Standards (Tortoise album)
| Standards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 20, 2001 | |||
| Recorded | 2000 | |||
| Studios | Soma, Chicago | |||
| Genres | ||||
| Length | 44:18 | |||
| Label | Thrill Jockey | |||
| Producer | John McEntire[1] | |||
| Tortoise chronology | ||||
| ||||
Standards is the fourth studio album by American post-rock band Tortoise.[2][3] It was released on Thrill Jockey in 2001.[4]
Production
Tortoise's previous albums had been recorded in the original, smaller Soma studio, which was eventually moved to another location. Soma's new location boasted a larger live room which had enough space for all members of the band to play together and thus, according to Jeff Parker, allowed them to "experiment with the acoustics of the space" more than on previous releases.[5] Tortoise initially recorded demos of the songs, then played a handful of shows in Chicago, Madison, Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and Champaign, Illinois in order to "come up with new ideas from playing the songs live every night, and to give it a little more energy."[5] The album was then recorded onto tape and edited on the studio computer "if needed."[5]
The album was produced using less of the studio manipulation that had been employed on previous records.[6]
According to John McEntire, many of the songs, such as "Eden 2" and "Eden 1", had their start in the sessions for their previous album, TNT.[7] "Firefly" segues from a studio recording of the track into a version recorded during a band practice.[7]
Critical reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 78/100[8] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [9] |
| Alternative Press | 8/10[10] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [11] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+[12] |
| NME |  [13] |
| Pitchfork | 9.2/10[14] |
| Q | [15] |
| Rolling Stone | [16] |
| Spin | 7/10[17] |
| URB | [18] |
The A.V. Club wrote that "the band is poised between capturing a momentary, malleable inspiration and shaping that moment into some timeless anthem, and as always, it chooses to dither and delay, settling for a sometimes pleasant, sometimes maddening, almost always stimulating exploration of atmospherics."[19] Entertainment Weekly called the album "mood music for post-post-moderns, both forward- and backward-looking."[12] Spin deemed it "a cohesion of styles and impulses so tight we might call it originality."[17] The New Zealand Herald called Standards "a neatly intriguing, mish-mash of instrumental rock shot through with lopsided grooves, dreamy drones, not-quite-jazz percussion and vibes, and knob-twiddling electronica rubbing up against a junk-store of old instruments - all of which somehow emerges as an accessible, tuneful, structured affair."[20]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Tortoise.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Seneca" | 6:20 |
| 2. | "Eros" | 4:26 |
| 3. | "Benway" | 4:46 |
| 4. | "Firefly" | 3:56 |
| 5. | "Six Pack" | 3:11 |
| 6. | "Eden 2" | 2:08 |
| 7. | "Monica" | 6:30 |
| 8. | "Blackjack" | 4:07 |
| 9. | "Eden 1" | 2:36 |
| 10. | "Speakeasy" | 6:18 |
| Total length: | 44:18 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 11. | "Blackbird" | 5:04 |
| 12. | "Blue Station" | 5:37 |
| Total length: | 54:59 | |
Personnel
- Jeff Parker - guitar, bass
- Dan Bitney - bass, guitar, percussion, vibes, marimba, keyboards, baritone saxophone
- Douglas McCombs - bass, bass 6, guitar, lap steel
- John Herndon - drums, vibes, keyboards, sequencing
- John McEntire - drums, modular synthesizer, ring modulator guitar, electric harpsichord, keyboards
Charts
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums (OCC)[22] | 95 |
| US Billboard 200[23] | 200 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard)[24] | 10 |
References
- ↑ "Tortoise Standards". exclaim.ca.
- ↑ "Tortoise | Biography & History". AllMusic.
- ↑ Buckley, Peter (February 9, 2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. ISBN 9781843531050 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "Tortoise". Trouser Press. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
- 1 2 3 Evans, Rick (2001). "Tortoise". Kinda Muzik. Archived from the original on January 3, 2017. Retrieved May 28, 2026.
- ↑ Kot, Greg (February 25, 2001). "TortoiseStandards (Thrill Jockey)Last year, Tortoise served as..." chicagotribune.com.
- 1 2 Cohen, Jonathan (February 25, 2001). "John McEntire and Doug McCombs – Setting New 'Standards'". Nude as the News. Archived from the original on November 15, 2006.
- ↑ "Standards by Tortoise". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
- ↑ Bush, John. "Standards - Tortoise". AllMusic. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
- ↑ "TNT: Standards". Alternative Press: 94. March 2001.
- ↑ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 8. MUZE. p. 221.
- 1 2 "Album Review: 'Standards'". EW.com.
- ↑ "Tortoise : Standards | NME". NME. September 12, 2005.
- ↑ LeMay, Matt (February 20, 2011). "Tortoise: Standards". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
- ↑ "Review: Standards". Q: 113. April 2001.
- ↑ "Tortoise: Standards : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. February 5, 2010. Archived from the original on February 5, 2010.
- 1 2 "Reviews". SPIN. SPIN Media LLC. April 9, 2001 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "TNT: Standards". URB (82): 139.
- ↑ "Tortoise: Standards". Music. April 19, 2002.
- ↑ "Tortoise: Standards". The New Zealand Herald.
- ↑ "Standards | Tortoise". Bandcamp. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ↑ "Tortoise". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
- ↑ "Tortoise - Chart history - Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
- ↑ "Tortoise - Chart history - Independent Albums". Billboard. Retrieved April 9, 2017.