Recommendations of the Editorial team
Tortoise delight with a new record. After “Oganesson” was a first harbinger a few weeks ago (with subsequent remix versions of Broken Social Scene and Makaya McCraven), it is now clear that Jeff Parker, Dan Bitney, Douglas McCombs, John Mcentire on October 24 with “Touch” will be published since 2016.
“Aerodynamically revised Krautrock, hand-ranked techno-rave-ups and pointillistic spaghetti western fanfars” can be expected according to the press release. Another impression of how Tortoise sounds 2025 gives “Layered Presence”, which has been heard since Tuesday (September 9th) and has been given a nice video by Mikel Patrick Avery.
The band, which has a strictly democratic processes, has had a complicated production path for the new songs. Live two members in Los Angeles, one further in Portland and now only two in their hometown of Chicago. New music was also recorded in all three cities.
“Touch” – cover and tracklist
- 1 vexations
- 2 Layered Presence
- 3 Works and Days
- 4 elka
- 5 promenade à deux
- 6 Axial Seamount
- 7 A Title Comes
- 8 Rated OG
- 9 Oganesson
- 10 Night Gang
Tortoise has been causing a sensation since the early 1990s with their mixture of jazz, dub, herb rock, minimal music and electronic music. Many tracks are pure instrumental, almost floating sound landscapes.
Members often change the instruments in the studio and live, which creates organic, flowing band dynamics. “Millions Now Living Will Never Die” (1996) and “TNT” (1998) are considered masterpieces of a fusion genre that tortoise have almost created themselves. Overall, the group only recorded seven plates in front of “Touch”. In 2016 “The Catastrophist” was last published.
After a few special shows in the USA at the end of the year and in UK, Tortoise also came on a European tour in early 2026. There are also gigs in Karlsruhe, Frankfurt, Cologne, Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg and Munich.
Tortoise Live in Germany, Austria and Switzerland 2026
- 01/22/2026 D-Karlsruhe, Tollhaus
- 01/26/2026 D-Frankfurt, Zoom
- 01/27/2026 D-Cologne, canteen
- 29.01.2026 D-Berlin, large broadcast room of the RBB
- 30.01.2026 D-Dresden, Beatpol
- 04.04.2026 D-Hamburg, Kampnagel
- 04/12/2026 D-Munich, Technikum
- 04/13/2026 A-Salzburg, Jazz: IT
- 04/14/2026 A-Graz, Orpheum
- 04/15/2026 CH-St. Gallen, Palace
- 04/16/2026 CH-Friborg, Fri-Son