Artist
Tortoise
Tortoise is a post-rock artist from Chicago, USA formed in 1990. 17 releases are catalogued on Riffiter.
Post-Rock · Chicago, USA · Best post-rock albums
- 17
- Releases
- 1994–2025
- Active years
- 1990
- Formed
Artist
Tortoise is a post-rock artist from Chicago, USA formed in 1990. 17 releases are catalogued on Riffiter.
Post-Rock · Chicago, USA · Best post-rock albums
Most popular
TNT
1998 · 12 tracks
Tortoise’s almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization. The group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago’s fertile music scene, playing in various indie rock and punk groups. Formed in 1990, Tortoise was among the first American indie rock bands to incorporate styles closer to krautrock, dub, minimalism, electronica and various jazz styles, rather than the standard rock and roll and punk that had dominated indie rock for years. The group’s origins lie in the late 1980’s pairing of McCombs and Herndon, who imagined themselves as a freelance rhythm section (like reggae legends Sly And Robbie). That idea never saw fruition but in the summer of 2007 they formed the group Bumps and released a record with the same name on indie hip-hop label Stones Throw records, their interest in grooving rhythms and recording studio trickery led to McEntire and Brown (both formerly of Bastro) joining, followed by Bitney. Though songs are credited to all the musicans, McEntire quickly became, if not the acknowledged leader, then the group’s guiding force, at least via media perception. In reality his extra contributions mainly took the…
