5 posts tagged “tortoise”

Dear Lazy Vox,

I was just given the url to a YouTube video I'd love to add to my Vox account.  However, the owner of the video has not properly tagged it, so I cannot access it via the YouTube conduit.  I know the URL for the video, and subsequently its YouTube id (Q2L893SJNoY), but I still can't figure out how to get this video into Vox. 

Regarding said video, it's well-produced live recording of one of my favorite bands.  It really captures the essence of the group; their energy.  If you're not a fan already, you'll be one by the time the video is over.

Update: thanks to Patti, I got the video imported.  Hooray!  Here it is:

A Lazarus Taxon

Tortoise

My new Tortoise box set arrived today.  Included in the box was a Thrill Jockey bumper sticker and a limited print poster of the album cover.  The black and white photographs on the disc sleeves are from a former (Polish?) police officer who photographed accidents.

Each band member contributed a short essay to the liner notes, each essay in a different language (English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese).  The essay in English has some interesting quotes from Brian Eno:

"It used to be the case that a record was expected to contain the definitive and perhaps only version of a song, and that the job of the band and the producer was to create this 'ideal' object"

"...once we get used to the idea that we are no longer consumers of 'finished' works... we find ourselves leaving a world of 'know your own station' passivity... we stop regarding things as fixed and unchangeable, as preordained, and we increasingly find ourselves practicing the idea that we have some control."

Pretty relevant in today's forever-beta/gamma world - even if taken out of context.

The stand-out features of the DVD include both a live performance and proper music video of Glass Museum, along with a live version of Gamera and the music vid for Seneca.  Seneca uses some amazing archival footage from NASA and can be found on YouTube (the dissonance drops off and the melody kicks in around 1:54).

What is your favorite cover song?
Question submitted by Ray.

Tortoise and Bonnie "Prince" Billie covered Cravo é Canela, which was originally by Milton Nascimento.  Cravo é Canela means "clove and cinnamon", part of the title of a book by Jorge Amado called Gabriela, Cravo é Canela.  Here's a link to the original song and the cover.

This is very exciting to me.  Be warned; it's a full-browser-window QTVR with sound.  Click through to the promo for the next release on 9/27.  And lest we forget, new Tortoise on 8/22.  August will be a wonderfully musical month.

Rock Werchter is apparently a music festival in Belgium, and apparently YouTube is a great place to find videos of live performances.  This Tortoise performance includes the following tracks:

1. Stretch
2. Ten Day Interval
3. Swung from the Gutters
4. The Lithium Shifts
5. Crest
6. Seneca

And features some nice xylophone action and their rock-tastic dual-drumming.  Enjoy.