Initial thoughts based on one complete listen:

It's a Tortoise album, so it will take a while to really digest. But it strikes me as a cross between the mellow/live vibe of TNT and the synth-forward sounds of Beacons of Ancestorship. Like those two albums, it tends to focus on repetitive motifs, rather than the crescendos and releases found in Standards and It's All Around You.

The most pleasant surprise is how much I like the cover of David Essex's Rock On. I was hesitant when I heard there would be vocals on two songs, but this first one works really well. The effects on Todd Rittmann's vox help the song to retain its instrumental vibe, and the song feels like an album centerpiece.

Yonder Blue, the other vocal song featuring Yo la Tengo's Georgia Hubley, feels less successful. It honestly just sounds like every Stereolab song.

I already like it better than BoA, but not as much as TNT or It's All Around You. Looking forward to repeated listenings to see how it develops.

Just noticed that the iTunes version of The Catastrophist includes a bonus track, if anyone cares. I'm all over this tomorrow.

Watter - Seawater


I've been groovin' on their album from a year or two ago again this morning.

Stop drawing attention away from the new Tortoise record, Varis.

Shit! My bad.

Here you go:

Well played.

good stuff. I like this one too.




I haven't been the biggest fan of theirs, but I like this one so far.

After 4 months of living with "Dust and Disquiet", I'm pretty comfortable with declaring it Caspian's best album.

After many more spins, I've come to the conclusion that the first eight songs are fantastic all the way through, and stand up well to the rest of their catalog. But unlike every other Tortoise album, this one really peters out at the end. The last four tracks (including the iTunes bonus cut) are pretty snooze-worthy.

Also, it's funny that all the promo pieces for this record mention how it was influenced by their grant from some Chicago arts organization to compose something influenced by Chicago jazz. There's very little of anything on this album that I would call jazz. There are plenty of funk, minimalist, and (of course) post-rock influences, but jazz???

Finally got the new Tortoise album, and gave it a spin. I agree with Tragabigzanda that it feels like a cross between TNT and Beacons of Ancestorship; those are definitely the closest analogs to this one in their discography.

It seems really mellow after one listen, which, based on the old version of "Hot Coffee" and the in-studio sample videos they had on their Facebook a while back, I was expecting. Future listens will tell, but that mellowness might not bode well, as the album will probably end up as a minor one, and after such a long wait, that will be tough to abide.

Bonus points for typing out my full name.

I love Hot Coffee, definitely one of my faves on the album. Other faves are Ox Duke, Rock On, Shake Hands With Danger (which sounds like an outtake from My Life In the Bush of Ghosts), and Gesceap.

But I agree, overall it's a little underwhelming given the wait. It's one of those records I'll play a lot right now because it's new; then I'll probably forget about it; then I'll return to it in a few years and discover new things to love.

Is anyone familiar with the Japanese band toe? I don't know if they are post-rock or math- rock but they are really good. Was introduced from the local college radio station and have been into them ever since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ampd2ABKVr0

Unsurprisingly, I've warmed up to The Catstrophist after multiple listens. It's still a little more mellow than I would have liked, but most of the album is pretty good. My favorite tracks as of now are the title track, "The Clearing Fills," and "Hot Coffee."

The two songs with vocals are okay, but don't fit the album, and would have better served as stand-alone singles or something. I also, weirdly, don't think "Gesceap" works in the context of the album. Maybe it's just because it's longer and has a more complex development than the rest of the tracks, but it doesn't seem to fit thematically; it sounds out of place.

Both of those are great tracks. Hot Coffee is already one of my favorite Tortoise songs ever. I think Gesceap fits perfectly -- both where it falls on the album, and the fact that it's longer than the other songs. It takes its time to set a certain mood, and I'm able to just get lost in it. And then it sneaks up on me -- without warning, it takes me from a place of gentle meditation to deep sadness. Lots of feels from that one, but I've got listen to it all the way through.

I still think the album peters out terribly. The last few songs are all so similar in tone and energy, and it just sort of meanders to a close. I'd almost prefer they just wrapped it up with Hot Coffee and called it a day. Those last ones do nothing for the album, nor their overall catalog. They're not bad, just sort of duds.

I don't mind them. I don't know if they're strong enough to end the album properly, but they're pretty good. I've yet to seek out the iTunes nous song, though.

My biggest gripe is that the whole thing's too conservative. I wish there was more stuff like the video game synth at the beginning of "The Castrophist" or like "Gopher Island" in tone and texture.

I spent the day with Caspian's bandcamp page open, going through their discography. I really like the progression in their sound they've made.

I like 'em, and you're right, they seem to go between math rock and post rock.

Caspian's coming back through PHX, but they're opening for a Christian metal band.