It’s probably too late and meaningless to write a Tortoise review as we’re the last in line to report on their new one, and we’ve never been Tortoise fans in the first place. Not that we don’t like them, but because -you know- I have this stupid prejudice to any big name band. Yet I didn’t want to skip “Beacons of Ancestorship” because it brings me hope to see that a big group lives more than their halflife (which is apx. 3 albums) and still pen challenging and relevant music. Time Out Chicago has the track by track.

“The Fall Of Seven Diamonds Plus One”
Doug McCombs I was trying not to write a song like that for the album, because it seems like I always do. It’s a style of writing that I always fall back on. But nothing else I was doing was working that well. I mean, all the collaborative stuff was great, as usual, but there were some niches that seemed like they were missing. We needed a tune like that. I’ve been listening to almost nothing but ZZ Top for the last two years, so that’s probably part of it.