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TORTOISE

Co presented with Cinemarfa & The Lumberyard

Saturday, May 7, 2016, 9:15pm (Doors 9:00pm)

The Lumberyard

201 E Dallas St., Marfa, TX

Free Concert

 

Drawing from a galaxy of influences, Tortoise is a band that continues to expand the vocabulary of contemporary music. According to CineMarfa co-founder David Hollander, "Their experimental approach is completely in line with the kind of films we show at CineMarfa -- ecstatic, underground, untamed.”  

 

Tortoise has spent nearly 25 years making music that defies description. While the Chicago-based instrumental quintet has nodded to dub, rock, jazz, electronica and minimalism throughout its revered and influential six-album discography, the resulting sounds have always been distinctly, even stubbornly, their own. As ever, Tortoise has conjured sounds on their latest album The Catastrophist that aren’t being purveyed anywhere else in music today. There’s a deeply intuitive interplay between the group members that comes only from two decades of experimentation, revision and improvisation. And at a time when our brains are constantly bombarded by myriad distractions, The Catastrophist reminds us that there’s something much greater out there. All we have to do is listen.

 

The Tortoise performance was produced by David Hollander and Jennie Lyn Hamilton.

 

This concert was free and open to the community.

 

CineMarfa is a non-profit organization devoted to supporting local and visiting filmmakers, sponsoring year-round film screenings in Marfa, providing educational opportunities for local youth and adults to make and present films, and producing the CineMarfa festival annually. CineMarfa was founded in March of 2011 by a group of artists, filmmakers, and film lovers in order to promote the art and culture of film and filmmaking in Marfa. Amongst the many vibrant cultural organizations that call Marfa home, CineMarfa has taken up the mission to focus exclusively on film and video. All of the programs offered by CineMarfa are free of charge, and our organization is run by volunteers.

Tortoise copresented with Cinemarfa & The Lumberyard Saturday, May 7, 2016 - Photo by JD Garcia

Tortoise copresented with Cinemarfa & The Lumberyard Saturday, May 7, 2016 - Photo by JD Garcia

Tortoise copresented with Cinemarfa & The Lumberyard Saturday, May 7, 2016 - Photo by JD Garcia

LINKS:

Artist Biographies

Review of Tortoise's album The Catastrophist by Cameron Cook for Pitchfork

 

 

The Tortoise concert has been generously supported by CineMarfa Members, Marfa Live Arts 2016 Season Sponsors, City of Marfa, and by Sam Hamilton & Jen Chaiken through The Donald and Carole Chaiken Foundation. Graphic design by Yoseff BenYehada. Special thanks to Cory Van Dyke, Jessica Allen, JD DiFabbio, Rob Crowley, and Gory Smelley of Marfa Recording Co.

 

Credits: “Gesceap” is from the Tortoise album The Catastrophist, released January 2016 on Thrill Jockey Records.

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