLA (with Jet Black Crayon)
6/9 - San Diego, CA @ Canes Bar & Grill (with Jet Black Crayon)
6/10 - Tempe, AZ @ Nita's Hideaway
6/12 - Austin, TX @ Stubb's Bar BQ (with Mouse on Mars)
6/13 - Houston, TX @ Numbers (with Mouse on Mars)
6/14 - New Orleans, LA @ Howling Wolf (with Mouse on Mars)
6/15 - Dallas, TX @ Gypsy Ballroom (with Mouse on Mars)
6/16 - Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theater
6/17 - St. Louis, MO @ Mississippi Nights
6/18 - Madison, WI @ TBA
6/19 - Chicago, IL @ Metro
6/20 - Chicago, IL @ Metro

Related Artists

Roots, Blige, MMW Highlight Red Hot Ellington Tribute

1 Mar 2001 01:43:00 EST

Red Hot organization readies two new albums, free downloads benefiting AIDS research.
By Dylan Stableford

Red Hot + Indigo

NEW YORK — The Red Hot Organization, whose philanthropic endeavors contribute to AIDS research, will celebrate its 10th anniversary with two additions to its acclaimed series of compilation tribute albums and free downloads of Red Hot tracks both new and old.

On March 13 the organization will release its 13th compilation, Red Hot + Indigo, a tribute to jazz composer/pianist/bandleader Duke Ellington that counts hip-hop combo the Roots, R&B crooner D'Angelo, singer Mary J. Blige, hip-hop duo Black Star, jazz trio Medeski Martin & Wood, post-rockers Tortoise and the electronic duo Propellerheads among its contributors. "We already tackled the others pillars of 20th-century music: (Antonio Carlos) Jobim with Red Hot + Rio, (George) Gershwin with Red Hot + Rhapsody and Cole Porter with Red Hot + Blue," said Indigo producer Paul Heck. "So we wanted to pay tribute to Ellington as he was the last of those pillars standing." The album will be available exclusively through online retailer Amazon.com until early fall, when it will arrive at offline retail outlets.

Typically for the Red Hot series, the album features many first-time and unexpected collaborations: Black Star, bassist Ron Carter and Hammond B-3 luminary John Patton join forces on "Money Jungle"; Medeski Martin & Wood's six tracks include collaborations with guitarist Kenny Burrell ("C Jam Blues"), Sex Mob trumpeter Steven Bernstein ("Haunted Nights") and trombonist Art Baron ("Creole Love Call"); the Roots and D'Angelo — on keyboards — team for Ellington's "Caravan"; and the Propellerheads and folk singer Martha Wainright pair up for "Star Crossed Lovers." The 17-track album also includes Tortoise's interpretation of "Didjeridoo," from Ellington's 1967 album Afro-Eurasian Eclipse, and Mary J. Blige's solo reading of "Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me." Red Hot + Riot, the oft-delayed, hotly anticipated tribute to Nigerian afrobeat rebel Fela Kuti, is due later this year. Macy Gray, D'Angelo, the Roots' ?uestlove, rapper Common, Dead Prez, trumpeter Roy Hargrove and Fela's son Femi will appear on the tribute to Kuti, who died of AIDS-related complications in 1997 (see "Macy Gray, D'Angelo, Others Honor Fela Kuti" for more).

Red Hot is also auctioning off 50 copies of "Physiognomy," a collection of photographs taken by Rolling Stone photographer Mark Seliger, each containing a different pictured artist's autograph.

The organization also offers free, full-length MP3 downloads of songs culled from the entire Red Hot + catalogue at amazon.com/music-redhot, where listeners can also make contributions to the organization.

Visit redhot.org for more information on the Red Hot Organization.

Red Hot + Indigo track list:
1. Medeski Martin & Wood — "Acht O'clock Rock"
2. Black Star/Ron Carter/John Patton — "Money Jungle"
3. Mary J. Blige — "Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me"
4. Melky Sedeck — "Mood Indigo"
5. Les Nubians — "Come Sunday"
6. Medeski Martin & Wood/Art Baron — "Creole Love Call"
7. Propellerheads/Martha Wainwright — "Star-Crossed Lovers"
8. The Roots (featuring D'Angelo on keyboards) — "Caravan"
9. Kenny Burrell/Medeski Martin & Wood — "C Jam Blues"
10. Don Byron/Dean Bowman — "Bli Blip"
11. Medeski Martin & Wood — "Mount Harissa"
12. Amel Larrieux — "Sophisticated Lady"
13. Kenny Burrell — "In a Sentimental Mood"
14. Terry Callier — "Satin Doll"
15. Medeski Martin & Wood/Steve Bernstein — "Haunted Nights"
16. Medeski Martin & Wood — "Blue Pepper (Dub)"
17. Tortoise — "Dijderidoo"

Related Artists

Tortoise Introduce New Set Of Standards

20 Feb 2001 07:54:00 EST

Influential Chicago band's latest effort set to rock the post-rock world.
By Tony Ware

Tortoise
Photo: Thrill Jockey Records

Cloaked in a distressed-looking collage of an American flag that's crossed over by red and white stripes, Standards, the fourth album by post-rock torch-bearers Tortoise, can be viewed as both a battle flag and a battlefield. Since forming in 1990 in Chicago, the band has inventively blended jazz-influenced, sometimes improvisatory organic instrumentation with intensive studio treatments reminiscent at times of Jamaican dub, all executed with rhythmic precision. In the process, they have emerged as standard-bearers for an electro-acoustic scene that has developed around them; artists in such disparate scenes as minimal techno and loungey trip-hop owe a debt to Tortoise's influence.

With Standards, the group finds it has something even heavier than standards to bear: its reputation.

"It's frustrating to learn about unfair expectations placed on you by people," said Doug McCombs, Tortoise bassist and, along with John Herndon, one of the band's two remaining founders. "It was worse actually a few years ago when the term 'post-rock'" — which Simon Reynolds, its inventor, defined as "using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes" — "was coined and we were supposed to be this band to destroy rock music or rock conventions. And, you know, that was never our intention at all. So you start to hear from people, 'Why do Tortoise want to destroy rock music? What's their problem?' And it had nothing to do with us at all. It was this invented thing." To be sure, Tortoise (which now consists of McCombs, Herndon, Dan Bitney, Jeff Parker and John McEntire) have had as many prefixes and suffixes attached to their sound as any other band today. Ironically, the more labels tossed in their direction — post-, prog-, quasi-, kraut-, -jazz, -funk — the fewer rules Tortoise seem to follow. A strong background in British post-punk (visionary early-'80s outfits like Wire and Gang of Four) and '80s hardcore links all the members, but only one, Parker, (a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), has direct ties to the jazz community; the deluge of free-jazz comparisons consistently confound the band. Never before, in fact, has Tortoise sounded more in touch with their rock roots than on Standards. "Seneca" opens the album with an anthem of a band struggling to detach itself from its perceived preoccupation with cut-and-paste studio assemblages. Compared to the lengthy, labored pieces of 1998's TNT, the new album is decidedly funkier, as on "Monica," and feistier, as on "Blackjack." "It's kind of akin to Presence by Led Zeppelin," Casey Rice said of Standards, via email. Rice has worked with the group as a producer and sound technician. "After their long arduous process of making a double album (TNT a.k.a. Physical Graffiti), they take a new view and make a direct, more concise rock record." Having been both glorified and vilified for their open approach to a variety of influences on past albums such as TNTand '96's Millions Now Living Will Never Die, is Tortoise wary of Standards being hailed as their "return to rock." "TNT was a lot of information and we definitely wanted to bring all of those songs to their logical end and use them on that record," said McCombs. "At the same time, we learned that it doesn't necessarily make an easy listen: it's not necessarily something people are going to want to listen to all the way through in one sitting. So we decided to make something that was shorter … more user-friendly." Bundy K. Brown, an original Tortoise member who left the group following its acclaimed self-titled debut (released in 1994), said the often emotionally opaque nature of their albums is no mistake. "I have a pretty good understanding when I hear a record or see them onstage what is one person's vision and what may have been arrived at more cooperatively," he said. "But I think that's difficult for others outside their peer group to perceive, and that's intentional. I think it is part of Tortoise's aesthetic to intentionally blur those lines."

Related Artists

Tortoise