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Tortoise (album)

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Tortoise
Studio album by
Released1994
RecordedNovember 29–December 5, 1993
GenrePost-rock
Length50:03
LabelThrill Jockey
ProducerTortoise
Tortoise chronology
Tortoise
(1994)
Rhythms, Resolutions & Clusters
(1995)

Tortoise is the debut studio album by American post-rock band Tortoise.[1] It was released in 1994 via Thrill Jockey. It received positive reviews from critics.

By March 1998, Tortoise had sold 35,000 copies (8,000 LPs and 27,000 CDs).[2]

Reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Chicago Tribune[4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[5]
Melody Maker[6]
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide[7]
Uncut[8]

Trouser Press noted that "the beckoning warmth of the gently shifting rhythms ... make it easy to forget that there's nary a whit of guitar and only the briefest whiff of standard-issue keyboards in play."[9] In his review for AllMusic, Glenn Swan writes that Tortoise "share equal responsibility and trust in each other, pouring out a thick stew of meditative grooves, light production experiments, and rusty guitar-string ambience -- the likes of which have rarely sounded so approachable, but this is not to say the album is a sellout leap into commercialism. There are a couple head scratchers and murky moments that fail to make much of an impact, but the quintet have spun such a rich web of mood and personality that any fall from grace barely changes altitude".[3]

Track listing

[edit]

All tracks are written by Tortoise (Dan Bitney, Bundy K. Brown, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs and John McEntire)

No.TitleLength
1."Magnet Pulls Through"4:37
2."Night Air"3:50
3."Ry Cooder"7:04
4."Onions Wrapped in Rubber"6:40
5."Tin Cans & Twine"4:20
6."Spiderwebbed"8:33
7."His Second Story Island"2:41
8."On Noble"4:05
9."Flyrod"3:29
10."Cornpone Brunch"4:44
Total length:50:03

Personnel

[edit]

Credits for Tortoise adapted from album liner notes.[10]

Tortoise

Production

  • Bundy K. Brown – recording (assistant), mixing (assistant)
  • John McEntire – recording, mixing
  • Tortoise – arrangement, production

Artwork and design

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Club Hopping". Weekend Plus. Chicago Sun-Times. Dec 30, 1994. p. 5.
  2. ^ Morris, Chris (March 7, 1998). "Thrill Jockey's Tortoise Finds Experimentation Instrumental". Billboard. Vol. 110, no. 10. p. 14. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  3. ^ a b Swann, Glenn. "Tortoise – Tortoise". AllMusic. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  4. ^ Kot, Greg (June 30, 1994). "Tortoise: Tortoise (Thrill Jockey)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  5. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). "Tortoise". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958.
  6. ^ "Tortoise: Tortoise". Melody Maker. May 16, 2000. p. 46.
  7. ^ Wolk, Douglas (2004). "Tortoise". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 819–20. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  8. ^ "Tortoise: Tortoise". Uncut. No. 64. September 2002.
  9. ^ "Tortoise". Trouser Press. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  10. ^ Tortoise (liner notes). Tortoise. Thrill Jockey. 1994. Thrill 013.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)