Rock/Alt/Progressive - For two decades, Chicago's trailblazing band Tortoise have been consistently redefining the parameters and expectations of bold, instrumental contemporary music with an amalgam of rock, jazz, techno and, for lack of a better term, progressive elements jumbled together. Long-awaited new album Beacons of Ancestorship is their first studio outing since 2004's It's All Around You and again represents the forefront of brave, challenging and, for those ready for the unexpected, completely rewarding journey.

Though brilliantly exploratory and in many respects one-of-a-kind, Tortoise attune themselves to the same strategy of shifting time signatures, start/stop changes, contemplative ensemble playing and passages of both dissonance and beauty that grace the more non-doodling prog elements of earlier bands such as King Crimson and The Dregs and even the art-rock sensibilities of Yes, Kraftwerk and Genesis.

"A characteristic Tortoise album is one that traverses an encyclopedia of styles and reference points, a document of where musical intersections and dialogue are occurring at a given moment in time. Beacons of Ancestorship is no different, with nods to techno, punk, electro, lo-fi noise, cut-up beats, heavily processed synths, and mournful, elegiac dirges." - from the Tortoise label bio

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Watch the video for "Prepare Your Coffin" after the jump...

Tortoise - "Prepare Your Coffin" (from the album Beacons of Ancestorship)