Tortoise - Gently Cupping the Chin of the Ape EP
(Thrill Jockey)
This is strictly for collectors and completists only. It’s a two-track, nine-minute single that Tortoise sold during their recent tour, with some enhanced CD video junk thrown in to take out the sting (especially when compared to the excellent remix record they offered their last time around). The songs sound like ideas that didn’t make the cut for Standards. And by "ideas" and "didn’t make the cut" I mean that they are not like other Tortoise songs: well-developed, fleshed-out, evolving, progressive, etc. They are riffs and pieces, and sound like a high-quality home four-track kind of thing (hi-fi lo-fi).
The first track, "Waihopai," is the better of the two, as its got some goofy sidewinding Jeff Parker guitar, super-low bass, spaced-out dubby keyboards, and that special Tortoise rhythm track where you can tell if it's live, machine, or, most likely, some of both. Its got some fun moments, especially the loud drums that randomly pop up and disappear. The last 30 seconds or so lets loose with some crazy rhythms, but then it's over and on to the next one. Which is "Peering," and is like Tortoise playing a Mouse on Mars keyboard track, but at the pace of Tortoise. Not so great.
As for the video bits, they are a bit more interesting. You get a "music video" proper from "Seneca," the lead track on Standards, comprised entirely of NASA stock footage, but still kind of fun/ny. You a couple of minutes of some live footage, which was actually better than seeing them live on this last tour (if you can call looking at the top of some bald heads because they are all sitting down like of bunch of old fogies "seeing"). And you get a couple of minutes of Tortoise in their rehearsal space.
To be honest, around the same time I got this CD, I received an informational CD-ROM from the IRS, and it held my interest for much longer than this stuff did. I will probably return to that IRS CD more often too.
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