Check out what John and Doug picked up at Amoeba in San Francisco for their recent "What's In My Bag" appearance.
Here's the scoop...
Douglas McCombs and John Herndon of Tortoise stopped by Amoeba San Francisco for a shopping trip and a chat for Amoeba’s 'What’s in My Bag?' series. They pick up a book by Budgie and music by Tom Verlaine, Louis Jordan, David Thomas, Silent Servant, Broadcast, Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers, Bill Orcutt, Emptyset, Wah!, Oneohtrix Point Never, The Durutti Column, and Peaches. You can take a look inside and hear what they have to say about their picks below.
Tortoise returns to Toronto for a show at the Concert Hall (888 Yonge) on Friday, July 3 with BASIC opening at 7 pm. Tickets are $55.50 ($40 + $15.50 fees) and available here.
After hearing Eleventh Dream Day's well-crafted Since Grazed recording, it seems like it was worth the five year wait.
Here's the scoop...
It’s been a good five years since Eleventh Dream Day released their last record, Works For Tomorrow, and while good may be the wrong adjective to describe the time that has passed, tomorrow has indeed arrived with their new double album, Since Grazed (Comedy Minus One) out digitally today (Friday, April 2) with a gatefold double vinyl version due August 7th. Get a copy via Bandcamp right here.
Where the last decade of EDD music has been defined by the work of a band honing their live roar in the studio, Since Grazed contemplates what isn’t there, and builds the songs from the bottom up, relying on long-lived friendships and trust. While Works barreled down the highway, conscious of and trying to outrace the past, Since Grazed takes the long way home, spacing out a bit, and reveling in the journey, celebrating those along for the ride. Not all have made it, but this is not a record about what is lost, it is about what is still there, however grazed it may be.
You know the story by now. Boy meets girl in 1983 Louisville, Kentucky punk rock house rendezvous, start band, learn how to play on the fly, find like-minded types to make noise and follow the Econoline dream. An EP and Prairie School Freakout record on Amoeba Records get the word out, and next thing you know it’s Atlantic Records time times three with the orange, green, and white label spinning and the band on the run to every corner of the rock club universe. Band burns out, but doesn’t fade away. Why stop now? It’s too much fun. Put records out every once in a while as Freakwater and Tortoise forge new territory.
And that’s the way it’s gone.
Fourteen or sixteen records so far depending on how you count them.
Watch Grant Nickson's bunny-enhanced animated clip for "Since Grazed" below.
The line-up for Since Grazed is now intact for consecutive albums, featuring Janet Bean (drums, vocals), Rick Rizzo (guitars, vocals), Douglas McCombs (acoustic and electric bass), Mark Greenberg (piano, organ, synthesizers, vocals, studio wizardry), and James Elkington (guitars, piano, synthesizers).
With Nick Macri (bowed bass) and Peggy Rizzo (flute).
Recorded and produced by Mark Greenberg at The Loft, Chicago.
Featuring members of Tortoise, Brokeback, Freakwater, The Coctails, Archer Prewitt, The Zincs, and Steve Gunn.
Tortoise have been tearing it up in Europe (see below) en route to tonight's triumphant Toronto return.
Here's a mix Jeff Parker put together for FACT Mag
Tortoise on the road 03/12 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
03/13 – Montreal, QC @ Fairmount
03/14 – Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse
03/15 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
03/16 – New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
03/17 – Brooklyn, NY @ Littlefield
03/18 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
03/19 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
03/20 – Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern
03/22 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hall
03/23 – Newport, KY @ Southgate House Revival
03/24 – Indianapolis, IN @ Radio Radio
