Tortoise: Beacons of Ancestorship

Label: Thrill Jockey

Association with such a debated term as “post-rock” has made it difficult to hear Tortoise’s music for being just music, you know? The modern Chicago legends’ first album in some years needs no external referents, though I’ll toss one out there anyway: sometimes Beacons of Ancestorship sometimes puts me in mind of early Trans Am, specifically the clean-lined through-a-lens futurisms. Ultimately, this record is classic Tortoise: 11 well-conceived and tightly executed variations on the notions of groove and vroom, with lots of unpredictable moves and moods: the sumptuous pan-ethnic soundtrack cool of “The Fall of Seven Diamonds Plus One” (which lends a sensibility, if not a sound, to the following track, “Minors”) and the massive, builds-to-no-real-resolution “Yinxianghechengqi.” In short: the genre is not “post-rock”—it’s “Tortoise.” (M.L. Thrope)