Tortoise
Beacons of Ancestorship
(Thrill Jockey, 2009)

Tortoise, of all people, are worried about their age. The sarcastic album title about their elder statesmen status, the even more sarcastic title “Prepare Your Coffin”, and one song, “Minors”, is presumably about what they prize the most in this day—being one, appealing to one, anything to reverse time back away from those meddlesome coffins.

Maybe they felt they were prematurely mellowed out on It’s All Around You. Maybe they felt they were prematurely mellowed out for five records. Beacons, John McEntire and company’s sixth, is their loudest by a bit, even with the second half chilling out for a powder mostly. Beyond the boisterous Standards opener “Seneca” and its molten drumline, “fuzz” isn’t quite a word associated with Tortoise, but here, vibrating, queasy, hairy distortion infests every stroke until the last four songs. Burping Moog and ARPs in particular lead the proceedings—this is also the band’s most synth-heavy by far. Even the most traditionally them track, “Charteroak Foundation”, is crashed halfway through by a buzzing laser more reminiscent of Elvis Costello’s high Farfisa arrangements or Dr. Dre’s G-keyboard swizzle than anything this postmodern-fusion collective’s allowed on their pristine china collections they call records.

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