Standards (Tortoise album)

Standards
Standards
Studio album by Tortoise
Released	February 20, 2001
Recorded	2000
Studio	Soma Electronic Music Studio, Chicago
Genre	Post-rock; experimental rock; jazz fusion;
Length	44:18
Label	Thrill Jockey
Producer	John McEntire
Tortoise chronology

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	78/100^[2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[4]
Entertainment Weekly	B+^[5]
NME	^[6]
Pitchfork	9.2/10^[7]
Rolling Stone	^[8]
Spin	7/10^[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

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

Critical reception

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

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

Japanese edition bonus tracks
No.	Title	Length
11.	"Blackbird"	5:04
12.	"Blue Station"	5:37

Personnel

Sourced from Bandcamp.^[16]

Tortoise

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)^[17]	95
US Billboard 200^[18]	200
US Independent Albums (Billboard)^[19]	10

References

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

External links

Standards at Discogs (list of releases)

[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.

[CL-4] Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 8. MUZE. p. 221.

[auto1-5] "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 February 5, 2010.

[auto-9] "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.

[TP-12] "Tortoise". Trouser Press. Retrieved February 9, 2021.

[13] Kot, Greg (February 25, 2001). "TortoiseStandards (Thrill Jockey)Last year, Tortoise served as..." chicagotribune.com.

[14] "Tortoise: Standards". Music. April 19, 2002.

[15] "Tortoise: Standards". The New Zealand 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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v t e Tortoise
Dan Bitney Doug McCombs Jeff Parker John Herndon John McEntire Bundy K. Brown David Pajo
Studio albums	Tortoise Millions Now Living Will Never Die TNT Standards It's All Around You Beacons of Ancestorship The Catastrophist
Other releases	Rhythms, Resolutions & Clusters Remixed In the Fishtank 5 The Brave and the Bold A Lazarus Taxon