Polyester Heart's Music Blog

So, on September 5, I anxiously made my way to the Mod Club to see Sandro Perri open for Tortoise.  His performance that night turned out to be a revelation, if that's even possible, since last year's Tiny Mirrors continues to astound me.  My expectations were high.  Funny thing is, they were exceeded in a strange way.  Usually when you see one of your favorite artists in concert, you want to hear stuff you know and love, in a way that feels familiar, but transcends the recorded version you already hold dear.  What Sandro did bucked that trend of expectations.  He played precious few recognizable songs, and played them in unrecognizable ways.  Here is a guy who seems to be on the cusp of widespread appeal and recognition, yet plays without any cliches or regards for what the average pallet might accept.  This is why I'll listen to him play anytime.  And any successes he compiles will be that much more commendable, because it seems to me that he's navigating his ascension without making any compromises.

Now, about Tortoise... I don't want to be overly dramatic or hyperbolize too excessively, but the thing is, I just saw two of my favorite acts under one roof on the same day.

My love affair with Tortoise has slowly waned since the late nineties. I loved the first two albums, and thought TNT was kind of neat (though, at the time, the opening track ruined it for me, because I wished the rest of the album sounded the same). And Standards was nice enough. I didn't even bother to get their last effort, It's All Around You. But seeing them live for the first time suddenly caused me to panic. I don't think I've seen a better live band in the last three years. I was scrambling to determine if in fact there was any clear reference point or category they could be associated with. Suddenly the lazy “post rock” tag seemed so empty and simple.

I'll spare the details on my euphoria during this concert. But I will say that I listened to TNT and Standards endlessly after the show, and realized that I hadn't really heard them properly up until then. I'll say flat out, at this point that TNT is the best Tortoise album so far. But, Standards is really pretty awesome too. And I've since acquired It's All Around You, and it's turned out to be really quite mind-blowing as well (right now I think it's better than Standards, but we shouldn't keep track, cause it's all sublime at the end of the day).

Talk about the perfect storm. This Friday night at the Mod Club, Sandro Perri will be opening up for Tortoise.

Sandro is simply one of the most exciting fringe artists anywhere. We're lucky to have him here in T.O. - and he won't be on the fringes for long, believe me – many people have taken notice of his brilliant Tiny Mirrors release from late last year, and he's slated to open for some big names (Tortoise, Andrew Bird), and is rumoured to have said nah, thanks, but no thanks to some even bigger names. I beg everyone to buy Tiny Mirrors. It's my favorite album of 2007, I think (The National's Boxer was pretty freakin decade list worthy, I suppose).  I can say for sure that his music is slow burning, and ultimately breathtaking, and that includes the ambient work he did in his previous incarnation as Polmo Polpo.

Oh, and Tortoise is kind of freakin influential aren't they? I think it was 1997 when everyone of my friends were listening to the self-titled white covered album and Millions Now Living Will Never Die to the point where I was expecting to hear “Djed” on MIX 99.9 (that's a cool reference now because there is no such radio station anymore). I will always be wistful of their patriarchy to the early to mid-nineties post rock movement (I suppose I thought it would amount to more than it ultimately did), but I also applaud them for plowing forward with their sound. Repetitive hooks owing much to Neu! and co. from the early seventies Krautrock movement gave way to layered rhythmic excursions leaning more toward jazz meanderings than the catchy and sometimes epic (see “Djed) cranial nourishment they used to serve up for the quickly evolving twentysomething Nirvana College Graduate.

Speaking of epic, I really want to keep talking about both acts, but I will spare you and continue salivating privately in anticipation of Friday night...