Bleep

The landmark Tortoise record for many, Standards was initially a rare and much sought-after find on vinyl ever since it was licensed by Warp in 2001. 'Standards' –their fourth- saw the band really finding their voice; a perfect synthesis between the electronic and the organic. We open with the crushing ‘Seneca’ which starts with an overdriven guitar free-form racket before descending into a hip-jerk, math-rock funk; all wyrd angles and head-melting signatures and Chi-Town groove done by a bunch of white dudes with chops… the prime Tortoise signature, basically. Standards slots strangely, elegantly, innovatively into a period of music that started pushing instrumental music into exciting new places; that they were asked to curate the All Tomorrow’s Parties this year speaks volumes of the high regard they were held by peers. Massive reissue.