American indie rock, at its best, tinkers with our concept of the song - deconstructing melodies, chopping up rhythms and generally throwing spanners in the works of its classic rock ancestors.
Tortoise's Millions Now Living Will Never Die may be remembered as the indie album that threw away the song completely. More interested in grooves and expression than verses and choruses, its instrumental passages incorporate "rock" instrumentation (drums, guitar, bass...er, vibraphone) with a remix ethic, sometimes slipping into a loose jam before warping through hip-hop scratching and fractured samples.
There's not much point in differentiating between the tracks; suffice it to say that "Djed" is the really long one at the beginning and "Along the Banks of Rivers" is the doomed Russian romance soundtrack at the end. With extra bubbly noises. It doesn't matter, because Tortoise weave their elemental vibe (and vibes) throughout the album, reinventing their sound across and within individual songs.
These techniques aren't revolutionary - jazz, krautrock and techno have utilised them for years - but Tortoise mix them into a groove that's all their own. Most importantly, their tinkering never strips the emotion from the music, which is probably why Millions Now Living... struck a nerve with a generation of indie rockers suspicious of anyone with a sampler.
If you like Tortoise, check out:
Red Snapper Prince Blimey
Trans Am Surrender to the Night
The Dylan Group it's all about (rimshots and faulty wiring)
-- jf
