Tortoise: Catastrophist

$31.98

Release Date: 01-22-2016

SKU: 790377040616

Product Currently Out of Stock

Browse More Notify Me When Available
Tortoise: Catastrophist

1. Product Details

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 it's revered and influential six-album discography, the resulting sounds have always been distinctly, even stubbornly, their own. It's a fact that remains true on The Catastrophist, Tortoise's first studio album in nearly seven years. And 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 and a downright strange cover of David Essex's 1973 radio smash Rock On sung by U.S. Maple's Todd Rittman. Also included is the bittersweet, honest-to-goodness soul ballad Yonder Blue, sung by Yo La Tengo's Georgia Hubley. We'd finished the track and decided it would be good to have vocals on it, recalls McEntire. Robert Wyatt was our first choice, but he had just retired and politely said no. We were discussing asking Georgia to do something, but not that track in particular. Then we realized it would totally work. 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 it's 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, at whose Soma Studios the band recorded the new album. 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. 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.

  1. The Catastrophist
  2. Ox Duke
  3. Rock on Vocals - Todd Rittmann Written-By - David Essex
  4. Gopher Island
  5. Shake Hands with Danger
  6. The Clearing Fills
  7. Gesceap
  8. Hot Coffee
  9. Yonder Blue Vocals - Georgia Hubley Written-By - Georgia Hubley Tortoise
  10. Tesseract
  11. At Odds with Logic

2. Shipping and Delivery

Shipping is available to the 48 contiguous United States. We are unable to ship to PO Boxes, International locations, or APO/FPO addresses. 

Please ensure your address is entered correctly. We are unable to redirect to an alternate shipping address once an order is placed.If your order contains multiple items, it may ship from different warehouse locations.

Tracking information will be sent as items are shipped.

Allow up to 5 business days for your order to process when calculating delivery dates. 

Note: Additional delays may occur due to severe weather or other carrier delays. 

Standard Shipping: allow 7-10 business days for delivery. Albums will be shipped via USPS Media Mail; all other products via UPS Ground or FedEx Ground.

Expedited Shipping: allow 2-5 business days for delivery. Albums will be shipped via USPS Priority Mail; all other products via UPS 2-Day Air or FedEx 2-Day Air.

Overnight Shipping: allow 1-2 business days for delivery. All products will be shipped via UPS Next Day Air or FedEx Next Day Air. 

3. Return Policy

We offer a 30-day money back guarantee on all products purchased from Victrola.com. All items must be returned as new in their original packaging, including all accessories and cables. Albums must be unopened to receive a refund. Missing items will be charged based on suggested retail prices.

All returns must be accompanied by a valid return authorization number (RMA) issued by Victrola. If an RMA is not obtained prior to shipping, the returned product will be refused and returned to sender.

If the item is no longer wanted, the shipping cost is not refundable and returns must be shipped prepaid by the customer. There is a 15% restocking fee that will be calculated based on the price of the product once the item is refunded.

If the item is defective, a pre-paid shipping label to return the product will be provided, and no restocking fee applies.

To set up a return for refund please visit Customer Care. Be sure to include your order # and reason for your return when submitting your request.

View more information about returns and warranty here.

Ratings and Reviews

Ratings and Reviews Underline