Accessibility links

Tortoise Tortoise artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music

Tortoise

Subscribe to Daily News Email

Tortoise On World Cafe

Tortoise Andrew Paynter/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption

Andrew Paynter/Courtesy of the artist

World Cafe

Tortoise On World Cafe

XPN

May 18, 2016 • Hear how an improvisational project provided the seed for the Chicago instrumentalists' new album, The Catastrophist.

Tortoise on World Cafe

20:26

Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/478532439/478533968" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

All Songs Considered

Best Songs: 2004 (So Far)

July 13, 2004 • Before the summer slips by and fall accelerates into winter, we offer this show as a chance to catch up on the great sounds of 2004 (so far).

Best Songs: 2004 (So Far)

Only Available in Archive Formats.

Real Media

All Songs Considered

Nellie McKay, The Mountain Goats, John Vanderslice

February 24, 2004 • The magic hour with Wynton Marsalis; A bit of blues from The Mountain Goats; The lo-fi world of John Vanderslice; New music from Chicago's Tortoise and more.

Nellie McKay, The Mountain Goats, John Vanderslice

Only Available in Archive Formats.

All Songs Considered

Lucinda Williams, Tortoise, David Byrne

July 2, 2001 • The passionate sounds of Lucinda Williams R.L. Burnside sings of hard times and bad luck and more.

Lucinda Williams, Tortoise, David Byrne

Only Available in Archive Formats.

Real Media

Music Interviews

Tortoise Bandmates on New CD, 'It's All Around You'

April 8, 2004 • Doug McCombs and John Herndon of the Chicago art-rock band Tortoise talk about their group's new CD: It's All Around You.

Tortoise Bandmates on New CD, 'It's All Around You'

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1829847/1829848" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Music Interviews

The Music of Tortoise

May 10, 2001 • Tom Moon takes a look at group of musicians in the Chicago neighborhood of Wicker Park. The scene is centered around a group called Tortoise. Moon says that this band and its many splinter bands, are finding new ways of making mostly instrumental music that is part improvisation, part tightly planned, and often very interesting.

The Music of Tortoise

Only Available in Archive Formats.

Real Media

Review

Music Reviews

Tortoise: 'TNT'

August 5, 1998 • Music critic Will Hermes has a review of the latest album by Chicago rock band Tortoise. He says that the music isn't exactly rock, as most people define it — but that it's definitely more interesting than most other current musical trends.

Tortoise: 'TNT'

Only Available in Archive Formats.

Real Media

More from Tortoise

Browse archive or search npr.org