Tortoise Stories

FESTIVAL WATCH | Fulton Market Harvest Fest

 Festival Watch is a Tomorrows Verse feature where we break down festival news into the facts you need to know.Fulton Market Harvest Fest September 30-October 1Headliners To WatchTortoise Chicago post-rock legends Tortoise will headline the festival Sunday. Truly one of the citys most talented group of musicians, their instrumental capabilities and creative compositions...

Setlist / Full Show Video | Tortoise Kicks Off Tomorrow Never Knows Festival '17 at Lincoln Hall 1/11/17

TV favorite Tortoise kicked off this year's Tomorrow Never Knows Festival Wednesday night at Lincoln Hall.  Audiotree is livestreaming all Lincoln Hall shows from this festival and already has an archived version of the Tortoise show up on their YouTube channel (see below for their remaining broadcasts).Unlike a few of last year's...

Stream or Download | Tortoise @ Jay Pritzker Pavilion 8/25/16

We made a plea for more paid shows at this magnificent venue, but free gigs like this kind of soften the blow.Joel Berk (@pfcidb) was on hand to capture the magic of Tortoise on a late summer Thursday night. Here's what he has to say about the band's evolution this year:Tortoise...

A Double Shot Of Jazz Underground

This edition of Notes From The Jazz Underground was culled from the June 17th  & June 24th broadcasts.Ever since we launched Tomorrow's Verse, we've been playing catch-up with these NFTJU posts, so let's combine two of them into a huge Jazz Underground DOUBLE SHOT for your listening pleasure and get us up...

Stream or Download | Tortoise @ Metro 5/10/16

Photo: Philamonjaro StudioTortoise returned to Chicago earlier this month -- following up their in-the-round performance with a a more traditional club date at Metro.The show was recorded and shared via the sweethblahg tumbler and we thought it'd be a nice service to fans to have it available for streaming.The band will play the...

Notes From The Jazz Underground Teaches Us About Sir Duke

This edition ofNotes From The Jazz Underground was culled from the April 29thbroadcast.The broadcast version fellon Duke Ellington's birthday. But just like everything else NFTJU, host Paul Abella doesn't play it straight. Offeringequal parts Ellington oddities, oddball covers and a straight-up jazz history lesson this week. He offers a bunch of notes from this...

Album Reviews | January 2016 Releases

David Bowie- (Blackstar) [1/8]Blackstar gained instant notoriety when Bowie passed away only two days afterits release, leading to the record being his first to reach number one on the Billboard charts . Even beyond this fact, Blackstar is a must-hear for music fans, the entire album packed with a brand of creativity that only a musician...

Photos / Recap / Video| Tortoise @ Thalia Hall 1/23/16

By: Philamonjaro StudioTortoise kicked off a multi-continent tour on Saturday, a pair of gigswhich also celebratedthe release of the band'sfirst studio release in nearly seven years,The Catastrophist on Thrill Jockey Records.It's a record that has already made a strong case for album of the year in January, expansive in depth (as Tortoise typically...

Preview | Tortoise @ Thalia Hall, January 23, 2016

Tortoise plays Thalia Hall upon the debut of their first studiorelease in nearly seven years. This Chicago-based instrumentalquintet always transcends genres or easy labels. The band plays their hometownfor two shows (6:30 & 10:15) this Saturday before embarking on European tour.Billed as Tortoise "In The Round", there should be some interesting performance elements to accompany tunes...

Not Necessarily Jazz Underground

This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist based on the Februrary 14th show.The Valentine's Day show wasn't exactly about love, in fact it wasn't necessarily about anything.NFTJU host Paul Abella interviewed Shawn Maxwell about his new band -- a 10 piece band with two bassists, two french horns, two saxophones...