A necessary clarification. Before starting to talk about "Millions Now Living Will Never Die" I cannot fail to say that the choice fell on this record (Thrill Jockey, 1996), and not on the subsequent "TNT" (Thrill Jockey, 1998), for the its undisputed historical value, nourishing the writer a much more visceral love for "TNT" to which I will however reserve a few short lines.
I Tortoise represented one of the maximum points achieved by music in the Years' 90, being able to boast one of the most qualified formations of that decade (and not only).
Born in 1991, in Chicago on the impulse of the drummer and keyboard player John Herndon (ex Poster Children and 5ive Style) and the bass player Doug McCombs (formerly Eleventh Dream Day), the group, over time, has been increasingly enriched, hosting the greatest exponents of "indie" music of the time. In fact, they were first joined by two members of Bastro, the drummer John McEntire and the bassist Bundi K. Brown, followed by the percussionist Dan Bitney and the Slint guitarist, david straw.
Having established themselves as a "super-group", the Tortoise, after the first work of the same name, publish "Millions Now Living Will Never Die”, Which is presented as a conceptual and contemporary disc of progressive matrix, with an eye towards a future mindful of its past.
In fact, vinyl is designed on two distinct sides. The first with twenty-one minutes of "Grandpa”, Suite that merges the kraut rock of New! (the bass in the opening and the background noise) with the avant-garde of Steve Reich in the rhythmic displacements and deconstruction that sublimate in the maelstrom that heralds the closure of the side.
Il side B it is, instead, composed of single songs that pass from post rock to the guitar and vibraphone arpeggios of "Glass Museum", To the jazz-rock of"The Taut And Tame"(Near Canterbury Sound), the experimentation conceived of"A Survey" and of "Dear Grandma And Grandpa", Up to the desert / noire soundtrack of"Along The Banks Of Rivers".
A record as generational as it is epochal.
After “Millions Now Living Will Never Die”, the guitarist also takes over Jeff Parker, a musician with a strong jazz inclination.
The new ensemble, now in sextet formation (John McEntire on percussion and keyboards, John Herndon on percussion and vibraphone, Dan Bitney on drums and keyboards, Douglas McCombs and Pajo on bass and Parker on guitar and vibes), gives to the press "TNT”, A sonic kaleidoscope that makes the magmatic totality the cornerstone on which a small, great absolute masterpiece of music is built.
But that's another story already ...
