Tortoise - TNT

9.0 - USA - 1998

Although Millions Now Living Will Never Die is considered their masterwork, I reckon this one is their best record. Just a perfect mix of spidery post-rock guitars, bubbling synths, and jazzy rhythms. The double-drum work-out of the opening title track is a wonderful build-up from the first tentative syncopations into a taut machinery of groove. "I Set Face To The Hillside" is a gorgeous string-led instrumental ballad that sounds like it came out of some lost science fiction spaghetti western crossover. Still, although TNT has a much more organic and jazzrock feel compared to its more electronic predecessor, there is still that faint chill suggestive of this all being just a technical exercise. But despite of the well-studied marimbas, little bits of soul find themselves peaking out of the corners.