Standards (Tortoise album)

Standards
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 20, 2001 (2001-02-20)
Recorded2000
StudioSoma Electronic Music Studio, Chicago
Genre
Length44:18
LabelThrill Jockey
ProducerJohn McEntire[1]
Tortoise chronology
In the Fishtank 5
(1999)
Standards
(2001)
It's All Around You
(2004)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic78/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[4]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[5]
NME[6]
Pitchfork9.2/10[7]
Rolling Stone[8]
Spin7/10[9]

Standards is the fourth studio album by American post-rock band Tortoise.[10][11] It was released on Thrill Jockey in 2001.[12]

Production

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The album was produced using less of the studio manipulation that had been employed on previous records.[13]

Critical reception

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The A.V. Club wrote that "the band is poised between capturing a momentary, malleable inspiration and shaping that moment into some timeless anthem, and as always, it chooses to dither and delay, settling for a sometimes pleasant, sometimes maddening, almost always stimulating exploration of atmospherics."[14] Entertainment Weekly called the album "mood music for post-post-moderns, both forward- and backward-looking."[5] Spin deemed it "a cohesion of styles and impulses so tight we might call it originality."[9] The New Zealand Herald called Standards "a neatly intriguing, mish-mash of instrumental rock shot through with lopsided grooves, dreamy drones, not-quite-jazz percussion and vibes, and knob-twiddling electronica rubbing up against a junk-store of old instruments - all of which somehow emerges as an accessible, tuneful, structured affair."[15]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Tortoise

No.TitleLength
1."Seneca"6:20
2."Eros"4:26
3."Benway"4:46
4."Firefly"3:56
5."Six Pack"3:11
6."Eden 2"2:08
7."Monica"6:30
8."Blackjack"4:07
9."Eden 1"2:36
10."Speakeasy"6:18
Total length:44:18
Japanese edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."Blackbird"5:04
12."Blue Station"5:37

Personnel

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Sourced from Bandcamp.[16]

Tortoise

Charts

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Chart Peak
position
UK Albums (OCC)[17] 95
US Billboard 200[18] 200
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[19] 10

References

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  1. ^ "Tortoise Standards". exclaim.ca.
  2. ^ "Standards by Tortoise". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
  3. ^ Bush, John. "Standards - Tortoise". AllMusic. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
  4. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 8. MUZE. p. 221.
  5. ^ a b "Album Review: 'Standards'". EW.com.
  6. ^ "Tortoise : Standards | NME". NME. September 12, 2005.
  7. ^ LeMay, Matt (February 20, 2011). "Tortoise: Standards". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
  8. ^ "Tortoise: Standards : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. February 5, 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-02-05.
  9. ^ a b "Reviews". SPIN. SPIN Media LLC. April 9, 2001 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ "Tortoise | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  11. ^ Buckley, Peter (February 9, 2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. ISBN 9781843531050 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ "Tortoise". Trouser Press. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  13. ^ Kot, Greg (25 February 2001). "TortoiseStandards (Thrill Jockey)Last year, Tortoise served as..." chicagotribune.com.
  14. ^ "Tortoise: Standards". Music. 19 April 2002.
  15. ^ "Tortoise: Standards". NZ Herald.
  16. ^ "Standards | Tortoise". Bandcamp. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  17. ^ "Tortoise". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  18. ^ "Tortoise - Chart history - Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
  19. ^ "Tortoise - Chart history - Independent Albums". Billboard. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
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