BEACONS OF ANCESTORSHIP

Seventh full length Tortoise album, one of the Post Rock founders and pioneers, one that's able to get away from the ultra-formulaic skewings the movement has gotten itself into with those '00's clones that gives all of these clichés, which are unfortunately rightly flogged to death. Still lead by McEntire, the quintet has managed to renew themselves with every album or EP since the early-90's, even if the "progression" was uneven (but who cares anyway, right?), although they've even ventured into vocal music, a great departure from their usually totally instrumental music, which Ancestorship returns to. Some might think that Post Rock doesn't apply to Tortoise anymore, and indeed when comparing to the usual later clichés, they might have half a point; but in the overall picture, Tortoise remains Post Rock in the early 90's aesthetics.

Some tracks are nearly Krautrock-y in the electronic sense (ala Kraftwerk or Cluster), but also sometimes nearing techno music (like Coffin, Gigantes, seven Diamonds or De Chelly), but it's only half the album, and not the good one. But the opening High Class track might sound like a Nektar or soft Hawkwind , and some more sound almost classic prog-era stuff, such as Northern Something, Yingxiansumthin' and Monument (between Eloy and Yes, if you'll forget the modern drumming), while there's even an ethnic feel (the Moroccan beats of Penumbra and the bluesy Minors), but it's rather discreet.

Often reminiscent of their It's All Around You album, while Beacons Of Ancestorship might be a worthy Tortoise album (and a solid improvement on their previous album), I'm not sure it's worth for the proghead to actually invest into this album, but I'd say that it will come down to his own tolerance of Techno music.