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).