Tortoise - It's All Around You
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Free Music Notes for It's All Around You
Free Music Review: Greatest album ever?
Hit: 5 Stars
I am not here to dissect Tortoise, for their magic lies in their unknowability.
This is pure music, unfiltered by mind.
The breadth of their musical coverage is awe inspiring!
Get hold of it, any way you can!
Free Music Review: As good as music gets
Hit: 5 Stars
I have been a Tortoise fan since the late 90s, but never as committed as I have been since Standards was released. I approached It's All Around You with caution because I anticipated disappointment. At first, I agreed with all of the reviews that I had read. The album seemed to merely exist as another Tortoise album with no movement forward.
While I must admit that this is not a giant leap from Standards in terms of a cohesive album, it is the better of the two albums, in my opinion. Namely because of the climax that this album reaches. Standards almost appears to front load the best ideas while It's All Around You saves the best for last.
The first track threw me off because it is easy to dismiss it as close to random instrumentation with a solid (slightly simple) bass track. But it is so much more. Upon a couple of repeated listens, that song, like the rest of the album, revealed much more structural ingenuity. The multiple instruments that take part in the melody bounce off of one another and it becomes difficult to tell when a guitar ends and a vibraphone picks up. But the instruments are not to be observed seperately. Listening to how they compliment each other and form a beautiful melodic series is devestatingly brilliant. I posit that the first song sounds unlike anything that Tortoise has done before.
The entire album is phenomenal, but I would like to highlight the last song. This is where I really believe this album shines the most. Never before have I heard a band capture increasing intensity in a drum performance so well on tape. The song builds and builds and the instrumentation perfectly compliments the drums throughout this climactic process.
I hear far too often that this album is more of the same. If the same means being a mind-blowingly awesome band time after time, I hope that they don't change a thing.
Free Music Review: Profound Progressive From Daniel Lanois' Buddies
Hit: 4 Stars
Some pretty profound post-rock from Thrill Jockey's own Tortoise which features some of the most beautiful and poignant art in recent memory. The front cover is an awe inspiring sunset dying over a cascading waterfall and rapids yet overlooking this scene is a yellow helicopter perched next to a luminescent city while the back features a blurred rainforest beneath an overcast sky but blocking most of the sky is a huge projection screen with a better looking skyline beaming out of it. While the liner notes tell a story of life dissatisfaction and miscertainty in the 21st century and the songs are rawly titled, the Tortoise movement isn't exactly taking the route their name would suggest. Instead of going slow and steady, they're heading straight for the main vein. Musically, they try to match the grandiose beauty of their imagery and succeed quite handsomely at it. Bits of the Flaming Lips appear in "Crest," occasional world music and Dark Side Of The Moon sounds appear leaving the mood fairly chilled yet urgent while the inventive guitar effects and production brings me flashes of the unrealized possibilities of Radiohead. Although It's All Around You never reaches the sonic peaks of anything Mogwai have done, the contemplative vibe helps let the obvious anti-advancement juxtapositions set in. This is one to think about, think during, and, well, get!Free Music Review: Wasn't blown away at first, but...
Hit: 5 Stars
I definitely wasn't disappointed when I heard this latest Tortoise disc - I wasn't blown away, either, though. Just saw Tortoise in Tokyo last week, and I can't stop listening to this album, now. 'Tortoise - Tortoise' was my favorite for a while, next to TNT. Both have been completely supplanted by this and 'Standards', both of which made up the majority of their short set.
These guys are amazing - live, and on their studio releases. If you don't listen closely enough, you may mistake Tortoise for new-age music, and I think the superficial similarity probably keeps a lot of people from taking the time to discover the most amazing, creative, and inspired 'rock' groups since Pink Floyd.
Their sound (even before they used computers to produce/make their music) sounds so influenced by technology, but manages to maintain the warmth and natural feel of jazz or even folk music.
Their use of the xylophone is central to their sound, but is done with the perfect balance of restrained melody, and percussive exuberance.
I think its impossible to compare Tortoise to any other group around. Their sound is truly 'ahead of its time' and timeless. Although their sound is totally different, for these two reasons, I can only think of Pink Floyd. I hate to compare or group Tortoise with other 'contemporary' 'electronica' or alternative groups such as Modest Mouse, Air, or Boards of Canada. Stereolab has some similarities, but I believe they had a common genesis...
OK, I'll stop babbling. Just buy this disc. Its beautiful and inspirational, and jams sometimes, too
Free Music Review: amazing.
Hit: 5 Stars
This CD is just awesome. I love it. The first time I heard this, i was in awe, from the first track. I've probably listened to it over 30 times and it's still awesome. If you like this album, you'll like TNT and Millions Now Living Will Never Die. Tortoise is amazing.