The perfect take. For the local quintet Tortoise, it doesn’t exist.
Perfection is what producers, musicians and engineers often shoot for when they enter a recording studio. It’s that sometimes umpteenth rendition of a song or composition that most thoroughly captures its essence. But after Tortoise has documented its sometimes abstract, sometimes mellifluous compositions in the recording studio, those pieces may still undergo myriad transformations at the mixing board and on the concert stage.
“We rework our music a lot,” explains drummer/multi-instrumentalist John McEntire. “We consider that one mix, or one take, is just that. It’s one mix out of potentially hundreds of mixes. And being able to explore all of the variations therein is something that’s very important to us.”
As a result, this all-instrumental ensemble doesn’t use the recording studio merely to document its music. The studio is used to transform and reshape that music. It essentially acts as another musical instrument in the band’s increasingly varied arsenal.
“I consider the studio as an equal tool among all the others we utilize,” continues McEntire, who’s also an in-demand producer. “The idea of using the studio purely as a documentary device seems ridiculous considering all that it makes available to you. That’s especially true for us because our music’s open-ended enough that it demands that certain things be continuously reworked.”
That process doesn’t cease after mixes are selected, arranged and released on record.
“We’re not interested in replicating our recorded material live,” adds Tortoise’s other percussionist, John Herndon. “It’s more interesting for us to try and come up with a different structure for our pieces when we play live.”
“There’s an extended piece on our new record called `Djed,’ ” continues bassist Doug McCombs. “We’re trying to figure out how to incorporate it into our set. We may scatter it around and use parts of it as intros to other pieces or as segues between pieces.”
If all of this sounds overly cerebral, Tortoise’s records actually deliver interesting yet totally approachable listening experiences. The band’s upcoming sophomore effort, “Millions Now Living Will Never Die,” beautifully accommodates both earnest experimentation and gorgeous lyricism.
The aforementioned “Djed” is a lengthy suite that moves from Can/Neu-like jamming through dense, tuneful polyphony through completely abstract sonic tinkering. Yet the sections flow seamlessly out of each other with an organic, aesthetically satisfying logic.
“Even when our music is at its strangest,” says Herndon, “it still should be cohesive and sonically pleasing.”
“And hopefully surprising,” adds McCombs.
It is. Tortoise headlines a show Saturday at the Fireside Bowl.
Reeves Gabrels, Saturday at the Beat Kitchen: Highly regarded session guitarist Gabrels went from palookaville to the Big Time in the late ’80s when David Bowie recruited him to join Tin Machine. He’s in town to support his first solo record, “The Sacred Squall of Now,” which features appearances by Bowie, Frank Black, Charlie Sexton and actor Gary Oldman (?!). The record mingles a set of fairly interesting songs and instrumentals that showcase an array of both cliched and arresting guitar discharges. It’s reminiscent of Adrian Belew’s work (another Bowie alum), though it’s more in line with Belew’s prog-rock King Crimson experiments than his solo vehicles.
Buddy Guy, Friday through Monday, and Wednesday through Jan. 13 at Buddy Guy’s Legends: It’s become an annual tradition for blistering blues guitarist Buddy Guy to headline at his own club throughout much of January (he’s performing 14 nights’ worth of shows in all, ending with a Jan. 17-21 stand). Tickets for most of Guy’s eternally high-energy, frequently unpredictable concerts (featuring a different opening act each night) were sold out weeks in advance. Phil Guy, a reliable, underrated Chicago blues guitarist in his own right, opens for his older brother this Saturday.
– Bill Dahl
Paul Cebar & the Milwaukeeans and Marlee MacLeod, Saturday at Schubas: Alabama native MacLeod is hooked into the Athens, Ga., music scene, and her country-folk tunes evince some of that burg’s trademark log cabin guitar jangle. But her latest record, “Favorite Ball & Chain,” boasts a bumper crop of beguiling, homespun melodies garnished with simple-yet-becoming acoustic arrangements. Veteran party-band ringleader Cebar and his crew recently released their second album “Upstroke for the Downfolk.” On it, Cebar waters down influences such as Curtis Mayfield, the Neville Brothers and Stax/Volt R&B into an often-bland musical puree suitable for bar-hopping white folks. The history of Caucasian pop culture in a nutshell.
Moon Seven Times, Saturday at the Metro: Though Champaign, Ill., is a long way from London, that hasn’t stopped this downstate quartet from enshrouding its music in the same melancholy moor mist that envelops the work of the Cocteau Twins, Lush and a host of other bands on England’s 4AD label. With its minor-key minstrelsy, delay-ridden guitars and moderate tempos, Moon Seven Times immerses Lynn Canfield’s crystalline voice in a languid, spectral gauze. Though the band can lay claim to some ethereally memorable tunes, it doesn’t bring anything particularly distinctive to this dreamy genre.
Mount Shasta, Wednesday at the Double Door: Mount Shasta’s new record “Who’s the Hottie?” is allegedly a concept album about a sexual maneuver known as the “Hot Carl,” which, trust me, you probably don’t want to know about. And even if you do, the garbled caterwauling of vocalist John Forbes won’t clarify things much. The quartet’s music is a tightly whirling maelstrom of pummeling riffs, slippery tempos and lacerating plumes of jagged guitar sheeting.
Eddy Clearwater, Friday and Saturday at Blue Chicago: Lean and lanky Eddy Clearwater has ranked as one of the foremost exponents of Chicago’s West Side school of blues guitar since the 1950s. When the need arises, he’s also eminently capable of a sterling Chuck Berry imitation (he’s far better than Berry himself nowadays). Clearwater’s shows are inevitably a rocking good time; his roots lie solidly in 1950s blues and R&B, translating into a high-energy party vibe perfect for celebrating the first weekend of the new year.
– Bill Dahl
