Standards (Tortoise album)
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Standards
| type = studio
| artist = Tortoise
| cover = Tortoise-standards.jpg
| alt =
| released = {{Start date|2001|02|20}}
| recorded = 2000
| venue =
| studio = Soma Electronic Music Studio, Chicago
| genre = {{hlist|Post-rock|experimental rock|jazz fusion}}
| length = {{Duration|m=44|s=18}}
| label = Thrill Jockey
| producer = John McEntire{{Cite web|url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/tortoise-standards|title=Tortoise Standards|website=exclaim.ca}}
| prev_title = In the Fishtank 5
| prev_year = 1999
| next_title = It's All Around You
| next_year = 2004
}}
{{Music ratings
| MC = 78/100{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/standards/tortoise|title=Standards by Tortoise|work=Metacritic|publisher=CBS Interactive|access-date=April 9, 2017}}
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/standards-mw0000113257|title=Standards - Tortoise|work=AllMusic|first=John|last=Bush|access-date=April 9, 2017}}
| rev2 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
| rev2score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2006 |publisher=MUZE |volume=8 |page=221}}
|rev3 = Entertainment Weekly
|rev3score = B+{{Cite web|url=https://ew.com/article/2001/02/23/album-review-standards/|title=Album Review: 'Standards'|website=EW.com}}
|rev4 = NME
|rev4score = {{rating|3.5|5}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-nme-4041-343009|title=Tortoise : Standards | NME|website=NME |date=September 12, 2005}}
| rev5 = Pitchfork
| rev5score = 9.2/10{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/8114-standards/|title=Tortoise: Standards|work=Pitchfork|first=Matt|last=LeMay|date=February 20, 2011|access-date=April 9, 2017}}
| rev6 = Rolling Stone
| rev6score = {{rating|3.5|5}}{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/tortoise/albums/album/133436/review/5940868/standards|title=Tortoise: Standards : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone|magazine=Rolling Stone |date=February 5, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100205091513/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/tortoise/albums/album/133436/review/5940868/standards|archive-date=2010-02-05}}
|rev7 = Spin
}}
Standards is the fourth studio album by American post-rock band Tortoise.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tortoise-mn0000180023/biography|title=Tortoise | Biography & History|website=AllMusic}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ctjc6UWCm4C&q=standards+tortoise+2001+the+rough+guide+to+rock&pg=PA1094|title=The Rough Guide to Rock|first=Peter|last=Buckley|date=February 9, 2003|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=9781843531050|via=Google Books}} It was released on Thrill Jockey in 2001.{{cite web |title=Tortoise |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/tortoise/ |website=Trouser Press |access-date=9 February 2021}}
Production
The album was produced using less of the studio manipulation that had been employed on previous records.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-02-25-0102250518-story.html|title=TortoiseStandards (Thrill Jockey)Last year, Tortoise served as...|first=Greg|last=Kot|website=chicagotribune.com|date=25 February 2001 }}
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."{{Cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/tortoise-standards-1798196844|title=Tortoise: Standards|website=Music|date=19 April 2002 }} Entertainment Weekly called the album "mood music for post-post-moderns, both forward- and backward-looking." Spin deemed it "a cohesion of styles and impulses so tight we might call it originality." 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."{{Cite web|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/itortoisei-standards/ZHOJSTOMZGWVGQA2KCPRAXLNFQ/|title=Tortoise: Standards|website=The New Zealand Herald }}
Track listing
{{Track listing
| all_writing = Tortoise
| total_length = 44:18
| title1 = Seneca
| length1 = 6:20
| title2 = Eros
| length2 = 4:26
| title3 = Benway
| length3 = 4:46
| title4 = Firefly
| length4 = 3:56
| title5 = Six Pack
| length5 = 3:11
| title6 = Eden 2
| length6 = 2:08
| title7 = Monica
| length7 = 6:30
| title8 = Blackjack
| length8 = 4:07
| title9 = Eden 1
| length9 = 2:36
| title10 = Speakeasy
| length10 = 6:18
}}
{{Track listing
| headline = Japanese edition bonus tracks
| title11 = Blackbird
| length11 = 5:04
| title12 = Blue Station
| length12 = 5:37
}}
Personnel
Sourced from Bandcamp.{{Cite web|url= https://tortoise.bandcamp.com/album/standards|title=Standards {{!}} Tortoise|work=Bandcamp|access-date=February 22, 2022}}
- 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
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
!scope="col"| Chart !scope="col"| Peak |
| scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC){{cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/33158/tortoise/|title=Tortoise|work=Official Charts Company|access-date=November 18, 2017}}
| 95 |
|---|
| scope="row"| US Billboard 200{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/artist/430289/tortoise/chart?f=305|title=Tortoise - Chart history - Billboard 200|magazine=Billboard|access-date=April 9, 2017}}
| 200 |
| scope="row"| US Independent Albums (Billboard){{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/artist/430289/tortoise/chart?f=326|title=Tortoise - Chart history - Independent Albums|magazine=Billboard|access-date=April 9, 2017}}
| 10 |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Discogs master|4050|Standards}}
{{Tortoise}}
{{Authority control}}