Tortoise's almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, variously described as art-rock or math-rock. The members have roots in Chicago's fertile music scene, playing in various indie rock and punk groups. 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. Fellow Chicagoans Make Believe, featuring Tim Kinsella (CAP'N JAZZ, OWLS, Joan of Arc), will open. CITY PAGES A-LIST PICK!

"The free-ranging, casually intricate music of the Chicago-based, virtually vocals-free quintet Tortoise has been aptly called the "friendlier end of the avant-garde." That presumably means that despite arrangements dense with irregular layers of sounds from dozens of different directions and equally complex rhythms, they often exist in a languid context full of melodic hooks and grooves that stir the backbone. Often Tortoise seems to be concocting themes for imaginary movies, but on a far more intriguing scale than the standard soundtrack, creating vivid pastiches encompassing jazz, progressive and indie-rock ideas, ambient, dub, electronica, shards of spaghetti-western soundtracks, subversive touches of dissonance, serene vistas that remain unsettling. In fact, Tortoise's music constantly evolves, shape-shifting its way toward horizons that can be breathtaking but are always elusive." (A-List Pick, Rick Mason, City Pages 6/30/07)

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