I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around the whole “post-rock” concept for some time now. While no description neatly fits all bands who play this style, the music to me sounds like “anti rock” made by ironically borrowing components of the genre – especially the Canterbury scene of Soft Machine and Can’s Krautrock style.
There’s often no soloing and no singing; both are eschewed in favor of moods, textures and shifting series of riffs. An ambient bent can be detected in its softer passages, too. Some post-rock also incorporates jazz elements, and sometimes even gets called “jazz-rock” – but from what I’ve heard, those elements are pretty minimal.
In a nutshell, it became a kind of alternative to alternative rock.
When Chicago-based Tortoise’s Beacons of Ancestorship arrived on June 23, 2009, I’d already listened closely to Marco Benevento’s recent records and sampled some Sigur Rós, but still couldn’t quite locate the center of this music. Then again, post rock came along well before those acts. Specifically, there was Tortoise’s Millions Now Living Will Never Die from back in 1995, one of the genre’s earliest benchmark albums.
So, I wondered whether this new project would solve the puzzle for me. Unfortunately, Beacons of Ancestorship didn’t, really, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t an intriguing listen.
“High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In” boasted a groove propelled by a snare drum with brushes and a thick slab of a Kraftwerk-style synth plopped on top of it. “Prepare Your Coffin” was one of Tortoise’s more concise melodies, with some tough rock bass lines.
“Gigantes” had some exotic and compelling percussion arrangement going on, while “Yinxianghechengqi” grunted and growled with a punk sensibility. While the bass and drums groove was deadly, “Minors” probably got its name from its melody being a series of minor chords.
So I dug this record, even if I still can’t decide if I like the musical style Tortoise plies their trade in. The grooves and the off-center ambiance of these songs were just a little bit too irresistible.
