Standards (Tortoise album)
2001 studio album by Tortoise
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Standards is the fourth studio album by American post-rock band Tortoise.[2][3] It was released on Thrill Jockey in 2001.[4]
| Standards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 20, 2001 | |||
| Recorded | 2000 | |||
| Studio | Soma, Chicago | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 44:18 | |||
| Label | Thrill Jockey | |||
| Producer | John McEntire[1] | |||
| Tortoise chronology | ||||
| ||||
Production
The album was produced using less of the studio manipulation that had been employed on previous records.[5] According to John McEntire, many of the songs, such as "Eden 2" and "Eden 1", had their start in the sessions for their previous album, TNT.[6] "Firefly" segues from a studio recording of the track into a version recorded during a band practice.[6]
Critical reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 78/100[7] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [8] |
| Alternative Press | 8/10[9] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [10] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+[11] |
| NME |  [12] |
| Pitchfork | 9.2/10[13] |
| Q | [14] |
| Rolling Stone | [15] |
| Spin | 7/10[16] |
| URB | [17] |
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."[18] Entertainment Weekly called the album "mood music for post-post-moderns, both forward- and backward-looking."[11] Spin deemed it "a cohesion of styles and impulses so tight we might call it originality."[16] 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."[19]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Tortoise.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 11. | "Blackbird" | 5:04 |
| 12. | "Blue Station" | 5:37 |
| Total length: | 54:59 | |
Personnel
- Jeff Parker - guitar, bass
- Dan Bitney - bass, guitar, percussion, vibes, marimba, keyboards, baritone saxophone
- Douglas McCombs - bass, bass 6, guitar, lap steel
- John Herndon - drums, vibes, keyboards, sequencing
- John McEntire - drums, modular synthesizer, ring modulator guitar, electric harpsichord, keyboards
Charts
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums (OCC)[21] | 95 |
| US Billboard 200[22] | 200 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard)[23] | 10 |