The Tortoise

La Monte Young - The Second Dream of the High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer From the Four Dreams of China (1991) {Gramavision R2 79467}
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© 1991 La Monte Young / Rhino / Gramavision | R2 79467
Classical / Modern Classical / Modern Composition / Experimental / Microtonal

The harmonic version of this piece was completed in 1963 and the current melodic version, played here by The Theatre of Eternal Music Brass Ensemble led by composer-performer Ben Neill, was created in 1984. Like Harry Partch, Ben Johnston and others, Young is known for basing his compositions on alternative tunings, especially "The Well-Tuned Piano" (1964-81), and "The Tortoise, His Dreams and Journeys" (1964-present). In this recorded realization, 8 trumpets with Harmon mutes provide an amazing recreation of the title's sonic experience as they play long sustained tones that beat against each other on four pitches in frequency ratios (of the complete quadrad 18/17/16/12) which "can be isolated in the harmonic structures of the sounds of power plants and telephone poles".

La Monte Young was born in Bern, Idaho in 1935. He began his music studies in Los Angeles and later Berkeley, California before relocating to New York City in 1960, where he became a primary influence on Minimalism, the Fluxus movement and performance art through his legendary compositions of extended time durations and the development of just intonation and rational number based tuning systems. With wife and collaborator, artist Marian Zazeela, they would formulate the composite sound environments of the Dream House, which continues to this day.

Tortoise - The Catastrophist (2016) {Thrill Jockey Records THRILL 406}
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© 2016 Thrill Jockey Records | THRILL 406
Rock / Alternative Rock / Math Rock / Post Rock / Experimental Rock

Tortoise have always emphasized their connection to Chicago, and never more so than on The Catastrophist. Arriving six years after Beacons of Ancestorship, its roots date back to 2010, when Tortoise were commissioned to write music inspired by their hometown's jazz and improvised music scenes. Though they fleshed out those compositions for the album, the original project's sense of adventure remains. Fittingly, the title track has some of the closest ties to the album's beginnings, holding together shifts between knotty, busy electro-funk and the kind of brooding post-rock Tortoise helped define in the '90s with nimble drumming indebted to jazz. "Shake Hands with Danger" is even more audacious, nodding to the Windy City's free jazz and noise rock legacies with jabbing riffs and rhythms and chromatic percussion that sounds metallic in both senses of the word.

1999 CDEP recorded for the 'In The Fishtank' series, features the joint forces of Tortoise & The Ex creating six tracks of undeniable strangeness and charm. Standard jewel case.
Even with the knowledge that the Ex has legs in the Dutch free improvising and avant-garde jazz scene, this collaboration with Chicago's Tortoise is an odd one. The Ex are customarily on the unmistakably political, musically spastic side of the fence, while Tortoise revels in complex rhythmic mazes that explore layered rhythms. So you can easily imagine a band as seemingly cerebral and measured as Tortoise getting tugged hard into noisy sloshing when in cahoots with a band like the Ex. And they do do considerable sloshing on this EP, though they always maintain a flooring that varies the rhythms and keeps the Ex grounded. The atmospherics are all Tortoise, with Jeff Parker's guitar making floats over the rumbling, ready-to-pounce bass and creeping drums. No, this isn't typical Ex material and, without a doubt, it's not Tortoise's main fare, but it's also not a far cry from either outfit. Part manic noise, part manic depth, part manic ambiance, it's an intense, demanding session.

Beacons of Ancestorship is the 7th full-length studio album by American experimental rock act Tortoise. The album is a return to familiar instrumental experimental rock territory after a short excursion into vocal rock territory on The Brave and the Bold (2006) where Tortoise were helped out by Will Oldham. Tortoise continue to play with and twist the rules of rock music by adding electronic and semi-jazzy elements to their music.