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TRANSCRIPT
October 6, 2015 For Immediate Release
TORTOISE RETURN WITH THE CATASTROPHIST, FIRST NEW ALBUM SINCE 2009, OUT JANUARY 22ND ON THRILL JOCKEY RECORDS
LISTEN TO DEBUT SINGLE, “GESCEAP”
https://youtu.be/7ArKJ5k1Vnc
TORTOISE TO TOUR NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE NEXT YEAR
(above image by Andrew Paynter)
Simply put, Tortoise has spent nearly 25 years making music that defies description. While the Chicago-‐based instrumental quintet has nodded to dub, rock, jazz, electronica and minimalism throughout its revered and influential six-‐album discography, the resulting sounds have always been distinctly, even stubbornly, their own. This fact remains true on The Catastrophist, Tortoise’s first studio album in nearly seven years. It’s an album where moody, synth-‐swept jams like the opening title track cozy up next to hypnotic, bass-‐and-‐beat missives like “Shake Hands With Danger,” a downright strange cover of David Essex’s 1973 radio smash, “Rock On,” sung by U.S. Maple/Dead Rider’s Todd Rittmann, and the bittersweet, honest-‐to-‐goodness soul ballad “Yonder Blue,” sung by Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley. Throughout, the songs transcend
expectations as often as they delight the eardrums. Tortoise, comprised of multi-‐instrumentalists Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Doug McCombs, John McEntire and Jeff Parker, has always thrived on sudden bursts of inspiration. And for The Catastrophist, the spark came in 2010 when the group was commissioned by the City of Chicago to compose a suite of music rooted in its ties to the area’s noted jazz and improvised music communities. Tortoise then performed those five loose themes at a handful of concerts, and “when we finally got around to talking about a new record, the obvious solution to begin with was to take those pieces and see what else we could do with them,” says McEntire. “It turned out that for them to work for Tortoise, they needed a bit more of a rethink in terms of structure. They’re all pretty different in the sense that at first they were just heads and solos. Now, they're orchestrated and complex.” The album’s debut single “Gesceap” embodies the transformation of the original suite commissions, as it morphs from two gently intersecting synth lines into a pounding, frenzied full-‐band finish. “To a certain extent it’s more of a reflection of how we actually sound when we play live,” says McEntire of Tortoise’s heavier side. As ever, Tortoise has conjured sounds on The Catastrophist that aren’t being purveyed anywhere else in music today. There’s a deeply intuitive interplay between the group members that comes only from two decades of experimentation, revision and improvisation. And at a time when our brains are constantly bombarded by myriad distractions, The Catastrophist reminds us that there’s something much greater out there. All we have to do is listen. Tortoise’s The Catastrophist is out January 22nd on Thrill Jockey Records, and available for pre-‐order now. The band will play a special hometown record release show in January, and will tour North America next spring. All dates are below. More will be announced soon.
Listen to/share Tortoise’s “Gesceap” –
https://youtu.be/7ArKJ5k1Vnc
Tortoise Tour Dates: Sat. Jan. 23 -‐ Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall [In The Round performance] [Tix]
Sun. Jan. 24 – Milwaukee, WI @ Mad Planet [Tix] Sun. Feb. 7 -‐ Copenhagen, DK @ Vega Jr. [Tix] Mon. Feb. 8 -‐ Hamburg, DE @ Fabrik [Tix] Tue. Feb. 9 -‐ Berlin, DE @ Berghain [Tix] Wed. Feb. 10 -‐ Antwerpen, BE @ Trix Thu. Feb. 11 -‐ Utrecht, NL @ Tivoli [Tix] Fri. Feb. 12 -‐ St. Gallen, CH @ Palace
Sat. Feb. 13 -‐ Geneva, CH @ Antigel Festival Sun. Feb. 14 -‐ Zürich, CH @ Stall 6
Mon. Feb. 15 -‐ Reutlingen, DE @ Franz.K [Tix] Tue. Feb. 16 -‐ Vienna, AT @ Arena
Wed. Feb. 17 -‐ Budapest, HU @ A 38 [Tix] Thu. Feb. 18 -‐ Zagreb, HR @ Mochvara
Fri. Feb. 19 -‐ Bologna, IT @ Locomotiv Club Sat. Feb. 20 -‐ Rome, IT @ Monk Club
Sun. Feb. 21 -‐ Milan, IT @ Magnolia Club Wed. March 9 -‐ Minneapolis, MN @ The Cedar Cultural Center [Tix]
Fri. March 11 -‐ Ann Arbor, MI @ The Blind Pig [Tix] Sat. March 12 -‐ Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace [Tix] Sun. March 13 -‐ Montreal, QC @ Fairmount [Tix]
Mon. March 14 -‐ Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse [Tix] Tue. March 15 -‐ Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair [Tix]
Wed. March 16 -‐ New York, NY @ (Le) Poisson Rouge [Tix] Thu. March 17 -‐ Brooklyn, NY @ Littlefield [Tix]
Fri. March 18 -‐ Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts [Tix] Sat. March 19 -‐ Washington, DC @ Black Cat [Tix]
Sun. March 20 – Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern [Tix] Tue. March 22 -‐ Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hall [Tix]
Wed. March 23 -‐ Newport, KY @ Southgate House Revival [Tix] Thu. March 24 -‐ Indianapolis, IN @ Radio Radio [Tix]
The Catastrophist Tracklisting:
1. The Catastrophist 2. Ox Duke 3. Rock On
4. Gopher Island 5. Shake Hands With Danger
6. The Clearing Fills 7. Gesceap 8. Hot Coffee 9. Yonder Blue 10. Tesseract
11. At Odds With Logic
Pre-‐order The Catastrophist – http://thrilljockey.com/products/the-‐catastrophist
Hi-‐res jpegs and album art available for download here.
(The Catastrophist Album Cover)
Tortoise online: www.trts.com/ www.facebook.com/TRTSband www.twitter.com/TRTS www.instagram.com/trts www.thrilljockey.com/artists/tortoise www.pitchperfectpr.com/tortoise www.windishagency.com/artists/tortoise For more information, contact: Jessica Linker | Pitch Perfect PR – [email protected], 773-‐271-‐6844