Day 0813 - Millions Now Living Will Never Die

Tortoise "Millions Now Living Will Never Die" (1996)

So the age-old question "what's the difference between a turtle and a tortoise?" is answered.  Turtle is a 60s psychedelic rock band, and Tortoise is instrumental post-rock.

The band was formed by a group of multi-instrumentalists, including two separate rhythm sections.   The liner notes for their albums just list the band members and not what instruments they place which suggests that either they either mix it up a bit, or they are just mysterious mofos.

The music is subdued, hypnotic repetitions, often with Krautrock vibes to them (such as on the epic "Djed").  There are John Zorn-esque jazz-flavoured rock grooves ("the Taut and Tame") and almost Morricone-esque soundscapes ("Restless Waters").

Day 0701 - Spiderland

Slint "Spiderland" (1991)

At first I felt the need to push against this album, just because the reviewer for the book was so incredibly effusive about it.   Going with the old "this less famous band is so much better than those bands that everyone else knows" spiel.  After a few listens though, it has made its way under my skin.  I don't view them as the second coming or anything, but it's an interesting grunge/alt-rock record.

The band released only 2 albums and had changing membership within that time, which I guess is not surprising as they were all fairly young and were going to college in between albums.  They recorded their first album with no-nonsense punky producer Steve Albini, recording an EP's worth of songs around the same time (released later).

For second album "Spiderland" the group decided to go for a slightly more polished sound.  They jammed out songs in the basement, working at repeating the same riffs over and over again, slowly evolving them.

Singer Brian McMahon would take rough recordings to his parents' car to listen and work on vocals.  Said vocals range from soft, spoken-word through to bloody curdling screams.  Likewise, the music swings between cold, but delicate clean guitar lines, and crashing fuzzed-out walls of rock.

The band broke up by the time the album was released, leaving no tour, interviews or videos to promote the release.  However, critical acclaim and word of mouth built the album's status and prevented it from sinking into the fog of musical history.