Tortoise
Millions Now Living Will Never Die
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Tortoise
Millions Now Living Will Never Die
Thrill Jockey, 1996
RiYL: Can’s Ege Bamyasi, Yes’ Fragile, Stereolab’s Dots and Loops, Angelo |
"Djed," the 21-minute mini-epic that begins the record, is a synthesis of all the ideas that brought Tortoise to this point in its evolution: dub bass lines, crisp percussion and rhythms, tasteful electronics and a generally highbrow aesthetic. It's all present here, in several distinct sections.
The track's highlight is the juxtaposition of marimba and xylophone against a subtly distorted bassline and skipping electronic beats. It wouldn't be the first time that Tortoise nodded to Steve Reich's landmark Music For 18 Musicians composition. The final seven minutes of "Djed" recall the space-age electronica of Oval, boiling down to a chill, brain-massaging finish.
"Glass Museum" introduces David Pajo (Slint, Aerial M) into the Tortoise lineup and marks the band's first use of guitar to date. Tapping into but never fully consuming the prog vibe of Yes or Emerson, Lake and Palmer, "Glass Museum" constructs a veritable Stonehenge of vibes, reverb and deep basslines around Pajo's repeated minor-key riff before a heartbeat-like bassline bulldozes toward an implosive, intense jam-out. It's definitely the band's most overt rock and roll moment.
Millions' other highlight is the breakbeat slap of "The Taut And Tame," a showcase of the band's expert percussionists Johnny Herndon and John McEntire. Tempos shift on a dime, as do melodies plucked from Pajo and Doug McCombs' bass guitars. Here again Tortoise forges a link between itself and the best of the European electronica culture. (Millions was remixed by artists such as Spring Heel Jack and U.N.K.L.E. on a series of import-only 12-inch LP's. The Japanese version of the album contains must-have bonus tracks such as the rave-ready drum and bass gem "Gamera").
The rest of Millions, though, does not realize the concepts brought to fruition on the first two tracks. "A Survey" is a short, uneventful bass solo, "Dear Grandma And Grandpa" is an ambient toss-off and the sparse "Along The Banks Of Rivers" sounds like the background music for a "Twin Peaks" episode.
The band deserves credit for broadening the vision of its debut LP, but its increased use of electronics and samplers ultimately detracts from what made said album so innovative: the fact that Tortoise was a rhythm section capable of producing brilliant music entirely on its own terms.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"