Tortoise 8/21 @The Church

By the end of the show I was speechless. Luckily, I had been taking notes during ' trts.com

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Tortoise 8/21 @The Church

POSTED: Wednesday, July 22, 2009, 2:00 PM

Filed Under: Music Show

By the end of the show I was speechless. Luckily, I had been taking notes during '

trts.com

Between songs about love ('My Hands'), first shows played alone and acoustic ('E Mono,' as in without his band Cinematic Orchestra), long-lost friends and mentors (including legendary Philly guitarist Jack Rose), and Barack Obama ('Altruistic Holiday,' for which 'I wanted to write something that would be meaningful whether he won or lost'), opening act Grey Reverend treated the audience to a wonderful set of gentle singing, intricate, delicate, compassionate songwriting (vocal and instrumental), and warmth. He even managed to slip in a Radiohead cover ('Where I End and You Begin'). After a set of storytelling through song and banter, he left us with one more, 'The first time I ever picked up a guitar was right there [points], in an apartment on 22nd and Chestnut, so thanks Philadelphia.'

Ah, Tortoise, a band in which it is pointless to name who plays which instrument, because they all play all of them. Two drum sets face each other, surrounded by a semicircle of keyboards, a vibraphone (on one side), a rack of guitars and basses and a marimba (on the other), with a giant synth rig overseeing the proceedings. Behind it all, a big white projection screen played home to arty visuals. Especially interesting was one of a radio tower whose interlocking metal beams had been filmed with a lens that whimsically danced in and around them. Silhouetted against the sky they were reminiscent of Piet Mondrain's famous juxtapositions of bold black lines and bright primary colors, or the artwork for the band's latest, Beacons Of Ancestorship; perhaps a comment on the inherent beauty of structure. And speaking of structure, plenty of it can be found in their music. Their ever-evolving compositions compel the listener to move and groove with them through a torrent of tempo and time-signature changes.
Vacillating between sounding like Miles Davis's 70's electro-funk wet dream and some sort of mutant Hawaiian lullaby, it is easy to see why Tortoise have long been lauded as uncategorizable by fans and critics alike. The band's fusion of the heavily grooving rhythms of hip-hop, dance, and reggae to heady guitar playing and ethereal soundscapes, results in a unique sound that many credit as a milestone of post-rock. Their latest effort saw them reach new sonic heights, with most every song having a synth lead doubled on guitar and sometimes pitched percussion, as two drummers weave in and out of each others' rhythms. Last night's set was dominated by selections from Beacons, which sounded even better live. The synth sounds were a little less polished, the improvisations a bit more inspired, and the faces made John McEntire while he played (on their website he is credited with drums, modular synthesizer, ring modulator guitar, electric harpsichord, and keyboards, see what I mean?) were priceless.

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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